CNN:
CNN around the time of the second crash is devoted entirely to the subject of the Twin towers disaster. Instantly noticeable is the fact that there are no live shots of anything other than the towers. The entirety of the broadcast is made up of towers, smoke, a few text notes, and voice-overs by the CNN reporters, commentators, and called in informants. There is a definite sense of confusion and lack of information, though the reporters very effectively manage to maintain their professionalism and detachment, even going so far as to interrupt a more anxious phoned in interviewee in an effort to prevent a sense of panic on the channel/among viewers.
The footage from the 17th is very different in tone and perspective. Where the original broadcast was raw, and present, and badly understood, the later broadcast is polished, edited, and mostly focused on analysis and opinions of the now intimately familiar 9/11 disaster. The onscreen images portray new, largely positive feeds associated with the crashes, the search and rescue efforts and such. Some examples include a giant flag, even various messages scribbled on walls, of support, loss, etc. In a way, the reporters are more emotional now than during the initial broadcast, as the implications of the attacks have had the time to sink in.
BBC
The BBC broadcast on the day of seems similarly confused, though with fewer immediate sources of information. Notes on the screen about the disaster focus on the physical destruction of parts of the buildings. In a sense, its perspective is slightly more distanced temporally than the US broadcast. The focus, rather than being on the action of the crash, is on the physical results of the crash, a focus on the past rather than the present. The dearth of information leads the descriptions to become fairly repetitive, though whether that is to get new viewers up to speed, or because of a lack of other things to say is unclear.
The BBC broadcast from the 17th, like its american counterpart, is substantially more polished and edited than the week before. Unlike the American story, however, which focuses on the local/personal aspects to the tragedy, the British focus piece has shifted to the more objective global impacts of the attack, namely, the beginning declarations of then president, George Bush’s ’War on Terror,’ and the reopening of the New York Stock Exchange, the, “ravaged center of the world’s financial system.” There are also much cleaner graphics and transitions, which add to the more professional/objective feel.