Journalist’s trip coincides with 2001 terrorist attacks September 11, 2011
The day broke beautiful as we climbed into the clear blue sky out of Newark.
Out the right side of the plane, we could see the sun just beginning to rise on a cool, cloudless September morning, sparkling off the water of New York Harbor. The twin towers of the World Trade Center gleamed, shining beacons on the southern tip of the island.
"Beautiful. Just beautiful," said Jody Calendar, my traveling partner. A long-time reporter and editor at the Asbury Park Press and then The Record of Hackensack, Jody was program chairwoman for the 2001 convention of the Associated Press Managing Editors. APME is an association of newspaper and online editors of the 1,700 Associated Press member and client organizations in the United States and Canada .
The convention was scheduled Oct. 10-13 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee. It was customary for the program chairman and AP representative to make one final planning trip to the conference site approximately 30 days before its start.
Based on our schedules, we chose Tuesday, Sept. 11.
The flight from Newark normally was a straight line to Milwaukee, descending over Lake Michigan for General Mitchell Airport. On this particular morning, our pilot banked to the right and appeared to fly a good deal north before making a mild bank to the left, then another, and finally landing about 20 minutes behind schedule. The move seemed unusual at the time, but there was no announcement from the cockpit and we made nothing of it.
It was not until we had de-planed, walked through the airport and climbed into a taxi that we became aware of what had happened. "A plane hit the World Trade Center ," said the driver, listening to the car radio. "It's on fire." As we rode downtown, word came of a second plane hitting the other tower. Suddenly what has happening in southern Manhattan was no accident.
At the hotel, we watched television stunned as the skyscrapers burned, then collapsed, and as firefighters fought the flames and smoke billowing out of America 's defense headquarters. We thought about the people who were dying, trapped or injured as we watched what was transpiring on the screen, a memory that 10 years later remains very fresh.
Jody made a quick call home then began calling friends who knew people working at or near the towers. I left messages for my wife, Mary, a teacher in Cranbury, N.J. , and my son, Brent, a junior at Hightstown, N.J. , High School, that I was safe.
At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the conference host, Managing Editor George Stanley was rearranging the newspaper's story budget to make room for the huge, global story developing on the East Coast. A fourth hijacked jet apparently headed towards Washington had just crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Rumors abounded that other tall buildings, including the 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago and the 42-story Firstar Center (now U.S. Bank Center) in Milwaukee were also being targeted by aircraft still in the sky. In New York City , officials were concerned about the 70-story GE Building and AP was directed to leave its headquarters building across the street. Some business employees left but news and photo staffers remained at their fourth floor posts.
Amid the uncertainty about who was behind the attacks and what other acts might be planned, we began talking about whether to proceed with the conference a month later. Many groups already were canceling events around the country. Some members of the APME board favored doing the same - what would have been only the second time since it began convening AP member newspaper editors since 1933 that the group would not meet. The other was in 1942 during World War II.
The association leadership decided to proceed. The conference agenda was revised to include sessions on terrorism, leading in times of crisis, international relations and how to help journalists cope with the stresses of working and reporting from dangerous locations.
All U.S. flights had been grounded shortly after the first plane hit the tower. On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 13, the Federal Aviation Administration allowed a limited resumption of flights. New York 's airspace including Newark Liberty Airport was still closed. We managed to get a flight that night to Philadelphia the only flight to the East Coast from Milwaukee that night - where we could then get to our homes across the Delaware River in New Jersey . A short time before we were to board, our Midwest Express pilot came up the walkway and asked passengers to gather around. "I would imagine some of you are a little afraid to fly tonight," he said. "I'm a little afraid, too." He proceeded to explain several changes we would encounter that were meant to improve safety and security, including the disappearance of the airline's signature china, wine glasses and silver service. It would be replaced by plastic and paper.
As I waited at the Princeton Junction, N.J., train station the next morning, heading to the office, I wondered how many cars in the sprawling parking lots had been there since Tuesday with owners never to return. There was no formal count of how many local commuters were lost. New Jersey Transit and the local parking authority would later erect a plaque in their memory.
The Milwaukee conference went on to be one of the most powerful in the organization's 78-year history. An AP photographer emotionally told how she had just finished covering the U.S. Open tennis tournament when she got the call to rush to the World Trade Center . She began shooting, then had to run and duck into a building to flee debris from a collapsing tower. A photo editor explained the thoughts behind deciding to transmit to AP members troublesome photos, including those of people jumping or falling from the burning skyscrapers. Tom Franklin, a photographer at The Record, told how he captured the iconic photo of three firefighters raising the American flag in the rubble. By video from Washington , Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson reported on the unfolding story of anthrax mailed to media offices in Florida and New York .
In the coming months, APME board members visiting New York requested to go to Ground Zero to see the destruction and the thousands of photos and messages posted on hastily erected fences seeking word of friends and family members unheard of since that September morning. At its Spring meeting, the APME board created an International Perspective award to recognize outstanding efforts by North American newspapers to give local audiences greater understanding of issues abroad.
Later in the day upon returning to the office from the Milwaukee planning trip, AP Executive Editor Jon Wolman asked me to prepare a piece on how the worldwide news company covered one of the biggest, most horrific events in its 155-year history. It was the story of the day the sky fell.
Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee. It was customary for the program chairman and AP representative to make one final planning trip to the conference site approximately 30 days before its start.
Based on our schedules, we chose Tuesday, Sept. 11.
The flight from Newark normally was a straight line to Milwaukee, descending over Lake Michigan for General Mitchell Airport. On this particular morning, our pilot banked to the right and appeared to fly a good deal north before making a mild bank to the left, then another, and finally landing about 20 minutes behind schedule. The move seemed unusual at the time, but there was no announcement from the cockpit and we made nothing of it.
It was not until we had de-planed, walked through the airport and climbed into a taxi that we became aware of what had happened. "A plane hit the World Trade Center," said the driver, listening to the car radio. "It's on fire." As we rode downtown, word came of a second plane hitting the other tower. Suddenly what has happening in southern Manhattan was no accident.
At the hotel, we watched television stunned as the skyscrapers burned, then collapsed, and as firefighters fought the flames and smoke billowing out of America's defense headquarters. We thought about the people who were dying, trapped or injured as we watched what was transpiring on the screen, a memory that 10 years later remains very fresh.
Jody made a quick call home then began calling friends who knew people working at or near the towers. I left messages for my wife, Mary, a teacher in Cranbury, N.J., and my son, Brent, a junior at Hightstown, N.J., High School, that I was safe.
At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the conference host, Managing Editor George Stanley was rearranging the newspaper's story budget to make room for the huge, global story developing on the East Coast. A fourth hijacked jet apparently headed towards Washington had just crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Rumors abounded that other tall buildings, including the 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago and the 42-story Firstar Center (now U.S. Bank Center) in Milwaukee were also being targeted by aircraft still in the sky. In New York City, officials were concerned about the 70-story GE Building and AP was directed to leave its headquarters building across the street. Some business employees left but news and photo staffers remained at their fourth floor posts.
Amid the uncertainty about who was behind the attacks and what other acts might be planned, we began talking about whether to proceed with the conference a month later. Many groups already were canceling events around the country.
Some members of the APME board favored doing the same - what would have been only the second time since it began convening AP member newspaper editors since 1933 that the group would not meet. The other was in 1942 during World War II.
The association leadership decided to proceed. The conference agenda was revised to include sessions on terrorism, leading in times of crisis, international relations and how to help journalists cope with the stresses of working and reporting from dangerous locations.
All U.S. flights had been grounded shortly after the first plane hit the tower. On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 13, the Federal Aviation Administration allowed a limited resumption of flights. New York 's airspace - including Newark Liberty Airport - was still closed. We managed to get a flight that night to Philadelphia - the only flight to the East Coast from Milwaukee that night - where we could then get to our homes across the Delaware River in New Jersey.
A short time before we were to board, our Midwest Express pilot came up the walkway and asked passengers to gather around. "I would imagine some of you are a little afraid to fly tonight," he said. "I'm a little afraid, too." He proceeded to explain several changes we would encounter that were meant to improve safety and security, including the disappearance of the airline's signature china, wine glasses and silver service. It would be replaced by plastic and paper.
As I waited at the Princeton Junction, N.J., train station the next morning, heading to the office, I wondered how many cars in the sprawling parking lots had been there since Tuesday with owners never to return. There was no formal count of how many local commuters were lost. New Jersey Transit and the local parking authority would later erect a plaque in their memory.
The Milwaukee conference went on to be one of the most powerful in the organization's 78-year history. An AP photographer emotionally told how she had just finished covering the U.S. Open tennis tournament when she got the call to rush to the World Trade Center. She began shooting, then had to run and duck into a building to flee debris from a collapsing tower. A photo editor explained the thoughts behind deciding to transmit to AP members troublesome photos, including those of people jumping or falling from the burning skyscrapers. Tom Franklin, a photographer at The Record, told how he captured the iconic photo of three firefighters raising the American flag in the rubble. By video from Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson reported on the unfolding story of anthrax mailed to media offices in Florida and New York.
In the coming months, APME board members visiting New York requested to go to Ground Zero to see the destruction and the thousands of photos and messages posted on hastily erected fences seeking word of friends and family members unheard of since that September morning. At its Spring meeting, the APME board created an International Perspective award to recognize outstanding efforts by North American newspapers to give local audiences greater understanding of issues abroad.
Later in the day upon returning to the office from the Milwaukee planning trip, AP Executive Editor Jon Wolman asked me to prepare a piece on how the worldwide news company covered one of the biggest, most horrific events in its 155-year history. It was the story of the day the sky fell.
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