Contrast that with Sunday’s 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, a day that has been documented, dissected and debated unlike any other in human history.
On TV and radio, in print and online, over social media that didn’t exist 10 years earlier, the tributes, reflections and search for meaning have poured forth in a kind of collective media-fed group therapy. Where were you that day, many news organizations asked? What do you remember? On Sunday, it was impossible to forget. Eight networks carried live coverage of the official memorial ceremonies at the Pentagon, Ground Zero and Shanksville, Pa. The NFL waved field-size American flags during its marquee matchups, including the symbolic New York-Washington game between the Giants and Redskins.
Every outlet had an angle; a Web site called Food Republic surveyed chefs about their memories (“I would never forget the feeling of me cooking that night,” one said).
“I think this is what 24-hour news cycles result in,” said Gene Roberts, a former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Times. “If you have a lot of time to fill, anniversaries are something [the media] can plan ahead on. . . . I guess I can think of some important milestones that got coverage, but not like this.” At the same time, he added, “this was one of the more traumatizing events in American history.”
Americans have always reflected on the anniversaries of significant and solemn days — Dec. 7, 1941; June 6, 1944; and Nov. 22, 1963, among them — but probably none has rated the buildup and attention of this anniversary.
Much of it, of course, is due to the unique and far-reaching nature of Sept. 11 itself. Its consequences and associations are insinuated into daily life, from the mundane act of taking one’s shoes off in an airport security line to the neo-tradition of singing “God Bless America” instead of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at ballparks.
Many anniversary stories assessed how that one day changed something: international relations, domestic politics, warfare, air travel, architecture, movies. Others asked American Muslims how the years since the attacks have affected them. A few stories (like this one) covered the coverage. More than a few (including in Sunday’s Post) concluded that “everything” had changed.
An overriding theme was “you.” USA Today produced brief videos of people answering the question, “How has 9/11 changed you?” (Regis Philbin said it made him feel “angry . . . sad”) and asked readers to contribute their own videos. More than 35,000 people submitted comments to the New York Times in answer to its question, “Where Were You on Sept. 11, 2001?”
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