AJR  Unknown
From AJR,   October 2001

Stories from the Front   

Journalists relate their experiences covering the September 11 attack and its aftermath.


G EORGE MANNES

senior writer, thestreet.com

Mannes remembers the sound of the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsing. He says it was like "firecrackers."

"Along each edge, you could see something popping, like dominoes all the way down," Mannes says. "We sort of see it fall, and everyone runs like heck. I just ran down Broadway and looked behind me and saw the cloud."

Mannes ran toward a light and into the basement of 2 Wall Street.

Later, as he returned home to write his story, Mannes says he was running on adrenaline. "I was wound up and you get excited by the professional challenge of doing your job, and getting your job done. Around midnight, I was feeling terrible. Yesterday, I was nauseated the whole day.... It was like the big scare caught up to me."

J IM ZARROLI

business correspondent, National Public Radio

Zarroli went to the scene on the day after the attack. He examined the twisted pile of rubble--the remains of a building where he had once conducted interviews and bought half-price Broadway tickets. The sprawling site was difficult for him to get a handle on.

"The most amazing thing is that there were so many papers that had fluttered from the buildings that were on the ground. You could see bank records and résumés and computer records...all these records of people's lives. Why did they survive? They weren't even personal.... They were somebody's time sheet or billing statement or something like that."

H AROLD DOW

correspondent, CBS' "48 Hours"

Dow had been dispatched to the scene immediately after the attack and was looking for his camera crew when he heard a rumble and saw Tower Two crumbling. "I immediately started running for my life...debris was falling from the buildings.... People had literally run out of their shoes trying to get out of the way of this huge plume of debris and smoke."

Dow fled down a subway staircase, ran inside a shoe repair shop and shut the door to escape the smoke that had followed him down the stairwell. About 45 minutes later, he opened the door and walked back up to the street to find a heavy cloud of smoke and a thick ash that coated everything.

"I was disoriented and I was trying to get my bearings when I heard that rumble again, and I just ran away from that sound. I just kept running and running and running." This time, Dow fled toward the East River, not stopping until he saw blue sky.

The next day Dow talked to a man who had escaped one of the burning World Trade Center towers. "He said, 'Somebody tried to kill me yesterday.' I guess that's what I think about it, too. Somebody tried to kill us.

"It leaves you empty."

M ICHAEL McKEE

international and economics editor, Bloomberg News

McKee saw the first plane hit Tower One while in a taxi heading to a conference at the World Trade Center. He ran a few blocks to the scene, where he also witnessed the second plane crash into Tower Two. He saw fire and debris--and people jumping from the buildings. As he was on hold at a pay phone waiting to go on television, McKee heard an explosion and saw a cloud of smoke and debris heading straight for him.

McKee says he just ran and ran until he realized he was in Battery Park. He walked to the East Side Highway, where he saw a news van with a cameraman he knew. McKee got a ride to his offices at 59th Street and Park Avenue.

The veteran reporter says the experience was unparalleled. "I saw so many die at once. That's hard to even comprehend, and I've been in this business for 25 years, and I've covered wars and natural disasters, and I never experienced something quite that crazy.

"I also am haunted by the people I saw jumping from the upper floor from the World Trade Center before the building collapsed. I remember my real fears that I might not make it, and we couldn't breathe and were completely disoriented."

M OLLY GORDY

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism adjunct professor, Business- Week contributing writer and wife of Associated Press photographer Richard Drew

Gordy knew the signs were not good. Her husband had taken some amazing photos at the scene of the attack, including a solitary shot of a jumper and another that looked like the south tower was collapsing on his camera. Although he hadn't given Gordy details, he told her that he narrowly escaped after getting the shot.

But he was on a "battlefield high" she says, buoyantly talking that night about technical details of the photos with a colleague. Same thing on Day Two. On the morning of Day Three, their 3-year-old daughter called him to say "I love you" while he was on the scene. Ten minutes later, he called back, crying. Maybe her voice triggered thoughts of children who wouldn't see their parents again, Gordy says. She told him to leave and go home.

Although Drew had covered a plane crash before, this was different, Gordy says. "It's nowhere near as disturbing as watching people die and not being able to do anything about it while you record it for posterity."

S USAN HARRIGAN

Wall Street reporter, Newsday

Harrigan, who was on the scene of the collapse, says she was amazed by "people's willingness to talk, especially when you share a common experience.

"There was one man. I ran into him after the real danger passed. I knew he was near the collapse because of his shoes. I approached him and he said, 'I'm trying to find my wife and son.' "

Harrigan says she didn't want to bother him but he told her, "Talking about it helps."

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