September 11 Television Archive
Download the New York Times September 12, 2001 front page PDF here [pdf]
I was at school on the morning of September 11, 2001. I remember the day very clearly. I remember what class I was in when I first heard the news of the terrorist attacks, and I remember that my teacher ran out of class to go buy a small television set because there wasn’t a TV in the class he was teaching in. Things were happening all around me and all I wanted to do was get home (but I couldn’t because the school was on lockdown).
This was before I ever owned a cellphone so being in contact with people was not as easy as most people think. I remember finally talking to Simon on the phone through Cindy’s brother’s phone (I always recall this because this is how I met Cindy).
Anyway, despite the efforts of my teacher on that morning, the reception on the TV just wasn’t great and I couldn’t get a clear idea of what was going on. My friend Lee had a radio on him and he ended up relaying more accurate information to all of us than the TV did.
With that said, I’ve always wondered about what the TV news was like when the news of the attacks broke. Was it immediate chaos or was it just a bunch of speculation and misinformation at the beginning?
For years, I’ve secretly wished I could have properly seen the news as it unfolded. Today, I come across a link to the September 11 Television Archive, a full depository of several days’ worth of TV news (complete with commercials) during September 11 and the days following. The archive contains footage from morning until night from all of the major news outlets in the US as well as some major international media.
I just watched all of the various news station broadcasts that showed the point at which the breaking news occurred. It’s haunting to relive the experience via the news channel reporting. What’s even scarier is how immediate the reaction was to terrorism after the 2nd plane was shown flying into the second tower on live TV. That’s when everybody watching knew for a fact that this was not an accident.
I don’t like watching these videos, but I know that if it’s playing I won’t be able to turn away.
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