Turning Tragedy into War counteracts the corporate media’s driven and racist spin on the recent events. The show critiques the media’s coverage while providing a background of the U.S involvement in the Middle East. Turning Tragedy into War uncovers the ways that the media takes advantage of the fear and confusion in US public opinion and offers a look at the anti-war movement. Featuring Dr. Robin Andersen, professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University and Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Program. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on media issues and the influence of TV and Advertising on American society. She is the author of “Consumer Culture and TV Programming”, published by Westview Press and editor of “Critical Studies in Media Commercialism” by Oxford University Press. Her book titled, “Media and War: Censorship, Propaganda and Myth in the Information Age” was published in 2006. She is frequently interviewed as an expert source on media issues for radio, television and newspaper reporting. She is also featured in numerous educational documentaries. Also featuring Dr Kamran Rastegar, ecturer in Arabic and Persian at the University of Edinburgh. His research and teaching interests include the study of nineteenth-century literary interactions between Arabic, Persian, English and French literatures, and the studies of visual cultures and films from Iran and the Arab world. More generally, he is interested in the relation of modernity to colonialism, postcolonial theory, the application of critical social theory to comparative literary study, and film studies.

9.11 listens to the voices of NYC in mourning, a city coming to terms with the aftermath of events on Sept.11 and the potential violence of a protracted war. NYC residents respond to the tragedy with spontaneous memorials, public sites of grief and discourse where the transformation of mourning into a mobilization for peace and justice begin to emerge. The program culminates with the first NYC peace march as the voices of the emergent peace movement begins to coalesce with broader globalization movement seeking economic and social justice. 9.11 offers initial critical perspectives of US policy leading up to the WTC attack, necessary to constructing an informed and rationalized response. 9.11 also documents media coverage and racial background against Arab-Americans and how those communities are responding.