Consolation: Was It a Virtual Catharsis?

It’s been accepted doctrine for well over two decades that media bring people together, give them direction and provide a healing catharsis during a crisis. ¹ The journalists in this study, perhaps aware of that expectation, nevertheless said their focus during the first twenty-four hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., was not on providing reassurance. They were too busy trying to explain what happened.