by Steve Rogers

New York -On September 8, 2002 the National Television Academy, in partnership with the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, inaugurated three days of events commemorating the role of television journalists in covering September 11 and it aftermath. 9/11 to 9/11: A Tribute to News Professionals included a trip to ground zero by visiting international journalists, a luncheon honoring broadcasters for their coverage of 9/11, and a symposium examining the effects of that momentous day on television news coverage.

International Journalists Visit Ground Zero

The visit to Ground Zero offered a view of the epicenter to seventy-five visiting journalists, most of who had never been to the site. Correspondents and crews from eleven different countries stared into what today looks more like a construction site, than a scene of mass murder and destruction. Matt Higgins, vice president of communications, for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation gave the visitors an overview of the agency's redevelopment proposals, which include a number of ideas for a memorial and a new transportation hub similar to Grand Central terminal.

Later, National Television Academy president Peter Price hosted a reception for the visiting journalists. "I was struck," Price said, "by the responses of the seventy-five. They were horrified by the barren landscape, but they were also deeply appreciative of the National Academy for making the complex special arrangements to gain access to the site."

Domestic and International Journalists Honored For Coverage of 9/11

The next day, on Monday, September 9, 250 domestic and international television journalists and executives gathered at the Essex House hotel to listen to a keynote speech from Secretary of the Navy, Gordon R. England, and to honor their colleagues in television news.

Secretary England described the relationship between the military and the press as "a partnership in freedom," at a "very defining moment in our history." Quoting Thomas Jefferson, he quipped, "We're I to have the choice between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I'd choose the latter."

Following England's speech Bill Small, vice chairman for news & documentaries, introduced Running Toward Danger, a short film chronicling the work of local news teams whose on-the-scene reporting gave the world a second-by-second view of 9/11's horrors. The film, produced by Ken Crawford with Paul Sparrow as executive producer, was prepared for future use in the Newseum in Washington D.C.

After the film president Price and Bill Small presented plaques to the eight domestic networks that suspended advertising and provided wall-to-wall coverage for four full days after the attacks. Plaques were presented to ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NBC, Telemundo and Univision. Mr. Small and Mr. Price also acknowledged the contributions of the many international networks that beamed images of the events to viewers around the world.

Neil Shapiro, accepting for NBC News, told of a phone call he received on 9/11 from CBS president Andrew Heyward suggesting that the networks stop competing and share news footage for a day. Shapiro said that this spirit of cooperation allowed the networks to better serve the American public. "There may be times in the future," Shapiro said, "when once again the American public will be better served when we·act together."

Anchor and correspondent Elizabeth Vargas, accepting the award for ABC, described the mixed feelings that many of her colleagues had about covering 9/11 by quoting her colleague Charlie Gibson: "isn't it great to be back in the news business; isn't it terrible that this is the reason why."

In addition to the plaques presented at the ceremony, citations of honor were awarded to more than 5,000 news people who worked day and night to provide round-the-clock coverage to viewers. The name of every recipient appeared in the event program, a special publication created by the National Television Academy and distributed, as a special pullout section, with the September 9 issue of Electronic Media. In addition to the list of names, the program included essays by top news professionals like Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel and Robin McNeil, among others.

The program also paid tribute to 16 journalists and broadcast technicians who lost their lives at the World Trade Center and in Afghanistan. As Christiane Amanpour remarked in an essay on international coverage, "it may sound incredible, but at the time of this writing, more journalists than U.S. soldiers have been killed in the war on terror." In that spirit, the final honor of the day went to slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed while pursuing a story about foiled shoe-bomber Richard Reed. Peter Price, himself a former Wall Street Journal employee, presented managing editor Paul Steiger with an award in Pearl's honor. Pearl's murder, remarked Steiger, far from demoralizing Americans, as his killers intended, "created a shining beacon for all that is good in journalism, and all that is good in humanity."Fordham Panel Looks At News Coverage Since 9/11

After the luncheon a group of top broadcasters and media critics convened at Fordham University for a discussion on "How TV Covered the News From 9/11 to 9/11." The symposium featured two panels, one on the U.S. media and the other examining international coverage.

The domestic panel included veteran anchor Dan Rather, Aaron Brown of CNN's NewsNight, Jane Pauley of Dateline NBC, and Everette E. Dennis, a professor of media studies at Fordham University.
Moderator Bill Small opened the discussion by asking why public approval of the media rose so high in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, and plunged so precipitously shortly thereafter. Jane Pauley attributed the rise to the almost constant on-air presence of veteran anchors Rather, Jennings and Brokaw. Dan Rather argued that it was the compelling nature of the events, and reporters' knowledge of this, that most affected viewers. Reporters knew they were covering an important story, he said, and that sense of gravity and urgency "got through the glass."
There was general agreement that a unique relationship between newscasters and viewers prevailed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. 9/11 led television journalists to rise to the highest standards of their profession, and all seemed to agree that a decline in standards and esteem was probably inevitable. Everette Dennis explained the rise and decline by arguing that, despite the horror of the events, the story of the attack on the towers was a fairly simple story, while the story of the subsequent war on terror was more complex and ambiguous. Aaron Brown called America's short-lived romance with the media an "anomaly." As the war on terror heated up, Brown argued, reporters started asking tough questions-about, for example, the status of detainees-"and in the process we can make some people uncomfortable." Rather asserted that it was the reversion to tabloid-style tactics by some that helped account for the decline in public approval. "We came out of that day saying·we're not going to spend our time trivializing, dumbing down. Well, our resolve didn't hold." "We are better today than we were on Sept 10th" he said, "but we're not as good as we were on Sept 12th."

The question of patriotism-its role in shaping coverage of 9/11 and the war on terror and its relationship to public approval ratings-was much discussed. Jane Pauley argued that, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, reporters and anchors were perceived as patriotic in the normal course of doing their jobs. "The media," she said, "in the act of doing what we are supposed to do, looked patriotic. We looked like caring citizens."

Dan Rather conceded that a certain degree of restraint was appropriate in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, but warned reporters and viewers not to equate patriotism with a reluctance to do hard-hitting investigative pieces on government policy, even in time of war. "The idea that somehow or another patriotism is wearing the flag in your lapel and never saying anything bad about whatever political powers there may be-in congress, the White House or wherever," said Rather, "is not consistent with the American character."
The international panel looked at how cultural and political factors shaped overseas reporting, and examined the impact of the US government's attempt to control the flow of information on foreign journalists' ability to report the news.
Moderator Georges Leclere opened the panel by asserting that patriotism was less of an issue for international journalists than for the US media. Panelists seemed to agree that the fact that the attacks happened on US soil made domestic journalists especially susceptible to self-censorship.

Anna Carugati, editor of World Screen News, argued that European broadcasters were not immune to the tendency to shape reporting along ideological lines, but that reporting in European countries reflected a much broader political spectrum than in the US. She also argued that European print and broadcast media was, in general, less "puritan" than the US media. Consequently foreign broadcasters were much more likely to show grisly shots of corpses and body parts than their American counterparts.

Tala Dowlatshahi, whose Reporters Without Borders works to defend press freedom and protect journalists worldwide, argued that government attempts to control the press-by, for example, detaining foreign journalists, suppressing tapes of Osama bin Laden, or admonishing news organizations to avoid Al Jazeera--had a chilling effect on journalists' ability to report the news both inside and outside the US. Press restrictions, Dowlatshahi charged, legitimized repressive measures by countries like China, which used the war on terror as an excuse for cracking down on journalists.

Richard Grayson of British Television News pointed out that government attempts to control the press were nothing new-especially in time of war or when fighting shadowy organizations like Al-Qaeda. Riz Khan of BBC Worldwide agreed, pointing out that the British government sought to shape the way the conflict with the IRA was reported.

Khan and Grayson both agreed that a certain degree of self-censorship in wartime was appropriate. "It's just part of newsgathering," said Grayson. Khan remarked that if a journalist is in possession of information that might "actually have some sort of strategic impact on the military action that's being undertaken, then obviously that's something that has to be respected." But to avoid reporting information "because it will create·a certain impression" takes the ability to judge away from the audience.

After the panel, with two days complete in a three day calendar of events, Television Academy president Peter Price recalled comments Dan Rather had made to him after the luncheon. "He had early concerns," Price said, "about the events being self-serving, but during the course of hearing the speakers and seeing the film they all vanished. In his words, 'the tone was just right and it was a great tribute to the industry.'"