Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Path to 9/11 and the Destuction of Truth


When the South Tower was hit the broadcast repeaters that the “rabbit ears” attached to my TV relied upon were knocked out, so when I switched on my TV that morning at nine a.m. my first inkling that something unusual had happened was the static on the screen as I began searching for a signal. And then there it was--the WTC billowing smoke.

The only reason I was getting any TV news at all was because there was just one New York station that broadcast via the Empire State Building and that was Channel 7, WABC. As that awful day unfolded Peter Jennings did the most extraordinarily professional job—no one could have done better.

So how does ABC choose to depict 9-11 upon the advent of the fifth anniversary? By airing a “docudrama”called "The Path to 9-11" supposedly based on the 9-11 Commisions report that Bush fought tooth and nail to prevent ? What the fuck do we need a “docudrama” for? The news footage wasn’t dramatic enough?

And it’s becoming evident from pre-release reviews that the “documentary” aspect of this enterprise is riddled with fiction dressed as fact.
It was sickening enough when Bloomberg (who I think is a very practical mayor) pimped Manhattan to the RNC and Bush, back at the scene of his criminal negligence, proclaimed himself a hero as his sycophantic audience spat and shit on New York’s citizens in their applause.

I remember the events of that day and the days and weeks and months that followed well enough and not just through witnessing it on TV.
There was the regular roar of combat jets as they circled overhead providing pointless “air-cover”.
There was the endless convoy of emergency vehicles lighting up the night as they stretched for miles along the Pulaski Skyway that feeds the Holland Tunnel and downtown Manhattan.
There were the photos and fliers and messages that were plastered on the walls at Journal Square Plaza. There was the unusual quiet of my neighborhood as police, fire and ambulance crews abandoned their usual routes past my apartment and concentrated on the Hudson and Manhattan.
There was the shutting-down of the Holland Tunnel to all but official traffic that lasted a year and to this day still disallows commercial vehicles for fear of a massive truck-bomb.
I queued with thousands at Madison Square Garden for half a day, given food and drink by the Red Cross as we all waited for our chance at a couple of hundred jobs.
I went downtown and wandered around Wall Street and Vesey and Church where everything was coated in dust and debris as though a vast overstuffed vacuum cleaner bag had been emptied over the city, turning everything grey.
When I finally found a job I worked pretty much every other week in Manhattan and forced to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel on every trip I could see the vast emptiness of the WTC’s absence. At home, at night, when I went to the local store I could see the huge columns of light piercing the sky that marked where the towers had been. When the WTC PATH station re-opened the train curved around what was once an undergorund mall and was now a rectangular crater open to sky, grey and vacant and as we circled the scene with all the blackberries and cell phones and people packed cheek by jowl, there was no sound.

I wasn’t actually there when the buildings were struck, when they collapsed, I wasn’t on the streets. I knew one person who worked in the WTC, Henry Jennings, who broke his arm trying to squeeze out of a jammed elevator. I wasn’t a victim, I don’t have nightmares or health problems nor was I financially ruined—I was just a peripheral witness.

But if I want to recall 9-11 I have my own memories and the documentary footage stored on my computer. If I want to “understand” it I can re-read the 9-11 Commission report also on my PC along with other documents I’ve saved for reference and review. And I have wealth of visible and invisible reminders of the event and it's aftermath. I for one don’t need some fucking “docudrama” to explain it all for me.

The very fact that ABC has chosen to dramatize the most dramatic and important event the US has experienced for a century and attempted to give the effort some authority by claiming documentary support in the re-telling of the event, its causes and effects, already suggests unnecessary and callous manipulation of a national tragedy that is already a matter of well documented record. Does anyone need a fucking "docudrama" of 9-11? Certainly New Yorkers don't.

With 4 days to go until the first airing, ABC-7 has yet to promote in its 5-7 local news what ought to be a significant program of great interest to New Yorkers as well as to the nation. Is ABC being sensitive? Why, if the show is going to be an honest appraisal five years after the event? Perhaps instead of producing something scholarly and relevant, something to be proud of, they've ended up with a melodrama, a mockery of a reality and fact that still shapes our lives today?

If ever there was an example of how far TV news and analysis has fallen this unnecessary "docudrama" is surely it. Dan Rather was fired, Ted Koppel is retired as is Tom Brokaw a long time favorite of mine and IMHO the best of those three. Phil Donahue was blackballed, Bill Moyers has quit, having nothing to lose but he's still active and David Broncacccio and the NOW team are doing good work. 60 minutes and 20-20 are shadows of their former selves.

On 9-11 I was forced to watch ABC first and then was able to switch between it and WNET Channel 13 who had arranged to piggy-back off the ABC signal. I pretty much stuck with Peter Jennings. He simply amazed me with his insight and inquistion. He functioned as both a real "anchor" and as an investigate reporter functioning "on the fly" as he gathered and applied his personal and professional resources as he quizzed his guests and informed the public calmly, sometimes emotionally, but professionally and responsibly.

So much was damaged or destroyed on 9-11. Symbols, property, lives, families, faith, hope, confidence, freedom, honesty and trust. ABC still promotes itself as "the most trusted" in broadcast news. They owe that claim to Peter Jennings and his team. Though some at ABC still do sterling work with Jennings no longer at the helm there is no one left to champion that claim and there is no more obvious proof than this "docudrama". It''s mere existence is an insult to New Yorkers, to the nation and to responsible journalism. It is theater masquerading as fact, national tragedy made product and maniplated to satisfy a niche market.

I may be wrong but I doubt Peter Jennings would have made a "docudrama'' about 9-11. Like me he wasn't directly involved, but he was there and it was all too real for him, for me, for some 40 million people in the tristate area and Washington D.C.

That's a lot of potential critics with actual experience and intimate knowledge of 9-11, ABC/Disney! I don'tt doubt you'll get great Nielsen ratings ( I'll certainly watch it) , but I'd keep an eye out on the "put" options on your stock if I were you.

10 comments:

Carl said...

Brit,

This docudrama has raised a stink on the left because, well, they blame Clinton.

The program was developed by a bunch of right wingers, and was consulted on by one of the Republican members of the 9/11 Commission, on whose report the miniseries is based.

Said report took great pains not to blame either Clinton OR Bush, which means one thing: they agreed Bush was to blame, but it would be unsporting to point fingers at a sitting President.

Check out Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, or Media Matters for more.

For my money, the best tribute on this fifth anniversary is happening in Blogtopia (© Skippy): the 2,996 Project of which I am a humble part of, and you can read my contribution on my blog.

5th Estate said...

Carl...

I've followed this thing through C&L, AmericaBlog, Hullabaloo, MM, Think Progress and their various links to unfamiliar sites and blogs. Thanks to them I've read the verbatim interviews conducted thus far with the producer and director. Words don;t lie, people do. The ABC Blog "clarifications" protesting the suposedly non-partisan approach and perspective to the project clearly fly in the face of specific comments made regarding this docudrama.
However until I see it I can;t comment on it directly. But I do think I can complain about the format, and attempted to do so. As I ask repeatedly, who the fuck needs a "docudrama"? Is 9-11 to be remembered as a national tragedy or a Republican success of some kind? Jeez.
Well, I;ve long been meaning to visit the 2,996 Project so off I go.

PTCruiser said...

An outstanding piece. I intend on writing ABC myself. Thank you for further motivation.

Elderta said...

History is written by the victors. The Bushites are trying to get a head start, as they certainly aren't winning anywhere.

Karen said...

Great post 5th. I've already written ABC on this. Yep, even Canadians are following this. Like you I followed Peter Jennings that day though I must admit I was flipping channels trying to get any and all information.

A docu-drama, particularly one filled with untruths, is not only unnecessary, it is despicable to me. To play politics on the back of such a tragedy defies description.

That day started like any other for me. Flipped on the TV to get my morning dose of Canadian and American news. I was watching the Today show, when the second plane hit as Lauer was reporting on the first. As I write this, I'm filled with the incredulous horror I felt at that moment. You see, my husband was in the States and was due to come home on that day. I tried to get all the info I could then called him. He was on the left coast, so due to the time difference, he was oblivious to what had happened. He tried in vain to calm me down, but I was so confused, wanting him home, but not wanting him to fly. I wanted to help those in New York who needed it, but being so far away, I felt helpless.

Long story short, it took him the better part of a week to get home and even then, could not fly across the border. He and some friends rented a car and drove the final leg into Canada.

That day is burned into my memory. I need no fictional account to recall it. That it is politically motivated, is an incredibly sad commentary.

I missed Jennings when he left Canada and of course, miss him more so now.

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

It's not satirical per se but my latest might make you smile, maybe a chuckle or two, and I will try my best to give more of the "For the love of God, woould you lighten up!" stuff. :>) Try the Poetic Justice Theatre if you want a bit of both in a dramatic interlaced with humor here and there. Still hurts, but atleast you get a laugh or two. :>)

Thank you for your own slice of humor and for your visits. Always welcome friend. Always.

Peace.

sumo said...

Living in California when this was happening (although horrifying)...I would be remiss in any fashion to have had an understanding of what it was like for those near this or involved in the day that America stood still. Your piece is very eloquent in its insight and emotion. All of us stood or sat in horrified silence as this unfolded. I was at work and could only run periodically to the front office where there was a TV to keep up on the latest. I was impacted with incredulity when on one of my runs that the first tower had gone down. I was stupified. I never thaought that would or could happen. All I had been thinking about when I went back each time to my office was that the people in the upper floors would be evacked out by helicopters. Trust me...I was most confident that this is what would happen. I also figured that those below the hit would get out. Of course I wasn't thinking of the elevators not functioning or fire and smoke going into the stairwells. When the secetary told me a tower had gone down...I cannot describe the shock I felt. As I said before I was sure people could get on top of the building and be rescued...and confident that the firefighters would fix things as humanly possible and most everyone would be okay. When she told me that people were jumping out of the buildings...and I saw some that were hanging out windows waving anything for attention...I thought I'd lost my mind. I have always had a horror of being burned and dying that way...and there it was right before my eyes...happening to people that I realized...wouldn't get that help. We were all zombies that day at work...I don't think we accomplished much...I'm sure the entire week either.

sumo said...

I linked to your post btw...cuz it was so damn poignant...there!...I said it!

eyedoc333 said...

I made sure to contact ABC, as well.

I guess we all remember where we were on 9/11. I was flying aboard an American Airlines 757 on 9/11. I missed all the televised live coverage, as our plane turned back to land in Zurich, Switzerland. Our pilot explained that there was "an air traffic control problem in the US", so as not to alarm the passengers. The awful truth was announced when we arrived at the terminal. It took five days to get back to the US. I've never been so glad to get home.

billie said...

peter jennings was a class act. i doubt that he would have gone along with the propaganda.