The Unedited Truth: Why MSNBC Re-Airs 9/11 Coverage
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Isn’t it ghastly? Will we be accused of capitalizing on the nation’s grief? Is it still too soon?
Those were just some of the questions we faced when deciding whether to replay NBC’s 9/11 coverage when I was General Manager of MSNBC back in 2006. As I watched MSNBC air that coverage for a fourth year today, many of those same questions remain.
It wasn’t an easy call. After retrieving the tapes and watching the first four hours from that morning, beginning with the “reports” of a plane crash, it was clear the coverage from the morning was beyond mesmerizing. Seeing the events unfold in real time on television forces us to relive those emotions and feelings moment by moment. In the initial minutes we retain a glimmer of hope that maybe – just maybe – it isn’t quite as bad as it seems. As time passes, however, those shooting pains re-emerge as each terrifying detail of the morning unfolds, ultimately leading to the conclusion that it is that bad, and worse. The NBC anchor and reporting team handled it as well as anyone could have hoped. They were careful, methodical, at times overtly saddened but always calm.
I knew people would watch the replay, but when dealing with 9/11 we all knew the decision could not and would not be one based on ratings. The question had to be, is it the right thing to do?
Some have called it gruesome or ghoulish, even referring to it as “death porn“. Maybe so, but it also really happened. New York City is spending well over a half billion dollars to create a memorial to ensure we never forget that day. What better way to assure that happens, than by watching the event, as it happened for most, on television? It’s powerful and disturbing because it’s so real. Simply put, there is no way to sanitize that day, and to do so would be a disservice.
That does not mean the country was ready for the replay in the first couple of years after 9/11. The difference? In 2003, for example, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were getting underway, 9/11 was still effectively news, not history. At what point does that definition change? It’s tough to say. In 2006, 9/11 was not being covered or discussed nearly as often and it had just started to feel it was fading into the background for many.
No one was forced to watch MSNBC coverage. I watched it for the fourth year in a row. Many others will have chosen to change the channel. But in a world where cable news is often consumed with internecine and sometimes invented squabbles, seeing one of the most important moments in American history as it aired, in real time, seems to be exactly what cable news can and should do best.
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10 comments
Dear Mr. Abrams, I believe you have all the best intentions in the world and you are exactly right: “one of the most important moments in American history as it aired, in real time, seems to be exactly what cable news can and should do best.” My only question to you is how could you have let MSNBC become the (since you used the word) most “internecine,” noxious, and destructive (all synonyms of internecine) cable news channel there is? Forget FOX or CNN or anything else, why has MSNBC devolved to what it has become?
Dan, I’ll get right to the point. In an age of a desensitized nation, from the all too well known infoblast people are deluged with, think, sipping water from a firehose..a reminder, like the Neda video in Iran, galvanized people to DO something..9/11 was also being used to Galvanize progressives as cut-n-runners or villians for somehow forgetting 9/11 and not focusing on Iraq and Alkayda(sic).
I appreciate you re-running it, and reminding people, we took the eye off the REAL reason we are spending american lives in and on foreign soil, for a reason. Albeit, in this persons opinion, the wrong reason for far too long… I’d like to see us get the job done, bring our heroes home as the soldiers they have been. Can you even imagine being signed up as a “weekend warrior” to serve as a National Guardsman once a month and ending up in a full blown shooting war and thanks to politics and “stop-loss” measures you are now Regular Army and on your 4th or 5th tour? It’s incomprehensible.
Let’s get defined objectives laid out, meet them, bring them home, end this. 9/11 is your galvinization agent in an apathetic, desensitized nation. Period.
@rickypedia
Thank you, Dan for choosing to replay the coverage four years ago. You made the right choice and I’m happy that MSNBC is continuing to show it yearly. It is so horrible to see, but necessary so we will never forget.
I think the airing of that footage should be daily viewing for almost all the “newspeople” and “opinion hosts” on MSNBC. They are the ones who forget all the time. Not the American people. When they are attacking Dick Cheney and President Bush on a daily basis (they need to re-watch those tapes). When they whine about Gitmo (they need to re-watch those tapes). When they demand CIA agents doing their job should be prosecuted (they should re-watch those tapes).
MSNBC still has a 9/10 mentality to this day! And their poor ratings reflect that.
Dan:
First off, I should make it clear that I disagree with so much MSNBC has become — but at the same time I am glad it exists to keep others on their toes.
As one who lost some friends that awful day, I can only imagine how hard this decision was for you to make. And thankfully, MSNBC has continued to make that same tough call since your exit.
And although it remains impossible for me to watch such vivid reminders of that awful day, MSNBC continues to provide a great public service by keeping the memory fresh for those who may have tended to forget.
I have recorded it for the day when I realize I, too, am beginning to forget.
Thanks again.
Dan, there will always be critics.
Porn usually has some kind of advertising. The MSNBC re-broadcast contained no advertising and therefore no specific profit motive. Thus, circuitously, the re-broadcast is not porn. At least not professional stuff anyway.
If I’m being completely honest, Mr. Abrams, I don’t know how I feel about it…but from what I understand about you and the way you do your job, you must have put a tremendous amount of thought and care into the decision–not an easy call, indeed–and I thank you for that.
ChickaBOOMer: As MSNBC GM Dan Abrams Chose Not To Muzzle Olbermann
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Mr Abrams,
The yearly re-broadcast of 9/11 as you originally decided to air, is an outstanding historical tribute to all who were involved on that horrible day. No commercials, no commentary. Just raw footage as it happened on 9/11.
9/11 was our modern day “Pearl Harbor”. Thanks for your wise decision, as all Americans benefit from that broadcast as a true history lesson and poweful reminder of how precious life is.
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