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Why The Mainstream Media Gets the WTC Project Wrong

by Steve Rosenbaum | 7:38 am, September 11th, 2010

» 17 comments

Last February, I sat in my living room and watched 60 Minutes. The story they broadcast was certain to make any American angry. They said that almost 9 years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the site was still an empty pit. They showed video of a massive, empty construction site. A huge gaping wound in lower Manhattan.

With shocking images of an empty dirt hole, CBS Anchor Scott Pelley solemnly intoned: “8 and a half years later, we wondered… Why is Ground Zero Still a Hole in the Ground?”

There was only one problem with the story. It wasn’t true.

I’d been at the site just days before. And shot these pictures, of foundations being poured, of artifacts being prepared for the museum, of massive memorial waterfalls being tested at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / NY Magazine

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / NY Magazine

What I knew for a fact was the project that New Yorkers cared about, the 9/11 Memorial, was very much on target to open at the milestone 10th anniversary of 9/11/11.

So why did CBS get it wrong? And why does so much of the media continue to get it wrong?

First of all, the site isn’t a single project. It’s a massively complex series of projects – all sharing the same 16 acres of earth and sky. There’s the Memorial Plaza, and two massive memorial pools. Designed by Architect Michael Arad, the footprints of the towers have declared the space above where the towers once stood as sacred sky. There’s the Museum – a huge undertaking of curatorial complexity and underground cavernous spaces. It may be the first underground museum in the world – and in sheer volume, it is both daunting and awe-inspriing. Then there is the Transit hub – a dazzling piece of architecture by Santiago Calatrava. And that leaves the towers – 1 WTC, formerly the Freedom Tower, now rising in the northwest corner of the site, and the Silverstein office buildings known as WTC 2, 3 and 4 – with just 4 now under construction.

So when 60 Minutes pointed their cameras into the east side of the 16 acres and showed the empty pit, the chose not to focus on the memorial plaza that was forming just to the west of what they chose to show the viewer.

The larger problem the media has with the WTC site is that it’s simply too large, complex, and varied to be covered as a single project. The commercial development, like all commercial real estate, has been challenged by the double whammy of constrained lending and a tough economy. No one wants to build real estate that there isn’t demand for.

But the part of the project that matters – that the public cares about, is proceeding apace, albeit mostly out of view of New Yorkers who tend to look up to see projects rising. ‘The 911 Memorial and Museum’ is all happening at ground level and below – as the massive memorial pools are clad in charcoal-gray granite. The pools will move 400,000 gallons of water at any moment, making them the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States.

Underground – the great hall of the Museum, where the Last Column will stand, is taking shape. The Column, its signatures and remembrances preserved and protected. The Column has spent the last 8 years protected and in storage at the WTC Large Artifacts Storage Facility at JFK. Then, last August – with an honor guard of police and firemen, it was returned to the site and lowered into position. Now the museum’s walls and roof – that will act as the floor of the Memorial Plaza above – are taking shape.

Now you can look down and see the shape of what will be. The pools are formed. The Pavilion steel is taking shape. A handful of trees have been brought to the site, a glimmer of what will be once all 400 are in place on the plaza. And underground – the Museum is no longer drawings and animation – is is very much a real growing institution.

So as the media and the tourists, stand at street level and look up at the sky – they continue to miss the important and historic work that is going on. The sacred sky will remain empty – the pools, pavilion, and underground chambers are what matters. And those projects are very much on schedule. Moving rapidly toward 9/11/11 – and the public opening of the plaza and Memorial Pools.

Steven Rosenbaum is an author, documentarian, and filmmaker. His 5-year-long longitudinal study of the design, development, and construction of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum entitled: “Engaging Absence” will be published in 3 parts. The first element, a photobook, is slated to be released on 9/11/11.

You can see 86 original images of the construction and artifacts here.

60 Minutes, Ground Zero, Michael Arad, Santiago Calatrava, Scott Pelley

http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

The reason they get it wrong is the same reason they get the Ground Zero Mosque wrong. They are stupid.
More Liberty

“So why did CBS get it wrong? And why does so much of the media continue to get it wrong?”

They got it wrong because they are simply just liars, and they know it. Anyone who blindly watches the media and does not question them, by using some critical thinking skills, gets what they deserve – Obama – Bu$h.

“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 Gods or no God, it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg..” Thomas Jefferson
BatBoy

Q. So why did CBS get it wrong?
…A. Because that is their MO!

“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept,
the nomination of my party for another term
as your President.” Barak Obama, March 31, 2012
http://www.libertarianism.com/ Burnnotice

Why did CBS get it wrong? Well there would be no story then. Thats just it. They sell mini media novellas to the public and watch in amazement as the people digest it as if it was fact. So they continue on….
Rescuedog

**Thank you**

The “nothing is being done at Ground Zero” meme is a huge pet peeve of mine. And someone please pass this article along to Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle. As recently as two or three weeks ago they were raving about how “nothing was being done”.

Burnnotice is right. As with just about any story, the media is more interested is pushing a narrative. They don’t care about facts that conflict with that narrative.
libra blue

The only reason the WTC site is not being restored just the way it was is because the government is intimidated by the terrorists that committed these crimes. It is the same reason they are supporting Imam Rauf and pushing to get his “shrine to terrorism” built near Ground Zero.

In fact, I think that is the reason this project has been delayed so long.

They are all a bunch of friggin cowards!
Sidebar

Okay, CBS did get some aspects of what’s going on at the WTC site wrong. Fair enough. But what about the other aspects that CBS reported on? Is it true that the office towers (which are supposed to be the focal point of the site, remember? World TRADE Center and all that?) are subject to constant redesigns? Is it true that the transportation hub is now two years behind schedule and should have been finished last year? Is it true that the budget for the project has doubled? This article does not address those aspects of the WTC site issues and, as it does not, is it really fair to lay all the blame on CBS?
ericseba

Thanks for sharing this side of the story.
jerseyjoel

For the record, there’s an underground museum in St. Louis, the Museum of Westward Expansion, which is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, consisting also of the Gateway Arch and St. Louis (Dred Scott Decision) Old Courthouse.
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ChrisNH

The media starts with a biased thesis (GM Trucks explode) and then they film in such a way to ‘prove’ their thesis (they load the truck with gasoline). Everyone knows this to be true. This is just another example of the media being the media.
dhg

You might have waited to write this article,CBS just ran a peice on the morning show touting “major progress in the last year” at the site showing much of what was mentioned in this article.

I’m not saying this article is wrong but it also doesn’t ultimately admit the obvious sensationalistic nature of tv journalism and programming in general which is motivated by money and ratings.Sure there was a manipulation of the truth but when does that not happen?Now CBS sees value in touting progress,something they and/or some other network would have capitalized on sooner or later and not because a blog thought they should.

I saw the original peice and went away from it knowing without question I did not get the whole story and I don’t live in New York or know anything significantly beyond what is shown on tv.It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get that.
NeoKong

Oohh….a waterfall and some underground stuff.

Quite impressive. Maybe in another nine years we might even have a parking garage and a coffee shop.
TfT

It would be nice if this becomes a daily thread, much like Glynnis’s “You’re moment of Beck”.

It could be:

“The Mainstream Media Gets it Wrong – (Insert topic here).

Given the MSM, LSM, gets more wrong that right these days, you should have ample topics to pick from.
vegasguy

Frankly, given that it’s been 9 years, I have to define that as a big gapping hole in the ground. 9 years and they aren’t even above ground level yet. No excuse for this. Someone just doesn’t care that the rebuilding of this site does more to heal the past than stuffing a mosque down our throats.
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