9/11, relived on MSNBC
So it's seven years to the day after the most chilling episode of live TV ever. Part of what made the 9/11 attacks so terrifying and ground-shifting was the way they unfolded before our eyes. And while CNN and Fox are busy airing footage of memorial services, MSNBC has chosen to re-air NBC's live coverage from September 11, 2001. I'm watching right now as a giant, filthy cloud billows over the Manhattan skyline, and as Katie Couric and Tom Brokaw co-anchor the coverage in surprisingly-calm voices, discussing rumors that another plane was headed to the Pentagon. (They tried, at one point, to turn to a correspondent at the World Trade Center site, but all they could get, via audio, was a snippet of pandemonium.)
So...is this the quintessential we-shall-never-forget memorial, or the epitome of poor taste? I'm trying to decide as I type. My initial reaction was the latter, and I wonder how the victims' families feel. But part of me thinks this is a fitting tribute, because it's so refreshingly apolitical. This is pure reminder of that day, unsanitized by time, unsullied by politics. How long has it been since we thought of 9/11 in those terms?
According to MSNBC, this is the third year running that they've aired this "living history event," and reaction this morning has been scant. I'd love to hear what you think.
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