REMEMBERING 9/11
REFLECTIONS FROM BROADCASTERS

I participated in one of the candlelight vigils on Friday night, and have
never been so moved or felt so much unity and strength. It was at Palisades
Park in Santa Monica. Hundreds of strangers--my fellow Americans--lighting
candles and placing them on an abstract statue of the Virgin Mary with great
solemnity, in memory of all those who perished. No one said a word for the
first 20 minutes. Then, spontaneously, everyone starting singing "America,
the Beautiful." With its closing line of "...from sea to shining sea,"
standing there, weeping, overlooking the Pacific, I felt at once a profound
sadness yet a powerful bond with my brothers and sisters who stood with me in
a show of strength against the terrorists who sought to destroy us.

Hillary Atkin
Writer/Producer
Los Angeles, CA

**********

One of the benefits of being the local news anchor inside a national news
broadcast is that you sometimes get to hear the news "as it happens." It is
also one of the curses of the job, because when the news is bad, there's no
escape from it. You have to be there to put it on the air, and that's how it
was for me on 9-11 of last year.

I anchor the local newscasts and breaks inside National Public Radio's
Morning Edition, at KUHF FM, the Houston NPR affiliate, and I was on the air
that morning. It was shaping up to be an ordinary day, and one of my
assignments that day was to do a story about the Houston Area 911 Network. It
was National 911 Day after all, and until last year, that day was set aside
as a sort of national tip-of-the-hat to the 911 networks across the country.
Yeah I was going to do a puff piece on 911, or so I thought.

Then a few minutes before 8AM Houston time, word of a plane hitting one of
the World Trade Center towers came in on Good Morning America on the TV set
in our newsroom. NPR -- God bless them -- and I do love NPR -- is sometimes
a little slow to respond to breaking stories, but they ran with what they
knew in their 8AM national hourly cast.

Then a few minutes after eight, I was heading down the hall to the coffee
lounge when the second plane hit. I remember saying to our receptionist at
that moment "One plane could be an accident. Two planes is terrorism. We've
just been attacked."

When the scope of the attacks started unfolding, NPR and the TV networks went
to continuous coverage, and I listened and watched in disbelief and horror
along with the rest of the world. It was almost impossible to get my mind
around the fact that I was seeing the aftermath of a direct foreign attack on
the United States of America, and by direct extension, an attack on every
American.

As a student of history, the historic power of those events overwhelmed me.
The one thought that kept going through my mind, over and over, was that we
-- all of us alive today -- will be forever judged by how we respond to this
attack, the same way our parents and grandparents are judged -- and revered
-- by the courageous way they responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor in
1941. The attack on New York is this generation's Pearl Harbor. I found
myself praying Please Lord help us to measure up to this task. I still say
that prayer every day.

Jim Bell
KUHF FM Morning Anchor
Houston, TX

**********

My wife came running into the bedroom and said turn on the TV. I did, and I
watched with absolute shock, and disgust rolled into one. I remember the day
I was in the car with my Mother on the way home from somewhere, and they
broke in on the radio with "Japan just bombed Pearl Harbor." This flashed
across my mind as I once again witnessed a sneak attack on my country. The
horror flashed between the flames and smoke of the magnificent Arizona and
her shipmates and the slow motion of the symbol of freedom of the World Trade
Centers slipping into history by the same cowardice attack. My stomach
churned as I thought will this world ever be a peaceful place to live. Will
mankind ever learn to live with one another, without trying to destroy one
another. I thought what are the lessons we have learned? Have we not learned
any lessons? People say "Pearl Harbor, was a different time." Is the World
Trade Center any different? As a boy scout I remember doing "Air Raid" duty
in Kentucky. I remember collecting grease and newspapers for ammunition. My
children will now remember being guarded by armed military men with rifles,
AK-47's strapped to their bodies at airports, train stations, stadiums, fear
of travel, fear of public places. And this is in my country this time. My
innocence, their innocence, our country's innocence have been taken from us.
Now, I understand that the terrorist's funded their supplies and equipment on
the sale of drugs in this country. Maybe the drug buyers and crack heads
should have images of the people scrambling to save themselves and others
jammed in the hall ways of the World Trade Center as posters, as I had "Loose
Lip, Sink Ship." We should all think about the drug dealers and the drugs of
destruction. Its so hard for me to understand not just the killing of a
fellow human being, but for a drug buyer to feel that the high is more
important than the lives of those trapped in the World Trade Center, by the
profiteers of destruction. Hello, America.

Conrad Bachmann
Actor/The West Wing
Los Angeles, CA.

**********
What happened one year ago is history we all need to learn from.
Professionally and personally it changed us. But, its enormity and the fear
it raised in all of us is the same feeling our ancestors felt during times of
war, conflict or natural disaster. The way this generation "feels" about 9-11
is the way our parents felt about Pearl Harbor and their parents about the
War to End all Wars.

Now I understand. It will help me be a better storyteller.

Ross Becker
KTNV-TV/ABC News Anchor
Las Vegas, Nevada
**********

I expected to spend September 11th "on" an airplane as opposed to covering
the intentional crash of three passenger jets. I was up early and headed to
Salt Lake International en route to Nashville for the RTNDA convention. As I
made my way towards the airport, I heard a radio reporter interviewing a man
who had just seen an airplane crash into the World Trade Center. He
described it as an old twin engine, maybe a DC-3, so I figured it was some
pleasure pilot who lost control and hit the tower. During the interview, the
witness stopped and said "Oh my God...a big passenger plane just hit the
other tower." I suddenly realized this was most likely no accident, made the
most illegal left turn in the history of Utah, and headed to the station.

When I arrived at work, I found my newsroom in the same condition as many
News Directors did. The staff was so mystified by the video of the planes
hitting the towers, that they were all frozen around the CNN monitor...nobody
doing anything but watching. I began barking orders like a drill sergeant,
the Assignment Manager started throwing crews out the door and I called the
GM at home to make him aware that we were all over the story.

My staff responded beautifully...people throwing out local tie-in ideas,
crews headed out at break-neck speeds. Once we were sure there were no more
planes in the air, we gathered the entire station staff, all departments, and
deputized everyone to work for the News Department. All the production,
promotion producers and editors jumped in and helped us with our coverage.
The news managers were divided into teams with producers for cut-ins and to
help the Assignment Desk staff. News Operations Manager Ronny Baylor worked
his magic to get live shots from everyplace on the globe. We knew ABC would
go wall to wall, but when we were given (or in some cases took) the
opportunity to be local, we wanted to give people a sense that the world was
not coming to an end.

For the next two days we staffed the newsroom 24-hours a day and did cut-ins n
early every hour. On the third day as things began to settle down, we got
word that an Amtrak passenger train carrying stranded air travelers
overturned in the desert about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. Initial
reports were of hundreds injured. Once again we went into scramble
mode...crews who hadn't slept in days found themselves racing to yet another
disaster. Fortunately, there were only minor injuries, a miracle of sorts as
the twisted wreckage looked like nobody could have survived.

Like too many news managers, I now find myself on the sidelines as our
business goes through growing pains. I will observe the September 11th
anniversary as a regular viewer.

Adam P. Bradshaw
Former News Director KTVX Television
Salt Lake City, Utah

**********

Some of us who work in the media were exposed to the images of September 11
over and over again for several days afterward. No matter how many times I
saw them, I never became desensitized to those images.

Chris Clementson
KCOP TV News Center Engineer
Los Angeles, CA.
**********

When it happened, I was dutifully proud of the coverage offered by local and
national news outlets. There was a sense of proportion, gravity in treatment
of stories, and a search for the American spirit.

Now , news before 9/11 has returned to the status quo ante.There is still
concern about international stories , but very little of it. That kind of
analysis that came with trying to understand why this happened here- is
largely gone.

Watergate brought along a generation of journalists who wanted to know why
things happened . Most reporting today is still just about what and who. A
year later, Americans want to know what's working and what needs to be fixed.
The journalism of a year ago did that- a year later its mostly gone.

Steve Cohen
Independent Producer
Los Angeles, CA.

**********
Media will be missing the point if we are simply asked to remember the
tragedy of September 2001. I think the larger duty of media is to remind us
of what it means to be an American, and what are true American values. Media
must tell us what it takes to prevail in this struggle. If we are spending
most of our waking hours thinking about our diminished 401Ks and how much
real estate prices have risen while our enemies spend 10 hours a day on ways
to prevail over us, what are the odds. Politicians wont remind us of our
individual responsibilities, so the media must.

Nelson Davis
Executive Producer, Making It!
Syndicated Business Show
Los Angeles, CA.

**********
It is hard to believe a year has passed since the world sat in horror,
bewilderment and disbelief as terrorists invaded our country in evil ways we
never fathomed.

The date itself is somewhat significant for me despite the terrorists acts
that changed the world forever. September 11 is my little sister's birthday.
She will be 18 on September 11 this year. We are not close - as she lives in
Georgia and I live in California, however; we did speak about the date after
it passed last year. She indicated she was very depressed to watch all that
happened and doesn't think she'll ever be able to celebrate her birthday
quite the same way again.

The day before, September 10, my brother got married. At this time last
year, he was stationed in Georgia at the Valdosta Air Force Base. He and his
wife were not planning on a honeymoon at that time last year. Of course, had
one been planned he would have had to cancel it anyway. It was interesting to
learn things from my brother after what happened. Coming from the Air Force
point of view he brought perspective to things I hadn't thought about and
shared new light on the entire act of terrorism in the world. To this day, I
still cannot watch all the television news stories about the victim's
families, and the families left behind. It is far too sad for me. I don't
know if I will change my mind as more time passes.

I remember the day it happened I was in disbelief all day as were my
co-workers. As a city employee, we banded together and with the knowledge of
our Police Chief and other City Dignitaries we formulated a plan on what to
do for the next couple of days. Our dignitaries did not cancel any special
events that were regular occurrences in the City. We leaned on each other
and offered support where it was needed.

I went to church that night and our pastor prayed with us and tried to offer
some words of comfort. Locally, two Redlands firefighters and a canine were
called to duty in New York City. We were proud. And we waited for their
return. They did.

I attended a service for a woman whose family lives in Redlands. The woman
worked at the Pentagon and for the United States Navy. She was killed
when the plane crashed into the Pentagon.The service was very touching.

Locally, our city dignitaries held a peace rally at the Redlands Bowl. And
on Sept. 11 of this year, the Redlands Bowl was again the site for a memorial
dedication of 9/11. Local sculptor Larry Noble of Crestline, California
unveiled a statue to commemorate 9/11. The statue is of a bronze Lady Liberty
releasing three doves, which symbolize the three areas of tragedy. She is
standing on the future sight of the World Trade Center.

It's a time for reflection, sorrow, remembrance and a time for us to
strengthen our hope and faith.

It's a day to remember - one year later - and as we stand in vigilance we
remember and reflect on all that has happened in this country. We are sad
for those who lost their lives, but remain strong in our convictions and
know that our heroes are fighting to make the world a stronger and safer
place.

Renee Groese
Public Information Officer
Redlands Police Department
Redlands, CA.

**********

Very shortly after 5:48 a.m., my producer told me in my IFB, that we were
about to get live video of a building fire in New York. I flipped the
channels on the monitor at the anchor desk, until I found the World Trade
Center tower burning. No info., but enough of a picture to last until the
first AP Bulletin crossed, saying a plane had crashed. Even then I thought
"Must have been a private pilot in a small plane-- maybe a sightseer; maybe
a show-off." When the next entry said the plane was a 767, it became pretty
clear, pretty fast: this may have been a deliberate act. Still, on air, you
only dared raise the possibility as a question. That question was answered
for all time, 15 minutes later when the second flight hit the second tower.
The thought that stays with me most is my recollection of the early events.
We normally keep several monitors on in the studio. One is usually set on
CNN and the other to CNBC. At about 5:45 in the morning, Linda and I
noticed the CNN monitor was showing one tower of the World Trade Center
burning. We had no idea what had started the fire, but were able to monitor
the audio. In the first few minutes it was reported that a plane had hit
the tower. I recall thinking to myself, "How could THAT have happened?
None of the commercial air routes go over that area." The assumption was
that a terrible accident had taken place. It was beyond imagination that it
could have been done on purpose. We reported what we knew as we found out,
but by the 6AM network hourly it was still thought to have been an accident.
Just as I was musing out loud in the studio that it might have been
something other than an accident, the second plane hit. Instantly, all
doubt was gone and our coverage shifted from frequent updates to
wall-to-wall. There had been no sort of plan for coverage of this kind of
event because no one had thought such a thing could happen. We took network
coverage and decided to break in as warranted with whatever local aspect of
the story we could develop. All of us were in a very focused frame of mind,
concentrating on the task at hand. It took a few hours after I was off the
air for the enormity of those events to sink in. I left the station that
day thinking the death toll would exceed 50-thousand. I'm still amazed that
my estimate was as exaggerated as it turned out to be. One year later I
find myself wondering what happened to the war on terrorism.
As an ex-NY'er, all the expected emotions coursed through me that first day.

Tom Haule
KNX Newsradio Anchor
Los Angeles, CA.
**********

Very shortly after 5:48 a.m., my producer told me in my IFB, that we were
about to get live video of a building fire in New York. I flipped the
channels on the monitor at the anchor desk, until I found the World Trade
Center tower burning. No info., but enough of a picture to last until the
first AP Bulletin crossed, saying a plane had crashed. Even then I thought
"Must have been a private pilot in a small plane-- maybe a sightseer; maybe
a show-off." When the next entry said the plane was a 767, it became pretty
clear, pretty fast: this may have been a deliberate act. Still, on air, you
only dared raise the possibility as a question. That question was answered
for all time, 15 minutes later when the second flight hit the second tower.

Eric Leonard
Reporter/KFI Radio
Los Angeles, CA.

**********
I will never forget the horrible feelings and waking up to complete chaos wit
h the phone ringing off the hook as I was trying to rush into work while
getting a glimpse of the second tower collapsing. Every morning when I turn
on the news I HOPE I will never have to see something that horrific again.

Daniela Lopez
KERO-TV Reporter/Producer
Bakersfield, CA.
**********

As I reflect upon the events of September 11th 2001, I am reminded of the
courage and unity that Americans demonstrated as our Nation mourned the
lives of those who died during the terrorist attacks upon American soil. I
was overwhelmed with pride as I heard accounts of the passenger heroes who,
in the midst of terror, called their loved ones to relay information about
their valiant efforts to thwart the terrorist’s attacks. My admiration for
my fellow Americans increased as firefighters, police officers and volunteers
throughout the country earnestly and persistently searched to find survivors
from among the rubble that we once called the Twin Towers. My sense of
patriotism was renewed as Americans came together, united in red, white, and
blue rather than separated by black and white, or anything in between. A
spirit of American pride was evidenced by American flags streaming from
innumerable car windows, buildings, and homes. May we all take time this
September 11th to convey peace and love towards one another, so that the
lives of those who died during the terrorist attacks will not have been lost
in vain -- and may they always be remembered as Great American Heroes.

Sandra Matthews
Ken Lindner and Associates
Los Angeles, CA.
**********

9-11 may be more vulnerable as a person. I lost that feeling of security
that comes with living in America. As a journalist, it opened my mind to the
realties and the complexities of terrorism.

The telephone calls of people saying goodbye to their family members really
shook me at the core. I also started looking at my co-workers, people in the
coffee shop line, grocery store, on the street and especially on airplanes a
lot differently. Everyday I would think, " What if this was the last person I
ever spoke with or saw?" Could I save their life and would they mine? I went
back and read books on past wars and saw how people pulled through then. I
had a new respect for veterans and my elders and I tried to prepare my self
for what seemed then to be a very uncertain future.

Neki Mohan
WOIO-TV
Cleveland, Ohio

I spent 9-11 at LAX with journalists from all over the world who were in town
to cover the Latin Grammys. It didn't take us long to re-evaluate what is news
.

**********
After seeing the second airliner crash into the World Trade Center building I
thought my God, it's Pearl Harbor all over again. On December 7, 1941 I was
looking for a basketball game in the Exposition Park when a newspaper boy ran
into the playground screaming "we're at war, we're at war." The headline on
the Herald-Express read" "Sneak Attack, Japs bomb Pearl Harbor."

Now on Sept. 11, 2001 I witnessed another sneak attack live on television and
the shock was much the same as I felt as a boy. I wonder if we're forgetting
that we are still at war against a ruthless enemy. Yesterday in my class at
Cal State Northridge one of my students charged that President Bush was
behind the attack on Sept. 11 to help big business. There are fools among us
propagandizing young minds. We can never forget that this is war and all our
liberties in this great democracy are at stake. We are at war!

Pete Noyes
KCOP TV Assignment Manager
Los Angeles, CA.

**********
We now live in the desert outside Palm Springs, and one of the great things
about our area are the quiet and clear skies, day and night. We can see, but
not hear, aircraft from Orange County, Burbank, LAX, Ontario, San
Diego...all the local So Cal jetports, traveling east or west. It's
sometimes fun to imagine where the planes are going, where they're coming
from, who might be on them. My most striking memory after 9-11 are the empty
skies. For the first few days, the planes all but disappeared from their
regular routes and familiar times and places in the sky. You could see very
high and thin contrails, and know you were seeing military aircraft. The
empty skies told us that something was very wrong, that things outside our
little bit of paradise were being mightily affected. Months later, when the
skies seemed back to normal with the business of commerce and holidays, we
felt better. But we'll never forget those empty skies.

Steve Parker
Producer of syndicated car related stories and features
Palm Springs, CA.
**********

Very shortly after 5:48 a.m., my producer told me in my IFB, that we were
about to get live video of a building fire in New York. I flipped the
channels on the monitor at the anchor desk, until I found the World Trade
Center tower burning. No info., but enough of a picture to last until the
first AP Bulletin crossed, saying a plane had crashed. Even then I thought
"Must have been a private pilot in a small plane-- maybe a sightseer; maybe
a show-off." When the next entry said the plane was a 767, it became pretty
clear, pretty fast: this may have been a deliberate act. Still, on air, you
only dared raise the possibility as a question. That question was answered
for all time, 15 minutes later when the second flight hit the second tower.

Kent Shockneck
KCBS-TV News Anchor
Los Angeles, CA.

**********

9/11 as a human was horrifying. The loss of life, the threat to our security,
everything was so surreal and frightening. 9/11 as a journalist was the most
exhilarating challenge of my news career. Although my thoughts and prayers
were with my friends and the people directly touched by the terrorism, my
actions belonged to KTVX.

The entire news team in Salt Lake City managed to get past the fear and the
bewilderment of the moment to pull together some of the best local impact
coverage I have ever seen turned out by any news department (FYI - we
received a team coverage Emmy for our coverage that day.) I can't forget the
look on peoples' faces in the newsroom as we tried so hard to focus on our
work and not on the television monitors of the live network coverage.

Physically and emotionally the day was draining and exhausting...If I could
turn back time, I'd prefer the events of 9/11 did not happen, but since I can
not change the past, I'm glad I experienced it with the best news team in
Utah.

George Severson
Executive Producer
ABC 4 News
Salt Lake City, Utah
**********
"Oh my god!"

Those three words, uttered by my father were what woke me up from a deep
sleep early that September morning.

Just 5 hours prior to the first attack on the World Trade Center, I had
returned home to Bakersfield from spending a few days in Omaha, Nebraska
attending a friend's wedding.

At that time, I was living at home, so being my parents are early risers,
they saw those disturbing images of the first attack before I did.

With the yell of "Oh my god!" coming from the next room, I sprang out of bed
to see what was going on. My mother was sitting there, speechless, her eyes
glued to NBC's "Today" show. Meanwhile, my father told me what happened. I
think the only thing that came out of my mouth was that infamous four letter
word starting with "f".

Minutes later, my news director called and told me what had happened and that
he needed me to come into work. No kidding! 10 minutes later, not having
had a shower or eaten breakfast, I was in an edit bay at KERO-TV, cutting a
long VO for a local cut-in. There, on the monitors, I watched LIVE the
images from ABC and CNN. It was also by this time, I knew there had been 2
other attacks, the second one to the World Trade Center and the one on the
Pentagon. Then, I hear more profanity from the assignment desk, then both
ABC and CNN show pictures of a smoldering field in Pennsylvania.

So much was coming in so fast, I didn't have time to stop and ponder. I,
hired to be a producer, was asked to be an editor that day. I didn't have
time to let the images I saw and the audio I heard keep me from doing my job.

KERO broke in several times throughout the day with what was happening
locally. I still don't recall the stories we did that day, but remembered
taking just a moment to thank God for allowing me to be home safe. Then, the
phone calls came in. Friends and family members knowing I had been in
Nebraska less than 24 hours prior to the attacks. Calling to see if I made
it home. Calling to see if I happened to be in Omaha the same time Air Force
One had flown into that area with the Commander in Chief on board. I
reassured them, I got home about 1 a.m. local time, and that I was safe.

More editing, then some writing, then I produced a few evening cut-ins.
Still though, I didn't have a chance to reflect on all that happened. Then,
during our last cut-in, I sat next to another editor and watched a report by
ABC News correspondent John Quinones and that's when it hit me. The story
was of a young girl and her mother looking for their husband and father. The
little girl, walking down the sidewalk asking people covered in debris, are
you my daddy? Then, a shot of the mother passing around a photo of her
husband. Then, the most disturbing images of all, the little girl going down
a line of covered bodies, lifting up the sheets, saying "Daddy?" The report
never showed the victim's faces, but they didn't need to. The girl's voice
alone was all you needed to hear to understand the emotions of that moment.
Then, out of nowhere, a man comes out of a crowd, covered in grey dust and
debris. And said "Honey, I'm here!" A family reunited, however, not all
families that day would experience such luck.

The days that followed September 11th were just as emotional as I got to see
the kindness of the people of Kern County. Kids making patriotic pins, a
t-shirt company working around the clock to print up "United We Stand"
shirts... all profits from both companies going to help the victims of
September 11th. Then, our station and several other local companies
sponsored an event called "Bakersfield Unites for the Stars and Stripes." It
was a huge event where 10,000 people came out to reflect on September 11th
and remember the fallen heroes.

In fact, we're doing it again this Sunday, September 8th from 2 p.m. - 11
p.m. That's right, Kern County will again meet to remember the victims and
hero's of September 11th. It'll be held at the Marketplace on Ming Avenue in
Bakersfield, CA. There will be lots of entertainment, a kids area, even a
fireworks finale at 8 p.m. I encourage all to come and join us as this is a
change to again, reflect and remember.

I've seen a lot while working in this business, but nothing could have
prepared me for what I saw on September 11th. But despite those horrible
images of death and destruction, even more unforgettable are the images of a
nation pulling together as one. The outpouring of support this community and
others like it gave to those affected by the September 11th attacks.
Outsiders looking in may be quick to judge this country, criticize our
foreign policy and mock the foundation in which the United States of America
was built on. But you know what? Unless they've been here and experienced
what I did on September 11th, then they don't understand as I do just how
great this country really is.

God bless America and it's my prayer this nation never experiences such pain
like that again.

Dan Thesman
KERO-TV Producer
Bakersfield, CA.
**********

I was driving in to work and listening to talk radio the morning of 9/11, whe
n network broke in. All I could make out was that a reporter was screaming
about smoke and something about the World Trade Center. I pulled in to the
parking lot at work, and sat there for about 3 minutes just listening. Then
I realized I had to get inside to start working and that I could actually see
IMAGES inside the newsroom.

Three weeks ago, my cell phone rang at 2 in the morning. I woke up in a
panic, thinking it must be another terrorist attack--no one calls me at 2
am. Thankfully, it was just my director, calling to tell me that
Parkervision had crashed, and we may not have morning cut-ins.

Karen Todd
KERO-TV Anchor/Reporter
Bakersfield, CA.
**********

Here's how 9-11 has changed my life. It has made me think about how precious
and short life can be. I also realize that everything we own, all of the
diversions we love, and whatever "careers" we might have, mean nothing when
our existence is at stake. My perspective on life, and what I do for a
living, has changed. I think about this each day. If you had asked me on
9-10-01 how much time I ever spent on such reflection, I would have said no
more than an hour in a year.

Mitch Waldow
KCOP-TV Archive Manager
Los Angeles, CA.