UK Media Remembers September 11th
Television, newspapers and radio stations across Britain will today attempt to pay tribute to the 3,000 people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
BBC and ITV will both screen news specials this afternoon live from New York City in what has been dubbed a “disaster marathon”, similar to the coverage last year which attracted record audiences (see US Attack Sparks News Marathon). While every national newspaper, except for the Daily Star, cleared their front pages to remember the events of 11th September 2001.
BBC Radio 4, Radio Five Live and the World Service will run extensive commemorative programmes to complement coverage on the terrestrial and digital television stations. The BBC will also screen the controversial 9:11 documentary by brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, which contains graphic footage from inside the twin towers. The film was originally broadcast on CBS in the US last autumn and was criticised for the distress it caused to the recently bereaved. The BBC has publicly defended its decision to screen the film, which attracted an audience of 38.9 million in the US, according to Reuters.
ITV is showing its own documentary, A Moment In September, which follows the mourning process of the relatives of 4 British victims of the attack. The channel will also screen a special commemorative News at Ten programme.
The media coverage of the events themselves has also been a subject of immense scrutiny over the past year, with some academics questioning the value of the media raking over of the ashes of the tragedy in the guise of tribute, and some commentators have attacked the mawkish tendencies of the UK press. The BBC was criticised earlier this month for a gardening programme, in memory of September 11th, broadcast from New York. While a recent study by California State University has criticised the failure of news organisations to examine the geopolitical background that produced such suicidal and homicidal men.
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