Tuesday September 11th, 2001- 9:00am WJLA (USA)
At 9:00 the first twin tower has already been hit. The screen is a live shot of the flaming building. The reporters discuss personal experiences with flying in airplanes around the World Trade Center and with looking down on airplanes from the top floors of the Twin Towers. At around 9:01am the camera zoom’s in on the gaping hole in the side of the building while the reporters discuss possible casualties. They mention that one of the towers had an observation deck which was a popular tourist attraction. At around 9:02 the reporters begin to interview an eyewitness. A few seconds into the interview a plane hits the second building. This footage was captured and aired live so the audience got the immediate reactions of the reporters and the eyewitness in New York. The angle of the live shot was not ideal because the second building was hidden by the first building. The only visible part of the attack was the fireball after the collision. After the second collision the reporters assert that the plane crashes must be a “concerted effort” against the World Trade Center. The next two minutes that follow are replay and analysis of the collision that was caught on tape. The female commentator mentions that a plane was seen in the footage earlier and expressed curiosity in knowing if this was the same plane that just hit the second tower. Throughout this whole five minute section the visual was always footage of the towers.
Monday September 17th, 2001- 12:00 WJLA(USA)
Immediately it is noticeable that this news segment is much more planned and organized than the live report on September 11th. The segment is introduced as “America Recovers.” Latest news is outlined on a bulleted slide. These bulleted items are followed by video footage and voice over comments. The first footage shown is Bush shaking hands with federal workers as they head back to work. The voice over mentions that Bush believes the best way to fight back against the terrorist attack is to head back to work and not let the tragedy affect workers. What follows is footage of the tower ruins while an onsite reporter discusses the rescue and clean-up operations. Lastly the topic of Wall Street re-opening is discussed through voice over as footage of the workers is displayed. The delivery of information in this report was much more organized than the sporadic bursts of information that was given in the initial 9/11 report.
Tuesday September 11th, 2001- 9:00am BBC (London)
At 9:00am the visual is a live shot of the burning tower. This footage is zoomed in on the large whole in the side of the building. Just like the WJLA footage, only the first tower is actually visible and the second tower is hidden by the first tower. The reporter narrates a vague description of what happened. She states that a plane crashed into the side of the building. She then quotes an eyewitness account stating that the plane was flying low and hit the building at an angle. All the reporter’s comments seem to be very fact based. She does not make many personal comments. She repeats the same facts several times and mentions that there is no information on casualties. A male commentator joins to give the latest update but he basically restates what was already known. At around 9:02 the reporter begins an interview with someone in New York. Just as the reporter introduces the speaker the second tower is hit. There is a delayed reaction from the reporter. The collision was less visible on this station than on WJLA because the frame was zoomed in and part of the explosion was covered by the “Live Breaking News” subtitle box. The eyewitness describes the chaos that is being caused by the second explosion. During this description better footage, showing both burning towers, is displayed on the screen. For the next two minutes the reporters discuss the damage on the buildings as multiple photographic angles of the buildings are displayed.
Monday September 17th, 2001- 12:00 BBC(London)
This news report is clearly more organized and planned than the news report on the morning of September 11th. The report begins with a short summary of what will be discussed in the next section of the news. While the reporter lists the next topics of discussion footage of Wall Street, the World Trade Center ruins, Osama bin Laden, and Virgin Mobile airplanes are shown. This short commercial clip is the first indication of a more structured report. What follows is a live report by an on-site reporter, in front of the tower ruins. This report mentions the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. About minute later information on “Terror in America” is displayed on a PowerPoint like visual while the anchor discusses the main talking points. This segment gave much more information on the disaster than the segment on 9/11.
Comparison of Stations:
Both stations had similar approaches to delivering the news. On both channels footage of the towers was shown the whole time during September 11th. A main difference I noticed between the American broadcast and the London broadcast was the emotional and personal comments. The American reporters had a more emotional reaction to the second plane crash and made personal comments throughout the report. The BBC reporter only stated facts and did not have any personal information to add about the buildings like the American reporters. The secondary reports on September 17th were much more similar for both stations.