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 By
Joe Shortsleeve '79
I remember that Tuesday morning very clearly.
I was standing in my kitchen watching the CBS morning show
as they talked about the smoke pouring from the World Trade
Center tower. I thought perhaps a pilot in a traffic helicopter
had had a heart attack or, perhaps, a pilot of a small plane,
but I didn't think it was terrorism until the second plane
hit. Then I knew in an instant it was a terrorist act. I
remember I was going to take a walk with my wife, but instead
I picked up the phone and called the WBZ-TV 4 newsroom.
There was a real sense of urgency in the assignment editor's
voice. He said he was hearing the planes that hit the towers
were actually passenger jets and that they may have taken
off from Logan Airport. I never took that walk. I spent practically
the next two weeks in the Channel 4 newsroom. I think the
thing that has struck me the most about Sept. 11 is the affect
it had on the media and on people's view of the media. For
weeks after the attacks, people would stop me on the street
and say, "Thanks for the coverage, you people have done
a very nice job," or "It must be very hard to report
such sad news." Whatever they said, there was always
empathy in their voices. Now for someone who has spent the
better part of 22 years in TV news, this was a real change.
Most people have a rather dim view of TV news. While people
are usually polite to the "on air" people they
meet, their comments are often somewhat negative. People
usually say things like "there is too much bad news
on TV, too much violence, the weather forecasts are rarely
right."
But Sept. 11 changed that. The media began to do some things
right, and people quickly responded. A recent national poll
indicates that the public's view of the media is more positive.
Why? Perhaps it has to do with what happened in the days
following Sept. 11.
Take, for example, the massive effort to raise money for
the victims of the attacks-somewhere near a billion dollars.
A billion dollars. Television played a role in allowing every
American to do something to help those most affected by these
attacks. I remember that Friday night about 10 days after
the attacks, most of the television networks in the world
joined together to broadcast a concert to benefit the victims.
That had never happened before. Networks all over the world
with the very same programming for the very same cause.
The American media also began wrapping itself in the American
flag. I heard Dan Rather refer to American troops as "our" troops
as opposed to "troops from the United States." At
Channel 4, our news set was changed to a allow for a backdrop
of the American flag. When the anthrax scares hit the nation's
capital, reporters could be heard saying "we as Americans" need
to be very careful. Suddenly, the media was no longer a distant
voice. It was the voice of patriotic Americans.
The government asked the media not to carry live comments
from supporters of Osama Bin Laden, fearing that coded messages
could be sent to terrorists listening to the reports. Most
media outlets followed the instruction of the government
without much hesitation. Imagine that same thing happening
during the Vietnam War era or even the Gulf War. The lead
stories during those wars probably had more to do with people
protesting the war.
Don't misunderstand me-I think the media needs to maintain
a certain distance to report accurately the news in an unbiased
fashion. I think we need to continue to ask hard questions
about our "War on Terrorism." But I think the media,
like most of America, became more patriotic on Sept. 11th.
And I think that is a good thing.
Joe Shortsleeve '79 is the news anchor for WBZ 4 News
weekdays at 6 and 11 p.m. Named Best TV Reporter by Boston
Magazine in 1994, he received the prestigious Ohio State
Award in 1988 and the Gannett Corporation's General Assignment
Reporter of the Year Award in 1987. He is also the recipient
of a United Press International Award and a New England
Emmy Award.
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