September 11's 6th Anniversary Coverage

The local newspapers tackled the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks in different ways. The Daily News offers most of its front cover to remember the day, while the Post gives some room to General Petraeus' Congressional testimony. The Post looks at how vibrant the Financial District is now, even after the devastating effects of the September 11, and the Daily News looks at how some families have decided to skip this year's September 11 commemoration ceremonies. Dorry Tompsett, whose husband's remains have never been recovered and who has been to the first five ceremonies, said, "Being on the ground with the immensity of the hole and being able to touch the ground - that was very important to me...To just go there for half a second and put a flower down on some part of that site that's a big construction area isn't the same thing."

The NY Times has a page one story about Mayor Bloomberg's role in getting the city to move beyond 9/11, calling his actions at different times clumsy, sensitive, eloquent, and optimistic. Since he declined to be interviewed, the Times re-ran a quote from 2002, "I think the Jews do it right. They have a headstone unveiling a year after the funeral, and that’s sort of the time that you sort of stop the mourning process and start going forward. And the 9/11 ceremonies, what I’m trying to do is that in the morning we will look back, remember who they were and why they died. And in the evening come out of it looking forward and say, ‘O.K., we’re going to go forward.’ ”

Newsday's cover illustrates the years between 1973 (when the World Trade Center was completed) and the present and there's an article about Seaford resident Ben Sliney, whose first day as national operations manager at the FAA's Air Traffic Command Center was on September 11. He "made the decision - never taken before or since - to ground every plane in the United States."

He is a handsome, amiable man who emanates self-assurance. He was just doing his job, he said.

History tells a different tale: that Sliney, unable to stand by as one plane after another dropped off the radar, took action in the face of a deafening lack of direction from FAA headquarters. And that later, he kept silent as U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta took credit for ordering the planes to land. (Mineta was not lying: The 9/11 Commission found that he had given that order - about an hour after Sliney did.)

Sliney, now retired, said that after Flight AA 77 hit the Pentagon, "I knew there was one way to sort out the good guys from the bad guys very quickly, and that was to land all the planes." Newsday also looks at the frustrations that downtown residents have about the progress of redevelopment.

The Daily News printed the names of all the victims. And there are a few editorials: The Post says never forget and that we need to win, the Daily News says the victims' names should be read during every anniversary and the Times has an op-ed slideshow of artists' depictions of Ground Zero.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 11, 2007 10:09 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

google 'loose change 911', navigation is on the bottom of the page. then film.

guest

are there fireworks this year? can I sit by the hudson and see a fireworks show?

guest

are the lights going on tonight?

guest

You're still an idiot MT.

I can think you're stupid and not be a conservative or a Post reader. Trying to lump me in with Murdoch just shows how limited your ability to think is.

guest

Remember the Alamo.

guest

Nuke all of them.

guest

don't ask me,

did anyone see that video of neo nazis beating people up in Israel?

guest

Don't the Jews also says "Never Forget." Although I have not seen or heard of annual publicised events surrounding the Holocaust, Hollywood Jewish producers have produced, Nuremberg Trials, Munich, "Hogan's Heroes" (1965)TV-Series 1965-1971,

Schindler's List , to name a few. What does going forward mean? Well, if you are going to keep revisiting the event, did you go forward?

I am all for moving forward. I am also for "Never Forget." The memorial is not for people who want to forget. It is for people who don't want to forget. If they want to visit the deaths of people they loved, why shouldn't they. You can't tell people when to move on.

Another thing, when Ronald Reagan tried to tell the world to move on by accepting an apology from Germany (with issues involving the Holocaust), everyone was up in arms, Germans, Europeans and Americans. Why?

Correct me if I am wrong. Help me to understad where I may have mis-understood.

guest

I think we need a cable network that just broadcasts the names of the dead over and over, 24/7. The we could have 9/11 month and Hallmark can start selling cards and walmart can sell Tshirts and special wall decorations, and soon there will be special 9/11 tribute sales. 9/11 month would be perfect coming just before Halloween month, that other favorite adult american holiday.

guest

Ben Sliney kicks ass.

glennQNYC

Even though I lost a loved one 9/11/01... I agree with post #2.

guest

God bless you the family of Michael Trinidad, Cantor Fitzgerald...

MT

There's a difference between conservatism and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Wait a minute. Maybe there isn't.

And it was relevant since it was mentioned in the posting and is a direct result of what happened on 9/11 (or at least that was the excuse) so just go crawl back up Murdoch's butt #8.

guest

The Post is just a cheerleader for the Bush administration. What a piece of propaganda BS!

Are you losers so afraid of the Post that if you don't bash it daily we might somehow forget it is conservative? Shut up or take it to a thread where it's relevent.

JMH

Meta observation: it's a shame that there's no one way to commemorate 9/11 that will satisfy everyone.

guest

I bet bloomberg still celebrates the upcoming holidays.

MT

Did anyone else notice the Post's treatment of Petraeus' testimony? They are the only ones painting a rosy picture of the progress in Iraq.

The Post is just a cheerleader for the Bush administration. What a piece of propaganda BS!

On another note, maybe Bloomberg was brought up Jewish, but doesn't strictly practice. He's always stuck me as a more practical and pretty non-religious type and I have never heard him talk about his religious beliefs.

guest

isn't bloomberg Jewish? why would he say I think the Jews do it right? isn't he a Jew?

shouldn't he say, I think My People do it right.

I dunno, sounds weird the way he says it.

MarygraceNYC

Newsday’s cover is brilliant. We will never forget.

guest

Reading the names every year focuses only on the individuals and takes attention away from the big picture such as why this happened. Not good. We don't read the names of everyone that died at Pearl Harbor do we? But we remember the event for its larger meaning.

guest

I have to agree with Bloomberg. In the future we'll remember 9/11 as the day we were given license to go mad with grief and anger. It's time to move on.