9/11 9:00am/CNN Atlanta, GA
The first thing I saw when I tuned into this station was a picture of the World Trade Center on fire and smoke filling the blue day sky. The headline read: Plane Crashes into World Trade Center. While watching one thing I noticed the camera angle(s) being used. Throughout the footage clip I was able to conclude that when the newscasters were stating the facts about the incident the camera would zoom in slightly, and then right back out to an overview of the city. On the other hand whenever they would interview an eye-witness or talk about those who were lost they would tend to zoom in. in addition, when they showed the clip of the World Trade Center going up in flames and smoke the camera angle had a tendency widen. I felt that this was their main objective in attempt to increase the awareness and so that those who weren’t there could feel their pain and share their sympathy. As they spoke to witnesses over the phone some were calm and others were loud and frantic. In the background of these calls you could hear people yelling, screaming and panicking for help as the debris fell from the crumbling building.
9/11 9:00am/BBC World, London
When I tuned into the footage of the September 11th attacks on the London station much was the same, but at the same time there were some differences. The broadcaster, in a cool calm and collected voice announced that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Simultaneously, the screen flashed the imaged of the tower going up with smoke on the screen. A few seconds later it quickly zoomed in to the hole where the plane had crashed. As the broadcast went on they continued to speak, and mainly about the facts. I felt as if in this video, compared to the news cast in the U.S, they were a little less sympathetic towards the tragedy in the sense that the use of the camera angles were few and far between and most of them did not necessarily make us feel devastated about the situation. One of the visuals I remembered was when the tower went up in smoke and not a few seconds, so it seemed, later did we see the second plane crashing into the tower as well. At that point the building went up in immediate flames. As told by the eye witness, “The building physically shook.” You could hear people screaming, chaos erupting, bangs firing and ambulances sounding.
9/17 9:10am/CNN Atlanta, GA
Six days following the attack on the World Trade Center the headlines in New York read, “America’s New War.” The screen then quickly filled with images of the flag of the United States of America as if to say, “You may have caught us off guard momentarily, but WE ARE BACK!” I found that while watching the video footage the day’s main focus and point of concern was the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Anything involving the NYSE the news seemed to right on it. From the ½ percent rate cut to talking to the stock workers about the changes that were about to happen, the world was tuned in for all of it. One of the screen shots shown were of people working and trying to speak over one another (I guess that’s a typical day at NYSE!). Not only did we see this visual but were privy to many of the headlines: “Analysts differ over direction of economy after attacks” and “Insurance, airline sectors expected to take hit at it.” From where I was standing (well, I was actually sitting!) it seemed that they were less focused on the attacks and more on the money (no reason they say that money is the root of all evil!), less on the people who were effected and more on how the economy would be able to capitalize on this tragedy. This clip made me think, “Are we focused on the right thing at a time like this?” Hmmm….
9/17 9:10am/BBC World, London
Well…. On the other side of the world on the day about a week after the attacks, all you could hear was dramatic and upbeat music playing, in the background, as they transition to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This particular day marked the day that the NYSE was to reopen. In doing so it marked the longest closer since the Great Depression in the 30s. I feel that the approach of playing music and flashing somewhat bright images across the screen attracts and engages the viewer. As in the U.S .video, the reopening of NYSE was a message to the criminals of the 9/11 attacks. The London news had a tendency to spout of more facts. For instance, 180 bodies were found and 5097 people were still missing. If this doesn’t cause some kind of reaction (an Oh or Ah) then I do not know what will. One of the images shown to us was of people entering the city, by subway and ferry, but being handed U.S. flags and maps to help lead them around the chaotic city, but by far the most memorable, at least for me, was when the United States flag popped up on the screen, while commentary was being cited in the background, and morphs itself in the image of the Statues of Liberty. This, to me, represented a symbol of hope and togetherness that we would soon overcome