It was when the first plane hit, right about 8:48 a.m. I'm finishing a report talking about delays at the George Washington Bridge and see this fireball. It seemed so unreal. It was mind-boggling. We just started flying toward it. Even as the words were coming out of my mouth saying, "There's an explosion near the top of one of the towers," I still didn't believe it.
Brian McKinley, traffic reporter
Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcasting
What happens when one of history's biggest and most terrifying news stories hits in three locations at once? On Sept. 11, 2001, millions turned to the news media to learn about the deadly terrorist attacks on America. Who didn't turn on the TV or radio? Who could turn away?
In Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11, the Newseum has assembled more than 100 first-person stories of how journalists and news organizations handled a day that changed history. The book, written by journalists Cathy Trost and Alicia C. Shepard, examines the emotional, logistical, ethical and safety challenges that dedicated journalists faced that day in order to get the story to a public hungry for details. It documents journalists' efforts to report one of the biggest stories of our time through intimate details about the work of the network anchors - NBC's Tom Brokaw, CBS's Dan Rather, ABC's Peter Jennings and CNN's Aaron Brown - and the dramatic stories of front-line journalists who put themselves in harm's way to report the story.
"It was as if every reporter, editor, producer, editorial assistant, intern, publisher and network executive was connected to the same brain wave," says NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw in the book's foreword. "This is what we're to do and if we don't do this well, we have lost our place."
The book's 12 chapters are arranged chronologically, beginning with The Associated Press's first NewsAlert at 8:53 a.m. and taking readers through the day until most journalists went home late that night. Each chapter includes accounts from editors, anchors, producers, engineers, reporters and photographers from local, national and international media.
In one case, a family member provided the details. Wendy Doremus, wife of free-lance photojournalist William Biggart, shares how she called her husband - already at the scene. "I'm OK," she remembers him saying. "I'm with the firemen." Biggart's body was found four days later in the rubble near Ground Zero, close to the bodies of several firefighters. Biggart was the only journalist to die in the immediate aftermath of the attacks
The disbelief, shock, anger and sadness of the journalists covering the events in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, are revealed through their own words. So are numerous examples of their compassion and concern for their colleagues and their dedication to getting the story.
The authors are Cathy Trost, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and Alicia C. Shepard, award-winning media critic and senior writer for American Journalism Review. Within a day of the attacks, they began interviewing journalists who were at disaster sites in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia and aboard Air Force One, compiling the fresh, never-before-told stories of journalists bringing the news to a shattered world.
The 256-page hardcover book includes 75 dramatic color and black-and-white photographs. The book grew out of an exhibit at the Newseum, the interactive museum of news. On the morning of Sept. 11, Newseum staff could see the smoke pouring from the Pentagon. After closing the museum, a small group worked through the night assembling an exhibit of wire service photos from around the world. The exhibit of photographs and national and international newspaper front pages opened the next day, Sept. 12, and prompted emotional and positive responses from museum visitors. Over the next few weeks, the exhibit was expanded to include dozens of additional breaking news photographs, along with minidocumentaries and displays that told how the media - television crews, photographers, columnists, editorial cartoonists - were affected by and covered the story.
"As a museum about news, we try to respond to top news stories as a newsroom would - quickly and accurately," said Newseum Executive Director and Senior Vice President Joe Urschel. "These behind-the-scenes vignettes are dramatic and educational. The images on display at the Newseum provoked a powerful response from visitors. Running Toward Danger takes those pictures and these stories to a much greater audience."
A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to a fund for the journalists and broadcast technicians injured in the attacks and the survivors of those who were killed.
The Newseum, the interactive museum of news being planned for Washington, D.C., is funded by the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. For more information about the Newseum or to order the book, visit www.Newseum.org.
Running Toward Danger:
Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11
September 2002; ISBN 0-7425-2316-0
256 pages; $29.95 hardcover with dust jacket
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Distributed by National Book Network
Media Contacts:
Mike Fetters, Newseum, 703/284-2895
Mary Sestric, Rowman & Littlefield
301/459-3366, ext. 5617
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To purchase the book on Amazon.com, Click Here.
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