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A 9/11 memory
I remember where I was when the Twin Towers were attacked 20 years ago: working in TV master control at my local PBS station.
Between pumping out the kids programming I heard someone talking in the hallway about the Twin Towers being hit and it was all over the news. In addition to our air monitor I had a cable feed to monitor our cable feed. Curious to the hubbub I turned to CNN. I was shocked.
Along with office space at the top of one of the towers was the spanking new antenna and digital transmitter of our sister station WNET in NY. Working on the new transmitter was the chief engineer and other technicians. I knew they were in grave danger.
I found out later that there were a lot of talk and telephone calls about switching our feed to cover the disaster, but the decision was made to keep on with our standard programming. We provide what others don't and at that time *everyone* was covering the Twin Towers. For our younger audience we stayed with the children's programming. CNN and other news outlets were doing a good enough job.
I was watching the live feed when the core of that tower collapsed and the antenna sunk into the building. The core collapse caused the structure to pancake. Public television lost its own that day.
Twenty years on and I don't think we've learned anything from that event. We were a swaggering first world power and we just got worse. The threats we had then remain, and our vulnerabilities and dependence on Middle Eastern energy have stayed the same. Twenty years of The War on Terror have left us more afraid and less free. The Military Industrial Complex has grown richer while the rest of us have grown poorer.
A generation wasted.
-m
Between pumping out the kids programming I heard someone talking in the hallway about the Twin Towers being hit and it was all over the news. In addition to our air monitor I had a cable feed to monitor our cable feed. Curious to the hubbub I turned to CNN. I was shocked.
Along with office space at the top of one of the towers was the spanking new antenna and digital transmitter of our sister station WNET in NY. Working on the new transmitter was the chief engineer and other technicians. I knew they were in grave danger.
I found out later that there were a lot of talk and telephone calls about switching our feed to cover the disaster, but the decision was made to keep on with our standard programming. We provide what others don't and at that time *everyone* was covering the Twin Towers. For our younger audience we stayed with the children's programming. CNN and other news outlets were doing a good enough job.
I was watching the live feed when the core of that tower collapsed and the antenna sunk into the building. The core collapse caused the structure to pancake. Public television lost its own that day.
Twenty years on and I don't think we've learned anything from that event. We were a swaggering first world power and we just got worse. The threats we had then remain, and our vulnerabilities and dependence on Middle Eastern energy have stayed the same. Twenty years of The War on Terror have left us more afraid and less free. The Military Industrial Complex has grown richer while the rest of us have grown poorer.
A generation wasted.
-m