They didn't use cellphones (except at the point where the plane flew low). They used the phones installed in the plane, specifically for use on a plane. It was in my link. What are you saying here? That the bereaved family simply made up the calls? That they are in this 'conspiracy' too?
Surely the absence or presence of wreckage does not support the theory that the plane was shot down. People saw the plane, spoke to the passengers and it was seen by air traffic control. Are people suggesting there was no plane?
Re the other plane, the journalist involved attempted to clear up the error long before 2003.
WCPO's Liz Foreman posted the original news report stating that United 93 had landed in Cleveland, but says the whole thing was just a simple mistake on a very confusing day.
"The story stated that flight 93 landed in Cleveland," admits Foreman on her station's blog. "This was not true." She claims it was an error in the Associated Press wire report that was corrected in later updates. After she discovered the mistake, she removed the link to the story, but not the story itself; Google searches still found it on WCPO's site until 2003, when someone alerted her to the number of conspiracy blogs that had picked it up. Foreman deleted it, but the damage was done.
"Messages and phone calls started coming in about "Why did the government make me remove the story?'" she writes. "So, in the interest of media transparency, this is my attempt to clear the air."
thought it was time to set the record straight on a website error that's gotten out of hand.
I've been getting calls and e-mails for several years, all from folks who have seen my byline on a story (Plane Lands In Cleveland; Bomb Feared Aboard) about Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001.
The story in question, an Associated Press bulletin, was posted on WCPO.com during the morning of September 11, 2001. The story stated that Flight 93 landed in Cleveland. This was not true.
Once the AP issued a retraction a few minutes later, we removed the link.
There were two problems:
1)I only removed the link TO the story. We did not remove the story itself. This was my error probably due to the busy nature of the day - I was the only person updating the website until about noon that day, and things were crazier than they?d ever been.
- The byline was incorrect. In my haste, I pasted the ?Reported by: 9News Staff? byline from a previous story, but this was actually an Associated Press story.
Sometime in 2003 I received an e-mail inquiring about the story. I quickly removed the story, and wrote back to the person, thanking them for the heads up about the incorrect story.
Things didn't stop there.
Messages and phone calls started coming in about "Why did the government make me remove the story?" As is the nature of the net, folks had gotten a hold of the old story and posted it on their own blogs, fueling even more interest in the situation.
So, for everyone who is still wondering about this story, here are some frequently asked questions. I'm hoping this clears everything up once and for all!
FAQ
- Where did the original story come from?
The story was an Associated Press bulletin that came across the news wires. Associated Press is a news service that many news organizations subscribe to for non-local news. The idea is that a local news organization can?t possibly have reporters everywhere in the world, so for that reason, we publish stories written by Associated Press journalists.
- So you didn?t report the story yourself?
No, I work at the website in Cincinnati. I generally do not do any reporting out in the field. Also, I was not in Cleveland, nor does WCPO-TV have a Cleveland-based reporter. If you?re not familiar with the geography of Ohio, Cleveland is a good four hours away from us.
There were two problems:
-
I only removed the link TO the story. We did not remove the story itself. This was my error probably due to the busy nature of the day - I was the only person updating the website until about noon that day, and things were crazier than they?d ever been.
-
The byline was incorrect. In my haste, I pasted the ?Reported by: 9News Staff? byline from a previous story, but this was actually an Associated Press story.
- Why didn?t you remove the problem story page from the outset?
My mistake, that?s why. I removed the link TO the story, but didn?t remove the actual story. Then, the story page was indexed by the major search engines. I didn?t even know the story hadn?t been removed until after I was contacted by a member of the public.
- Why DID you remove the page?
Because it was in error.
- Why did you create this FAQ page? Isn?t that just fueling the fire?
I?ve been getting a ton of phone calls and e-mails about this recently and answering everyone would make it hard for me to get my day job ? running the website ? accomplished. Also, unlike the old media paradigm, which is ?ignore it and it?ll go away,? the Internet means a two-way conversation with our website users. So, in the interest of media transparency, this is my attempt to clear the air.
blogs.scripps.com/wcpo/staff/2006/02/wcpocoms_flight_93_story.html
Were all the eyewitness who SAW the plane lying?