according to US military's own war theory, as taught to enlistees, bombing of television stations/media outlets is considered bombing a _political_ target. see below.
i've already pointed out that, according to what the US military, targets may be "civilian" and not strictly military. Targets can be military (the Pentagon as command and control center), economic (financial centers, such as a stock exchange), political (capitol buildings, the Pentagon as political office bldg), and social/psychological targets (both the WTC and the Pentagon fit the bill here, too)
Note that an economic target consists of skilled/trained workforce, below.
The key is that, as the page says, targeting strategy should try to avoid bombing civilians _while_ it tries to protect its troops.That means that, in the case of 9-11, their goal was to choose a time when they could successfully fly the plane into the buildings.
So, it had to be daytime.
They had to strategize, weighing success against loss of civilian life.
They had to choose something symbolic. Sure, they could have bombed Centcomm in Tampa, FL. But, it's not very spectacular, is it? And was that not our choice when it came to Dresden? to bomb a city that was _symbolic_ and, therefore, psychologically damaging to the other side.
When you stop and think about it, they could have chosen any number of later flights when they would likely have killed far more people than they did. after all, first thing in the morning is not the busiest time per se.
Call it whatever you will--terrorism, an act of war--who cares? One thing about those who want to call it terrorism--and the terrorism "experts" call terrorism a crime (not war)--is that, by doing so, you become impose the West's interpretations of their acts, rather than heeding their own self-understandings.
You can whine all you'd like about how cowardly the US is not to risk troops, but it's freakin' war. it's seems a little dorky, to say the list, to complain about something like that. From a military perspective the goal is to make as many of their side die.
Targeting media such as al Jazeera and the BBC is hardly llegitimate--according to military strategy.
http://reserveweb.fitcpac.navy.mil/isrtm/target.htm <...> Economic Targets are civilian resources which contribute to the enemy's warmaking capability
--Financial Centers: stock exchanges, financial clearinghouses,
electronic fund transfer capabilities
--Production Sites: factories, electricity plants, petroleum,
oil and lubricant (POL) plants
--Lines of Communication: raw materials movement, civilian
workforce movement
--Trained/Skilled Workforce
Political Targets are government sites which are critical to the enemy's infrastruture.
--Government Centers: capitols
--Government Officials: excludes the head of state, unless he
also serves in a military capacity
--Government Institutions
--Political Offices
--Government Control & Communications Centers
--Television and Telephone Centers
Psychological / Social Targets. The goal is to target the will of the people to fight by attacking centers of gravity and weak points. It is one of the most important aspect of war, for it appears in all conflicts, yet the most difficult to predict or plan. <...> It is important to validate the target in terms of its accessability (i.e., is it within range of assets), the target area defenses (i.e, what are the potential threats), and its aimpoints (i.e., can the aimpoint be attacked successfully).