First 90 Minutes of 9/11 Coverage: As It Happened on CNN
The events of September 11th are now all too familiar in the minds of most Americans young and old. The events of that day have shaped our history more than any other day in modern times, and began the process of multiple wars in the Middle East, one of which is still being fought to this day. Almost nineteen years later, the sight of the planes crashing into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon is nothing new, but what about as it happened? If almost no one could believe their eyes in the moment, what do you do if you are hosting a news show being broadcast to millions of people? What do you say? Do you speculate? How do you focus on delivering the most accurate information? Can you be too careful? In this research, I try to answer those questions, by critiquing yet understanding a moment of shock and chaos.
At 8:46 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, a passenger airplane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The tallest buildings in New York City, the two twin towers rose high above the skyline. On a cloudless day like this one, they would have been impossible to miss. Three minutes after the crash, CNN first reported on it with a skyline camera view, breaking the news alongside a chyron stating “World Trade Center Disaster.” They led into the live footage citing unconfirmed reports that a plane had crashed into the tower, describing the sight as “devastating.” Their first eyewitness, five minutes after the crash, describes seeing a “passenger jet” flying low and crashing into one of the buildings. This is the first mention of the size of the plane on air. These moments are shown in the clip below.
Five minutes after coming onto air with footage of the tower, CNN moved their coverage to their affiliate WNYW. The coverage immediately cuts to a reporter on the sidewalk, interviewing people walking down the sidewalk away from the buildings. Their first eyewitness says the explosion came from inside building, the first moment of inaccurate information on the air that morning.
Going away from WNYW, CNN in studio anchors come back onto the air to interview an “eyewitness” of the crash who immediately says she was watching television when she heard a “sonic boom” and looked up to see the side of the tower explode. This eyewitness lived close to the World Trade Center and explains the scene she sees from her window, with “crowds of people out” and “lots of fire engines.” The interview lasts for about five minutes, stretching from 8:56 a.m. to 9:01 a.m.
After this interview, CNN then cuts over to another affiliate, WABC, for more live coverage of the crash. WABC coverage was in the midst of an interview of someone on the scene at the towers, explaining the scene up close. Just as the clock turned to 9:03 a.m., a second plane struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Right after this happens on air, the witness on the phone exclaims: “THE BUILDING IS EXPLODING RIGHT NOW! YOU’VE GOT PEOPLE RUNNING UP THE STREET!” The anchor on WABC immediately speculates the explosion might have perhaps been from the fuselage of the aircraft inside the North Tower and stays on the line with the eyewitness at the scene. As the eyewitness continues to talk, the WABC anchor decides to briefly cut away from the interview, to avoid “panic” on the air.
About 60 seconds after the plane struck the second tower, the anchor gets information about the involvement of second plane from a producer. He says on air:
“Perhaps a second plane was involved. And let’s not even speculate to that point, but at least put it out there that perhaps that might have happened.”
The WABC anchor then cuts back to speaking about the fuselage and providing a quick recap of the morning’s events to viewers. The fuselage speculation is obviously inaccurate. Two and a half minutes after the plane hit the tower, there was still only speculation of “perhaps” a second plane in the WABC coverage, despite this appearing in their footage:
Three minutes after the plane struck the South Tower, WABC brings on another eyewitness who says on air he saw a “small plane” flying low and the disappear before the explosion in the second tower. In the middle of the interview, they replay footage of the South Tower explosion for the first time, and confirm the second plane three and a half minutes after the crash was seen on air.
CNN stays on air with WABC for a couple more minutes after this interview. In the course of that coverage, the anchor begins his speculation about what could be the cause of these explosions. Despite what we would believe now the speculation would involve, he mentions no hints toward a purposeful attack or terrorism. Instead he speculates about navigation systems, stating:
“So naturally you will guess and you will speculate if some type of navigating equipment went awry that two commuter planes would run into the World Trade Centers at the same time.”
CNN cuts away from CABC at 9:08 a.m. and moves back to coverage by their affiliate WNYW. For the first time during the coverage, the idea of a purposeful attack is mentioned on air, with the WNYW anchor stating they saw a plane “deliberately” run into the South Tower. They have a someone on the phone who mentions the potential of a “missile” hitting the tower and causing the explosion, however WNYW quickly replays the footage of the second explosion and confirms again on air it was caused by a plane, almost seven minutes post attack.
In rapidly evolving breaking news events, making sure of the facts before reporting them out to the public is a vital component of coverage. However, in their very early coverage of the events, it seems CNN and their affiliates might have missed the mark. Whether it be complete disbelief about what was going on or just a lack of information, they took a large chunk of time to confirm and describe events that occurred in their live footage.
For comparison, here is how some other news organizations reacted to the South Tower attack within the first 30 seconds of the attack:
ABC News: “That looks like a second plane… we just saw a second plane come in from the side… this like it is some sort of a concerted effort to attack the World Trade Center that is underway in downtown New York.”
CBS News: “Oh there’s another one… another plane just hit! Flew right into the middle of it. Explosion. Yes. That definitely looked like it was on purpose.”
FOX5 NY: “Oh my goodness, there’s another one. Oh my goodness, there’s another one. (This seems to be on purpose.) Oh my goodness, now it is obvious. I think that there’s a second plane that has crashed into the World Trade Center. I think we have a terrorist act of proportions we cannot begin to imagine at this juncture.”
WPIX: “Oh my goodness! Another plane. This does not look like an accident of any kind at this point. Another plane has hit Tower 2 of the Twin Towers. Um, you hate to say the words, but what come to mind right now: terrorist attack. That is what comes to mind at this point.”
Fox News: “There was another one. We just saw another one! Apparently go… another plane just flew into the second tower. This raises… this has to be deliberate folks. We just saw on live television as a second plane flew into the second tower of the World Trade Center.”
The audio and footage from other news organizations can be seen here:
Conversations around a second plane and even mentions of terrorism took other news organizations only seconds following the attack. About seven minutes after the plane hit the South Tower, CNN cut away from their affiliates and picked up their own coverage of the events. Their first interview is with a former NTSB spokesman, who walks through flight paths and answers questions regarding the possibility of mechanical failure leading to the crashes. The guest quickly shoots that down and goes on to say later: “I don’t think this represents an accident.” They go on to talk about airspace and if there is any way to stop another plane from entering the area as well. As the interview finishes up, the CNN anchor closes with this statement, 14 minutes after the plane hit the South Tower:
“The longer we talk, the less convinced many will become that this was an accident.”
At 9:18 a.m., CNN for the first time cited an Associated Press report that the FBI was investigating the two plane crashes as a result of “foul play” and a possible plane hijacking. Only seconds later, they bring on a reporter in Washington who reports an FBI official told CNN they are investigating, but “have not yet determined whether or not this was a terrorist act.” This is the first time the words “terrorism” or “terrorist” appear on CNN the morning of 9/11. Where other outlets used the words in pure shock or in immediate speculation, the anchors and reporters on CNN decided to wait until after speaking to government officials.
At 9:25 a.m., CNN cited new Associated Press report and declared that the two attacks on the towers “appear to be an act of terrorism” while quoting a U.S. government official. This is the first confirmation on air that the events in New York were indeed terrorism and only the second time the words are mentioned on CNN along with the first report seven minutes before. Between the announcement of these reports on air, there is zero conversation between anchors or guests about the crashed being an act of terror, once against straying away from any conversation or speculation without official confirmation.
The differences and choices between news anchors in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center produce valid questions about what is the most responsible way to report on shocking breaking news. On one hand, the extra caution and lack of speculation on CNN can be seen in a positive light because they never reported anything of major importance inaccurately throughout the first half hour of coverage. It can also be easy to judge almost two decades later the lack of questioning surrounding the intentionality of the attacks or the lack of terror discussion. However, there is also an argument to be made they missed the mark. Other news anchors were quick to assume after the second attack there was no chance the crashes were accidental. It was a sunny, clear day in New York City. There was no way one plane should have hit one of the to the World Trade Center buildings. After it happened twice, coordination should have been obvious. The CNN anchors might have done their viewers a disservice by pushing the accident idea so far into their coverage.
At 9:37 a.m., a third hijacked aircraft crashed into the side of the Pentagon in Washington. Less than hour after the first attack on the World Trade Center, the country and the news had been plunged into chaos. Americans around the country were all glued to their televisions and radios as word began to spread. CNN covered President Bush’s remarks made from Florida and covered him as he left to return back to Washington (although he did not return until that evening). After the Pentagon was struck, the federal government took a number of actions, including evacuating key buildings and landmarks such as the Capitol and White House as well as the FAA grounding all flights in American airspace. No one knew if more attacks were imminent.
16 minutes after the explosion at the Pentagon, CNN reported on air that it was in fact a plane had caused the damage. Unlike the attacks in New York, live footage and eyewitness accounts were much harder to come by in Washington. Their coverage of the Pentagon attack centered around very little detail, but also began to focus on the chaos occurring at government buildings in the nation’s capital. At 9:59 a.m., CNN’s lead anchor interrupted an interview about the Pentagon to shift back to the World Trade Center. In New York, the South Tower had collapsed. He exclaimed:
“Wow, wow… I need you to stop for a second. There has just been a huge explosion, we can see a billowing smoke rising… and I’ll tell you. I cannot see that second tower.”
The grand scale of events occurring during and after the collapse of the South Tower was almost impossible for any news organization to cover. The shock of the morning was beginning to settle in and mass hysteria ensued. Coverage on CNN continued to bounce back and fourth between talking about New York and Washington. Most of the coverage focused on eyewitnesses or reporters on the ground, trying to get a better idea of what was going on. The challenge for accuracy continued to grow.
At 10:15 a.m., CNN live coverage placed a chyron on the screen that stated “BREAKING NEWS Explosion on Capitol Hill.” As we know now, there was never an explosion on Capitol Hill. This moment perfectly encapsulates the struggle of covering an event such as 9/11. After reporting relatively accurate and careful information throughout 90 minutes of coverage, the breaking of a Capitol Hill explosion had no truth behind it, but could have put even more shock into viewers. The Capitol had been evacuated, not attacked.
Two minutes after the chyron appeared, CNN brought on a reporter who was live from Capitol Hill. Seeming to realize their mistake, the anchor almost immediately asked the reporter whether or not there was an explosion. She replied:
“No sir. There was not. I can see the Capitol from here, everything seems to be fine. There was however a sound, about five minutes ago, that sounded like some type of explosion. Everything is in very close proximity here in Washington, it could be that that may have been something that happened at the Pentagon, we are not very clear on that.”
CNN quickly recounted the reporting on the Capitol Hill explosion, but it signifies the fear and craziness of that day. Any loud boom turned into an explosion somewhere, evacuations began to mean another attack was imminent. In only the first 90 minutes, there were three plane attacks and the collapse of the first tower. Later in the morning, there was the fourth crash and the collapse of the second tower. There were false alarms for both the news media and the government. In modern times, when even the government does not know exactly what is going on, it can be very difficult for the media to know and report exactly what is going on as well.
9/11 was a day that was unprecedented in United States history and probably the hardest day to cover in the history of U.S. media. The sight of planes hitting the towers, the destruction the attacks caused, and the raw emotion of watching this all unfold while having to accurately and calmly do you job would be a gigantic task for any journalist. CNN may have been slow in exact information and had little hiccups in accuracy, but it is hard to blame them. No one could have thought of this happening, before the attacks or while they were occurring. This day was not something you plan for and not something you practice covering. It was beyond imagination.
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Works Cited:
CNN.com. “9/11: Airliner hits North Tower.” September 9, 2011. CNN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VveRmJpFW6o
CNN.com. “9/11: Second plane hits South Tower.” September 9, 2011. CNN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBciZFE8lAw
CNN.com. “9/11: South Tower collapses, Pentagon hit.” September 9, 2011. CNN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh92V42UN2I
History.com Editors. “9/11 Timeline.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 21 June 2011, www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-timeline.
BoulevardeTV. “2nd Plane Hitting WTC — Live News Coverage — 9/11.” July 20, 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQWzdc175A&t=2s
https://911timeline.s3.amazonaws.com/main/bushon911.html (photo)
https://www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12839824/9-11-anniversary-terrorist-attack-safer-today (photo)
Story written as an assignment for JOUR340 (History of U.S. Journalism) at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA
