![]() ![]() “The country needed some sort of stability, some sort of ground,” says David Westin, ABC News president at the time. Things were happening too quickly to keep up. Yet viewers could see that, moments earlier, most of one tower had already collapsed. At one point Brokaw wondered aloud whether damage to the towers would be so severe they would have to be taken down. It’s hard to convey the confusion and anxiety they stepped into. They bring all of their life experience, they bring all of their anchoring experience.” “You want the most experienced person in that chair because they bring so much. ![]() “It was clear that it was an attack on America,” says Marcy McGinnis, who was in charge of breaking news at CBS that day. Yet the faces of the tragedy became a trio of legendary anchors - Brokaw, Jennings and Rather - reflecting an era of broadcasting where white men still commanded the top jobs. Initial network reports were handled by journalists of considerable reputation: Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Bryant Gumbel, Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer. ![]() Was it a terrible accident? The second plane bursting into the towers with a ball of flame, and scary reports from the Pentagon, answered that question but left many more. They rushed to their respective studios within an hour of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. “The country didn’t have to, if you will, dial around to see who knew what.”Įach was in New York that morning. “The three of us were known because we had taken the country through other catastrophes and big events,” Brokaw recalled this summer. Unlike today, when a TV studio is likely to be stuffed with people from many backgrounds when a big story breaks, back then it was pretty clear who was in charge. While they weren’t the only journalists on the air - CNN’s Aaron Brown memorably narrated the scene from a New York rooftop, for example - ABC, CBS or NBC were the first choices for news. Each had extensive reporting experience before that - Brokaw and Rather at the White House during Watergate, Jennings primarily as a foreign correspondent. Each had anchored his network’s evening newscasts for roughly two decades at that point. Competitive drive and ego had led them to that place. Peter Jennings (center) poses on the set of ABC's "World News Tonight." And "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw delivers his closing remarks during his final broadcast.īrokaw, Rather and Jennings were the kings of broadcast news on Sept. ![]()
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