Or did they say years ago that they would not show the planes hitting the twin towers again in news reports?

[pinkytheshrinky]

Have I imagined this or was there a decision made at some point about not actually showing the planes hitting the towers some years ago. I may have imagined this but although I know it is the anniversary and all, there were people on there and to keep on replaying it time and time again seems inappropriate.

As I type they are showing a slow mo version of the jet hitting the second tower....

Unbelievable quote from the daughter. Does she she think he chose to do this?! The people up there had no choices, they knew they were going to die. Just horrific all round.

And how dare anyone judge those actually in the towers, as they sit in their comfy homes looking at video footage or photos. Can't believe anyone would dare to have an opinion on what the people should or should not have done!

Unreal quote from that woman. What a thing to say about a man falling to his death, regardless of how/why he is falling. :(

Re: video footage of the planes hitting the towers, I must say I was shocked to see a clip last night (just after midnight, therefore 9/11) during a break in coverage of the US Open, of a plane crossing the silhouette of the New York skyline at sunset, seemingly headed straight for the Empire State Building. Of course, it was an optical illusion and the plane passed by, but I couldn't help wondering just WHOSE idea that was to show, now of all times.

clam
La Guardia is in the middle of new york
that photo happens dozens of times a day

I have actually shown my son video footage and photos from that day because I'd much rather he knew and understood from me rather than seeing it cold on the news and not understanding what it was about. He is autistic and simplisitic in his views but even he had no difficulty in understanding that many people did that day and that it is important they are remembered.

I know, but it was a jolt to see it at the moment, with all the anniversary coverage.

I think you are asking if you are mistaken or misremembering rather than unreasonable here.

Did you know there is an In The News topic?

Lumme Trillian - you really are the appropriate-thread police!

PinkyI think you are right, I think that there were some broadcasters that said they wouldn't show the footage anymore, can't be sure though.

After Diana dying many newspapers said they wouldn't use paparazzi photos anymore but you only have to look in the papers to see that they all still do.

I think that when the media say things like that when they think its what the public want to hear but I don't think they mean it, not if later they think it will improve the ratings anyway.

pinky - I recall a decsion being announced in the UK that tv stations will not show the towers being hit. On the day,and for days afterwards the images were dislpayed many hundreds of times, to saturation point.

and I think it was prety well stuck wit hfor quite a few years.

Well thank goodness it is not just me who remembers - never mind Trillian I think I can live with my wrong threadness.

I know it was never an 'official' decision, how could it be with so many broadcasters. But my DH too remembers something about it at the time too.

And terribly sad about people's difficulties with those who jumped/fell: it really beggars belief doesn't it?

Have spent yesterday avoiding the news because I have too many young children who want too many explanations and I just do not know what to say.

It probably was a mutual decision. There's a lot more liaison in broadcasting than you get with the press, for practical reasons, rather than news ones. So for example they all talk to each other about logistics and frequently pool resources (eg if Cameron's making a speech they'll take it in turns to provide the live facility). And similarly there's liaison on stuff like this. There are still shots which aren't shown, including the close-ups of the planes hitting the tower, and the closer shots of the buildings collapsing, and of course the jumpers.

I remember watching a documentary about the fallers/jumpers, they were trying to identify one that was in a particular shot that was used a lot.

The person they thought it was was I think puertorican[sp?] and a catholic, his family were insistant that it couldnt be him as he was a catholic and wouldnt have jumped as suicide is a sin.

I think that line of thinking may have a little to do with the stigma over the jumpers.

Yes that man is mentioned in the Daily Mail article - his family still do not accept that it could be him. I am a Catholic myself but I cannot understand this kind of thinking at all. I forget just how religious America is in comparison to this country and how it is woven into their identity as Americans.

I was very shocked when yesterday the BBC showed someone standing on a window frame above the flames in one of the towers, it really was horrific. I do know that we need to understand this tragedy and not forget it and also remember that ultimately (all the terrorism aspects aside) this is about families losing loved ones in a terrible way.

Someone further up this thread said that they had seen some footage from a Fire Department helmet camera in a television programme and had the sound of the people who jumped hitting the ground. I cannot ever ever believe that there is any justification for this.

My thoughts on the jumpers/fallers was always that it was different to suicide: when faced with their own death they chose to wrench back a little control, feel the wind in their face rather than flames and smoke. I also think that many of them must have hoped that if the wind caught them in the right way, if they bounced off a few miraculously placed mattresses, if Superman swept down and caught them, there was an outside chance they might survive. It seems that some of them tried to fashion parachutes for this purpose from whatever they had to hand. I always felt it was a hugely admirable act, a moment of blind hope.

the people who jumped from the towers that day did so in pure desperation, to stay and suffocate or burn in agony or jump and end it in a few seconds. no one can even begin to understand what it would be like to take your own life into your own hands because you have no choice. i think very few of us could physically stand and be burnt alive, only if suffering with sever shock.
i don't think they should show footage or sound clips of the people hitting the ground.
for a catholic to say they don't believe it was their relative is denial, what if the man who jumped believed god would be his maker and he could stop his suffering and be at gods judgment not his families?
i truly feel for all those who died and in the horrific way that it happened whether it was from the buildings collapsing, plane crashing or from jumping out of the towers. their choice was taken away either way.
those images will be forever in my memory.

I am absolutely aghast at that daughters comment. And I simply cannot understand why people feel this shame and hostility towards the people who also died, taking the unimaginable descision to jump.

It just beggars belief.

I remember watching a documentary about the firemen.
when in the building you could hear thumping noises and after a while it was mentionend that it were the jumpers that hit the roof. this noise still is with me. whenever I hear it (think window blown shut by the wind) my heart misses a beat.

I think I have found it more distressing than ever this year, seeing the footage of the impact and towers collapsing on TV.

Back when it first happened, it was horrific and frightening, but I only had a limited understanding of the people, their families and the absolutely horror of what they went through.

Over the years, more stories are published - about what happened in the towers, about the people who died and the people who either survived or bereaved.

Initially there was only an incomprehensibly long list of names. Now there are faces and stories to go with those names. And I find it unbearable to see footage of the attack while thinking about those people.

You see mouseymouse I do feel that that sort of footage should not be shown - this is the documentary that someone else mentioned previously. I am not sure what the purpose of this is, we do not have to hear bodies hitting the ground to understand that it happened - it is just too graphic and it effected you very much (as it should of course) but how must that be for people who have lost relatives in that situation - not knowing (in most cases) how their end came about, it just cannot be justified in the name of information or journalism.

I was reading an article somewhere yesterday about a family who identified their son from a photo which showed people gathered at the windows, and it gave them great comfort. It was an accidental photo - the people weren't visible until the photographer had zoomed in to the maximum on his computer looking at the photo later.

I know what you mean, piprabbit. It sounds stupid but I don't think I really got it before now. I knew it was horrific and heard the stories of the jumpers and remember all the people crying and screaming in the streets on the TV footage, but before now it was like the towers were just towers, the planes were just planes. Of course I knew there were people in there, but I feel like I hadn't been able to conceive until now the real and actual scale of it, how many people there must have been inside at the time, how big a passenger jet or the buildings themselves actually were. I never realised it was almost 3,000 people. I thought it was a couple of hundred or something. I was quite young and fairly sheltered at the time it happened, but I am glad it is being remembered.