Amid Tragic and Heroic Images, TV Does Itself Proud

It was a television movie, right? Some sci-fi spectacle along the lines of “Independence Day,” with aliens hovering above with apparent plans to attack the U.S. government?

It wasn’t fiction, of course, even though a nation desensitized by such film stories might have thought so, were it not for live reporting and a running commentary by network anchors on what NBC’s Katie Couric titled “this horrific, incredible, not-to-be-believed Tuesday morning.”

How horrific, incredible and not to be believed?

“You are looking at live pictures of the second tower at the World Trade Center collapsing,” Couric said as one of two 110-story towers at New York’s World Trade Center collapsed to the pavement in a towering cloud of dust and debris.

How eerie it was, at once terrifying and disorienting, as if this awful history were driven by computerized special effects.

But it really was a jet crashing into the helipad at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Those really were American Airlines jets crashing into Manhattan’s twin edifices of capitalism, turning them into Roman candles before bringing them down. Footage of one of the planes exploding into a tower provided possibly the epic television picture of our time.

It was as if television had captured the nation as it was struck by a thunderbolt that shook it from its lethargy, forcing it from a cocoon of innocence.

Television would report stories of heroism, tragedy and death on this day, with NBC providing an especially strong account of the impact on the ground, where the sidewalks of Lower Manhattan were transformed into something resembling a nuclear winter. “I’ve seen several dead bodies go in,” NBC’s Robert Bazell reported from St. Vincent’s Hospital, where some victims were receiving last rites on the pavement.

But CBS correspondent Harold Dow’s account was especially harrowing, as he recalled running for his life on the ground from the rolling clouds of the second tower’s explosion, which he was sure trapped some of those behind him.

It was also a day of eloquence. “We’re vulnerable because of all the things that make us so great,” said NBC’s Tom Brokaw.

It was a day, too, for straight talk, with ABC’s Peter Jennings faulting “the intelligence community” for not foreseeing what might happen. And CNN’s Jeff Greenfield declared: “This may be the day that America’s luck has run out.”

More than anything, though, it was a disastrous morning in which these presidents of the airwaves, otherwise known as network anchors, earned their pay by reporting calamity with calm.

“The word of the day is steady, steady,” said Dan Rather shortly after 7 a.m., when his own stomach must have been churning. “There will be rumors all day, and we’re going to try to separate rumors from facts,” he added.

Early today, television did just that, doing itself proud, for once the dust and debris not coming from the mouths of those reporting the story.

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This story was published this afternoon as part of a special 8-page extra edition wrap focusing on today’s tragic events. Entitled “Terrorism Hits the U.S.,” the wrap focused on the most important events of the day, the history of World Trade Center, terrorism and other safety concerns. It wrapped today’s second daily and was distributed to major single copy retailers and high traffic commuter areas by early afternoon.

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