During the September 11 attacks of 2001, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, killed 2,977 people, injured over 6,000, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Multiple others have died due to 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks, leading the numbers of those impacted to continually shift to reflect the new information.
Some of the victims were able to document their experiences, or the experiences of others, and created well-known images and videos of the attacks and their trauma. The media produced during and after the attacks were used to help identify victims, for investigations into the attacks, and to document the attacks for history, among, other reasons. Many media forms were used, specifically photography and videography from passersby on the streets or surrounding areas, freelance photographers, and media crews around the city.
9/11 is believed to be the most photographed day in history and the record breaking 93-hour continuous news coverage marked the longest uninterrupted news event in American television history.
The large spread of images and video along with the lasting impact on the population caused many of the images and videos to be in the top of the list of performances given recognition in mid-2002. In broadcast journalism, the Peabody Awards went to ABC and NPR for their channels' documentation of the attacks, and the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded to six events around the attacks, including two in photography.
Photography Due to the public nature of the attack, which occurred in a busy location in broad daylight, the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 is said to be the most photographed disaster in history. Potentially due to the sudden and catastrophic nature of the attacks, there was no effort by city, state, or federal governments to document the disaster. The mayor of New York City at the time, Rudy Giuliani, issued an executive order shortly after the end of the attack, banning amateur photographs of the ruins as it was deemed a "crime scene" and not a tourist attraction.
Many photojournalists such as Kelly Guenther and Suzanne Plunkett, became aware of the scale of the attack after the first tower was hit. Guenther recounted that she ran to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade shortly after the first tower was hit; this is when she noticed the second plane coming in over the Statue of Liberty. Her photo of the plane coming into the New York City skyline was used on the front of multiple newspapers. Plunkett had just exited the subway and was attempting to enter police barriers when the towers collapsed, and she began to run before turning around and capturing those evacuating the area.
Others were directed by editors and higher ups from other sites to head towards the towers in order to cover the attacks. Photographer Richard Drew with The Associated Press recounted that he had arrived at a fashion show in Bryant Park at around 7:30 that morning, before sitting near a CNN camera set up at around 8:30. He heard the CNN cameraman, who had direct contact to the studio, stating; "There's been an explosion at the World Trade Center!" before his phone went off and his editor told him to leave the fashion show during the attack. A reporter and photographer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel were in town for New York Fashion week coverage and called their editor after viewing the attack on the television, before being directed to cover the attack. Ruth Fremson, a photographer with the New York Times was close to the towers when they collapsed and moved to a deli where she continued to take pictures of first responders, civilians and survivors as they entered the deli.Cameras and rolls of film were recovered in the rubble, which were either lost by surviving photographers or near those who were killed. These rolls of film and equipment, where possible, were cleaned and processed; many of the photos produced showcase the photographers' final work, notably with the recovered cameras of Bill Biggart. Of the pictures recovered or initially uploaded to company servers, editors had to choose which to include or which would be deemed too disturbing to be published. Of polled photo editors who chose to run images classified as disturbing, for instance those with victims trapped on high levels or falling from the buildings, none chose to run the images on the front page but felt that not running the images would be a disservice to the victims and the scale of the tragedy. One such editor stated:
Other forms of photo documentation of the disaster were not discovered until several years later, such as a man's web-camera that had been set to take multiple photos and had captured the disaster.
Some of these images were incorporated into an exhibition of images called After September 11: Images from Ground Zero which showcased twenty-seven images around the world. Other exhibitions of the images were brought together in the form of archives, such as one spearheaded by photographer Joel Meyerowitz under the direction of the Museum of the City of New York to focus on the rescue and recovery work at Ground Zero.
Images from inside the World Trade Center Buildings Some survivors took photos shortly after the attacks or while evacuating. One photo showed firefighter Mike Kehoe from Engine 28 climbing the stairs of the North Tower as employees evacuate on the other side of the stairs. Kehoe was reported dead for two days after the attacks before it was reported that he was alive, and the image has been used to showcase the bravery shown by first responders. Other photos were given later to family members of the deceased such as a photo from the North Tower showing security guard Alexander Ortiz Caro helping direct evacuees out of the tower. Ortiz Caro had returned to the building after leading employees to the street level and was killed in the attacks.
Other images showed more debris and damage caused by the attacks such as a those taken by firefighter Bertram Springstead as he was exiting the North Tower shortly after the South Tower had collapsed. Many of Springstead's images, that had been captured on a disposable camera, show the debris and smoke in the air and on the streets along with emergency responders and their vehicles. An electrical engineer and survivor of the 1993 bombing Ed Kotski worked on the 74th floor of the North Tower where he took photos inside the tower, looking out the tower's windows and on street level showing smoke and debris falling off the tower onto the street.
Notable images Photograph NamePhotographerDescriptionNotesImpending DeathThomas DallalDepiction of the North Tower of the World Trade Center after it was struck by American Airlines Flight 11, with numerous people visible trapped on upper floors and hanging out the windows.Placed second in Pictures of the Year International, used to attempt to identify victims depicted.The Falling ManRichard DrewDepiction of an unknown subject who either fell or jumped from the upper floors of the North Tower, as he fell from the tower to his death.Anger and criticism is seen with the publication of the image.Raising the Flag at Ground ZeroThomas E. FranklinDepiction of three New York City firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the attacks.Has been incorporated in to a semi postal stamp and a 40-foot-tall bronze monument was based on the image.Victim 0001Shannon StapletonDepiction of Father Mychal Judge's corpse being carried from the North Tower after he was killed by debris from the South Tower and became the first deceased recovered from the site.Has been described as an American Pieta.Dust LadyStan HondaDepiction of survivor Marcy Borders covered in debris and dust after the World Trade Center collapse; the image became widely recognized.The image has been used in many retrospective articles about the attacks.
Videography and news coverage
There were only three known videographers who captured the impact of the first plane when it hit the North Tower in New York City: French filmmaker Jules Naudet, who was recording for a documentary about the New York Fire Department;Sources: German artist Wolfgang Staehle, who was livestreaming the Manhattan skyline at the time; and Czech tourist Pavel Hlava, who unintentionally captured the impact while making a video postcard to send home to his family. Flight 175's impact of the South Tower was captured by numerous amateur videographers and across multiple news outlets who were reporting on the World Trade Center after Flight 11's impact. Two security cameras captured the impact at The Pentagon and the impact of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania is only recorded as a mushroom cloud in a single video. The attacks were also captured by local law enforcement, such as Officer Glen Pettit, who was a video cameraman for the New York Police Department.
Jules and Gédéon Naudet are the French filmmakers who were at the scene of the attack as they were filming a documentary on members of the Engine 7, Ladder 1 firehouse in Lower Manhattan and had followed the firefighters on a routine call following a suspected gas leak in downtown New York. Upon hearing a plane flying, Jules Naudet swung the camera to track it and filmed the collision by chance. He continued to film during the attack and evacuation, gathering some 180 hours of footage. The brothers, by their own admission, made an effort to not film any of those who died while they were at the site via either fire, jumping or other traumatic injuries.
Some individuals tied to news stations, such as photojournalist Mark LaGanga, who worked for CBS News, were called up by editors and executives and told to document the event. In the case of LaGanga, it was thought to be just a small plane crash, and he did not fully understand the true nature of the attack while he documented and interviewed first responders, until he documented the collapse of the North Tower.
British photojournalist and filmmaker Paul Berriff was filming the series Animal Precinct when him and his crew were notified of Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower. When they arrived at the site, Berriff documented emergency response when the South Tower suddenly collapsed. The debris made him unconscious for around 30 minutes in which time the North Tower also collapsed around him. Berriff escaped from the Ground Zero rubble and survived with minor injuries and reunited with his crew. He later found and retrieved his camera which was smashed but the tapes survived. Berriff captured one of the closest angles of the South Tower's collapse and his footage has been consistently used in 9/11 documentaries around the world.
Other videos of the attack were taken by individuals who did not make the footage public immediately, such as former New York University student Caroline Dries, who filmed the attack out of her 32nd-floor room on Water Street and held on to the footage for almost ten years. After releasing the footage, she stated that it took her ten years to understand why the footage was special, and that sometimes she thought it would have been nice or easier to not have filmed it.
Pavel Hlava was an immigrant from the Czech Republic who is the only person to capture both the impact of American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower and United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. He also recorded some of the only close-up footage of the South side of the South Tower and its impact hole, as well as the collapse of the South Tower. His footage was not made public until two years later when a colleague stole the tape from him and gave it to the media.