Commercialization of a Tragedy

Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the attacks on September 11th. I can still vividly remember a lot of the events of that day with startling clarity. For my generation, it probably stands up there with the day Pearl Harbor was attacked or when President Kennedy was assassinated. I mean ask most people old enough to remember that day and they can probably tell you where they were at the time they heard or saw what was happening in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. I know I can. And even though we move farther and farther away from the event in terms of time, there's still a part of me that holds those memories in mind and I intend not to forget about it. But that's not the case for everyone.

Since the actual day of the attacks itself, there have been innumerable documentaries, 'specials', investigative reports, movies and television shows linked to the attacks. They range from investigations into the various conspiracies, or discussion on the heroics displayed by people or on the harrowing tales of survival of those who were there on the scene of the attacks. However many shows are produced, there seems to be a never-ending dearth of more coming down the airwaves. Now I can understand the desire on the part of some people to watch these types of shows over and over again. At least it will provide some insight for some as to why the towers collapsed the way they did or why the Pentagon was damaged the way it was. These shows provide us some inspiration into the heroics of the passengers aboard United flight 93 which ultimately ended up in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But whatever the reason, it should be to honor and understand, not to garner ratings.

In the days leading up to the anniversary date, most major news channels had at least several stories or specials on the upcoming anniversary and though the date is merely the sixth and not a milestone like the fifth or tenth or anything, it is still treated with a certain amount of fervor in terms of wanting to cover the story from an angle that hasn't been seen before. That I can understand as well if there is some new information, but over the past few years, the coverage of most major networks seems to be going away from understanding the tragedy to using it for commercial purposes. Coverage of the memorial services is one thing but what MSNBC did yesterday was... well... you decide.

From about 8:00 yesterday morning until about 11:00 or so, the channel re-aired the exact coverage of the day in 2001 minute by minute so if you didn't get to experience every tragic moment six years ago, you could certainly relive it again. I fail to understand the reason or rationale behind it. For those of us not directly affected by the attacks, it's okay because there is still that disconnect between what happened and how it affects us. I mean the families of those who lost loved ones in the attacks don't need to remember the incident minute by minute do they? We have this unexplainable fascination for the events. We've seen the planes hit the towers numerous times, we've seen the fires burning at the Pentagon innumerable times, do we need to go through them over and over again if we have nothing new to report?

A year after the events, there was still some reverence with the events. People took a few minutes to pause and reflect. But as time has gone on, it seems as though the state of affairs is going from reverential reflection to sensationalism. Hearing journalists speak of what passengers aboard the doomed flights may have seen in their last moments or how those in the towers jumped to their deaths rather than risk burning to death is macabre to say the least. Now I'm not saying that we need to live in a perpetual state of mourning but rather than attempting to outdo one another in terms of what sort of coverage can be provided and how sensational reports can be made, let's pause and remember the loss of life with respect. It may not have affected us directly but there are lots of people out there who were. Let's treat their day of mourning and reflection with respect and not worry so much about how we can corner the market on coverage.