NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT {TERRORIST ATTACKS} (TV)
Summary
This NBC news special report presents coverage of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as aired on NBC. This coverage begins at 9:59 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, September 11, as anchor Tom Brokaw tells co-anchors Katie Couric and Matt Lauer that the FAA has shut down all air traffic in the U.S. in the wake of the attacks. Brokaw then speaks briefly with former FBI director James Kallstrom and NBC reporter Jim Miklaszewski about the attacks. Miklaszewski says that the area of the Pentagon that exploded had been undergoing renovations recently but was largely reopened. "It's hard to say how many people might have been in there," he says. NBC moves from the Pentagon to the burning Twin Towers. Brokaw says, "There's got to be some structural damage to these buildings; the buildings may have to be brought down," just as the first tower of the World Trade Center collapses to the ground. Brokaw cuts via telephone to an eyewitness account of the collapse; the person interviewed describes total pandemonium. Jamie Gangel tells Brokaw that it appears that the explosion at the Pentagon was caused by another plane crash, not a bomb. Back in lower Manhattan, reporter Pat Dawson says that authorities near the World Trade Center were completely shocked by the collapse of the first tower but think the second tower should stand for the moment. Brokaw then calls on reporter Andrea Mitchell at the State Department, where a bomb is reported to have exploded. Mitchell says that she is unable to confirm the report about the bomb but adds that the building is being evacuated. At the tail end of Mitchell's report, the second tower in New York collapses. Brokaw then airs a brief speech from President George W. Bush, who is at a Florida elementary school, after which all three anchors engage in conversations with NBC's aviation expert, Bob Hager, and terrorism expert Neil Livingston. Livingston declares that although one should be careful about pointing fingers too quickly he suspects the influence of "the Middle East and Osama bin Laden." Hager says that the FAA has not yet released much information on whether officials knew of the hijackings before the crashes. After a report from Pat Dawson that a bomb threat has been phoned in to Stuyvesant High School, which is located near the World Trade Center, MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield reports that the "explosion sounds" that have been heard around lower Manhattan are apparently automobiles exploding after overheating.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: September 11, 2001 Tuesday 9:59 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:33:23
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:69083
- GENRE: News
- SUBJECT HEADING: Disasters; Hijacking of aircraft; September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001; She Made It Collection (Katie Couric); Terrorism
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 2001
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tom Brokaw … Anchor
- Katie Couric … Anchor
- Matt Lauer … Anchor
- Ashleigh Banfield … Reporter
- Pat Dawson … Reporter
- Jamie Gangel … Reporter
- Robert Hager … Reporter
- Jim Miklaszewski … Reporter
- Andrea Mitchell … Reporter
- bin Laden, Osama
- George W. Bush
- James Kallstrom
- Neil Livingston