Perhaps I am just growing forgetful, but I don't remember anything like this media saturation when the plot to blow up the airliners over the Pacific was discovered and quashed. I vaguely remember hearing something about a New Years celebration in the Northwest being cancelled because of a West Coast plot that was foiled. And everyone said "oh wow' and went about their business.
Of course, we had a government then that didn't thrive on terror, it fought it, outsmarted the terrorists and prevented bad things from happening. We had a media establishment that preferred to cover blue dresses than terror plots. And an opposition party that accused Clinton of wagging the dog when he tried to stop Osama.
What has happened to us?