A web-journal from the Netherlands posted this interesting analysis a while back, I haven't seen it posted here: Why the media ignored 9/11

The official theory regarding the events of September 11th is a bad conspiracy theory. It's a shaky theory any way you look at it, it even runs counter to some laws of nature, and it relies entirely on the shock effect felt by the public, and in turn the media, for its success. Sometimes journalists are just people. They also felt the shock of 9/11, and they also went along with the Bush administration's flimsy theory. This consensus over what the truth is behind September 11th falls within a familiar pattern. According to this pattern, during the first few hours following a sudden, large-scale incident, there is a totally free press. What then follows is general agreement. Meanwhile five years have gone by, and the Old Media are lagging behind the facts that are being presented by the New Media.

Looking back we can see that the Old Media also followed the pattern on September 11th - on the day itself the spirit of journalism was alive and well, and everything under the sun was freely reported. Explosions in the WTC were reported by the major television networks. In an overview of the day, the major Dutch newspaper Trouw wrote: '09:58 Huge explosion underneath the WTC'; anchor Peter Jennings explains [WMV] on live television that during a controlled demolition explosions have to take place at the bottom of the building; another anchorman, Dan Rather, compares [MPG] the collapse of WTC7 to a controlled demolition; CNN is basically reporting that no evidence exists to suggest that an airplane crashed into the Pentagon, and FOX is saying that the only thing you can see in Pennsylvania is a hole in the ground. The consensus that Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks didn't evolve quite so organically though.

Even though the attack apparently was a huge surprise, President Bush was nevertheless quick to unravel the mystery, including the use of photos: Osama bin Laden and his 19 thieves had managed to surprise the U.S., and now it was time for revenge. The much-anticipated "father to the country", one who would provide comfort in a time of crisis and would call for the biggest CSI in the history of mankind, never showed up. No Crime Scene Investigation ever took place because all of the debris was immediately hauled away and sold to China as scrap metal, and while everyone was seeking consolation, Bush spoke of vengeance. Following Bush's revelation, the facts were adapted to fit the fiction - the explosions that were heard were hushed up along with the many other impossibilities, like the vaporizing of the airplanes in the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, and inconsistencies such as the pools of melted steel at the bottom of the WTC towers, the free fall of WTC7 and, well, all the other facts that the internet is flush with.

Continued...