Inspired by a vaporwave mix featuring a picture of the burning Twin Towers, Elzinga produced News at 11 as a portrayal of "a parallel universe where it never happened.

"[1] Initially intended to be a Weather Channel-themed release, the album was produced over the course of nine months, and drew comparisons to the themes of author Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018).

Some fans found the album to accurately represent vaporwave's "last breaths" before the fall of the Twin Towers, while critics commented on its reflection of a lost vision of the future as remarkable.

In 2013, Dutch electronic musician Jornt Elzinga began releasing music under the alias Cat System Corp., from which he received acclaim for his vaporwave projects.

[7] Bandcamp Daily writer Simon Chandler suggested that, as Elzinga's music portrays days of innocence, News at 11 is a release that "finds him trying to reclaim them.

[6] In an interview with Tony Vesalainen, owner of vaporwave record label Cityman Productions, Elzinga said the album represents his attempts at reexperiencing his childhood's peace as an adult.

[3] The record is also tied with concepts of capitalism; Kiberd expressed his feelings on News at 11 as "history being flattened, decontextualised and defanged", while Vesalainen felt surprised for the music's calm nature in spite of its themes around an event that shaped contemporaneous American society.

[6][3] In an interview with Elzinga, Japanese author Satoshi Kizawa mentions elevator music as an integral part of the nostalgia-evoking elements found in News at 11.

[13][14] On September 10, 2021, the day before 9/11's 20th anniversary, Elzinga released the VHS video album News at 11: Liberty Edition issued by label Utopia District, featuring visuals by film maker CCTV for all original tracks.

[15] News at 11 received positive reviews from critics upon release, with Simon Chandler opining that Elzinga's "attempt at 'suspended animation,' at freezing history just before a cataclysmic moment" is one of the elements that add emotional weight to the album.

[2] Its Lost Angles cassette issue is one of the most demanded physical products in vaporwave community,[16] while its remastered edition is the best-selling mallsoft album of all time on Bandcamp.

Tony Vesalainen described News at 11 as a kind of therapy for those affected by the attacks,[3] and Roisin Kiberd opined of the album as creating "a sense of oncoming revelation", which he said is comparable to "certain drugs".