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lifetimes. 2 A study by CBS News and the New
York Times discovered the American public’s
trust in government doubled in the weeks
immediately following the attacks. 3 This
tragedy had a huge impact upon the approval
ratings of President George W. Bush. His
CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll scores hovered
around 50 per cent in early September, but
surged to 90 per cent by 22 September and
remained in the 85 per cent range in mid-
January, 2002. 4 And, according to the International
Herald Tribune, 79 per cent of those
outside the United States claim the events
of September 11 ‘marked a new chapter in
world history’. 5
Six months after the attacks, CNN/USA
Today/Gallup poll research continued to find
most Americans thought September 11 represented
‘the most tragic event of their lifetimes’,
and most (76 per cent) did not believe
the nation’s ‘wounds’ resulting from the
attacks had been healed. 6 American support
for increased defence spending in March
2002 was nearly three times higher than it
had been four years earlier. 7 At the same
time, however, this research found Americans
less affected by the attacks in March 2002
‘than they were in the immediate aftermath of
Sept. 11’. 8
With the passing of the immediacy of
September 11, the New York Times opined that
since that day, ‘Almost all the news – economic,
political, international – seems to have
spun from that one day, although that one
day was merely a single episode in a global
struggle that has taken years to develop.’ 9 The
Associated Press reported ‘the attacks altered
the attitudes and assumptions of most
Americans’, but also stressed ‘there is no real
consensus about the nature and permanence
of the changes’. 10 Nearly half of those interviewed
in a March 2002 CNN/USA Today/
Gallup poll said they thought September 11
should become a national holiday. 11 A Gallup
Organization study said more Americans think
the attacks have changed the country than
they have impacted individual lives. 12
Purpose of the study
The major goal of this research was to explore
the impact the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks have had on corporate communication
and public relations in the United States.
The study sought answers to questions concerning
whether or not the events of that
Tuesday changed how organizations communicate,
and whether or not the attacks
have had any impact on corporate PR and
communication functions. In a related line
of analysis, the study explored several additional,
but closely related, questions. The
momentous nature of the September 11
terrorist attacks raised the possibility that any
research of this nature might discover an
immediate, or primacy, effect. Consequently,
data were gathered through a variety of different
quantitative and qualitative research
methods and over a six-month period of time
from September 2001 through March 2002.
A second and equally significant purpose of
this research examined theoretical implications,
in particular those that might link any of
the study’s empirical findings to excellence
theory, the behavioural model theory, and the
communication executive role.
Methods
Data were gathered between September
2001 and March 2002 in several stages
involving both quantitative and qualitative
methodologies.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors