"9/11" Documentary: One of the Great Moments in Television History
Sunday night's broadcast of the 9|11 documentary on CBS was one of the great moments in television history. As The New York Times reported this morning, many relatives of victims watched the documentary in spite of the emotional pain it must have caused them. The Associated Press said that firefighters who watched the documentary consider it a tasteful tribute to their fallen comrades and other victims.
It took great courage to produce and air a documentary like this on broadcast television, even in 2002. In a way, it was surprising how many stomach churning scenes of casualties and how much profanity spoken by the surviving firemen were left in this film. But, if they had edited it, even to contemporary network broadcast standards, what would have been left?
Anyone who sees this documentary will have to reassess their understanding of the attack and its aftermath. We urge the producers of this program to subtitle it in as many language as possible, and to make it available for broadcast elsewhere in the world.