The American media reported quite extensively about the impact that the terrorism attacks had on people in the Middle East and in the rest of the Muslim world. In particular, they focused on demonstrations that took place in favor of bin Laden and against the United States. On September 30, the New York Times, for example, reported from Karachi that:

	At a September 28 protest against potential U.S. military action in Afghanistan, Pakistani demonstrators in Islamabad held up copies of a Time magazine cover featuring bin Laden. AP / Wide World Photos

There is no doubt that anti-American and pro–bin Laden demonstrations took place in various parts of the Muslim world. Yet it is also true that what we saw on television in no way reflected what actually happened—the number, size, and intensity of these demonstrations. Television basically gives us only a slice of the whole, reports only one facet of reality.

During the Iran hostage crisis there were many television reports of anti-American demonstrations. Over and over again we saw American flags being burned. By now we know that these anti-American demonstrators basically assembled and became active whenever television crews arrived with their cameras and microphones and got ready to shoot. When they stopped filming, people would mull around and stop protesting; at best you would have one or two blocks filled with protesters. However, people watching in the United States, or anywhere other than the actual protest locations, got the impression that all of Tehran was permanently demonstrating against the United States. Similar misperceptions caused by the media's focus on a few militant protesters have occurred during the coverage of other terrorist events.