Outcry Causes New York’s WABC to Flip-Flop on Extent of 9/11 Coverage
Decision to Not Air the Reading of Victims’ Names Reversed
It’s almost fall again, and the season has snuck up on me once more, just like it always does. One event that temporarily slipped my mind was the rapidly approaching sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a historic occasion whose details I’m sure require no further elaboration. In my former hometown New York, tempers have recently flared over what has now become a very somber yet emotionally cleansing annual tradition, the September 11 World Trade Center Site Memorial Ceremony and Remembrance, which features a reading of the names of those identified individuals who lost their lives on that horrific day. This year, the names will be read by the courageous people who offered their assistance in response to the attacks.
Yesterday, The New York Daily News reported exclusively that WABC-TV/Channel 7, the network that enjoys the highest ratings in the city, had no intention of broadcasting the entire September 11 memorial service. Instead, executives had chosen to replace the lengthy and heartwrenching reading of victims’ names with the normally scheduled daytime talk shows Live with Regis & Kelly, Rachael Ray, and The View. Yet, every other major broadcast network in the area intends to air the entire ceremony. As staff writers Richard Huff and Corky Siemaszko accurately noted, WABC’s actions would mark “the first time one of New York’s local broadcast stations has opted not to broadcast the full reading of the 2,749 names.”
WABC news director Kenny Plotnik tried to downplay the network’s egregiously bad—and to some downright offensive—decision with the clarification that it would “provide continuous coverage on [their] Digital Channel and Web site so [their] audience could have a choice between their regular programming and the Sept. 11 ceremony.” Unfortunately, despite the valid argument expressed by many (just read the comments on the Daily News Web site) that those New Yorkers who don’t have access to digital television or computers could simply change the channel on their old-school TVs to another local station, WABC’s plan had more to do with proper respect and decorum than concerns about accessibility, business as usual, and alternative programming choices. To more than a few people, not broadcasting the reading of the victims’ names would have been akin to giving the victims’ loved ones and New Yorkers the proverbial finger.
Immediate, piercing outcry swiftly took care of the problem, however, and today The New York Daily News updates the public with the welcome news that WABC has backtracked on its initial September 11 scheduling for next Tuesday to make room for the reading of victims’ names. The network is couching this reevaluation in terms of the public’s lack of knowledge regarding how digital television works, but that’s all just a smokescreen to avoid admitting that it goofed up—the New Yorker in me has a more “colorful” expression in mind, though—but good.
For more on the numerous memorial events scheduled in New York and around the United States to remember September 11, visit the thorough Voices of September 11th Calendar.
