September 11th Memorial

      Last weekend was the 9th anniversary of September 11th. Covering the memorial is always the first assignment for students in Reporting New York and Reporting the Nation. I was surprised at how difficult it was to talk to people here because I didn't realize how fresh the tragedy still is in many people's minds, especially in New York. I was happy with my story but concerned the topic was too superficial/ light-hearted. I also want to work on my interviews and ask more in depth questions. Here is the story and Jim's (my professor/ editor's) editing job and critique.

My story:

      NEW YORK- Saturday morning was just a taste of what months of training and thousands of miles of traveling meant to a select group of Americans and Australians who began making their way to the September 11th memorial about a month ago in Santa Monica, CA.

“It was an unbelievable, humbling experience that I was very honored to have,” said Nic Beattie, a firefighter and Tour of Duty team member from New South Wales, Australia. “It’s been an amazing journey and I think I can honestly say there’s not a firefighter in the world who wouldn’t love to have done what we did.”

Tour of Duty is a running team of service personnel- firefighters, police officers, military and their families, who finished running 4,500 miles cross-country by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and coming into Battery Park this morning before the memorial service at the World Trade Center site.

The team was organized to commemorate September 11 victims as well as the victims of Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, the date of a series of deadly brush fires in Australia, and to bring representatives of the two nations together to remember.

The idea came to Paul Ritchie, an Australian firefighter, about five years ago. When a series of bush fires swept through southeastern Australia a bit over a year ago, his brigade in Victoria, which dealt directly with the fires on Black Saturday, decided to do something.

“I’ve been a firefighter for twenty years, and I just have a passion to commemorate, to support what these people do in both the U.S. and Australia” he said. “Why not support each other?”

Over the course of the last month, the team has been running across the country, covering a total distance of 4,500 miles. On average, team members ran for 6 hours a day followed by a twelve hour break and another 6 hours on the pavement.

On the road the runners started every day at 8:46 am - the time American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower in 2001- by reading the names of 16 servicemen and women who died at the site. Over the course of the day they read the name of individual victims every 1.5 miles- eventually granting a moment’s silence to each of the attack’s roughly 3,000 victims.

Stops along the way included Las Vegas, where the Main Strip was closed to cars for the runners; Chicago; and the Pentagon, where the team laid a wreath in memory of September 11. They spent September 10th in rural Pennsylvania, at the site of the plane crash in Shanksville.

"[September 11th] is one of those things firefighters at the time felt instinctually about. At the end of the day, it was a lottery. It could have happened anywhere in the world," said Beattie. He said that although he knew no one directly affected by the September 11th attacks in America, as a firefighter he felt connected to American servicemen overseas and that commiserating with them was only natural.

“Obviously we are here to commemorate September 11,” said Sandy Prifitis, a supporter of the team who traveled with them on the road but did not run. “However, one-hundred and ninety-seven people died on Black Saturday. Our idea was to get Americans and Australians together because we’ve all suffered,” she said.

“As a first responder I’m always up for a challenge,” said Tony Martin, one of the team’s captains, when asked how his legs felt. “They’re pretty smashed though,” he added in his Australian accent.

The photo: Couple looking over the memorial.

I was happy with the composition, but photo is one of the things I really need to work on. I need to get to know my camera so I don't run into these problems with lighting! I also ran into some technical difficulty when my camera (despite having fully charged batteries) died before I met the runners! I really like this picture though, so I chose it even though it doesn't really relate to the story. As far as feedback goes, it was positive! My professor said he really liked that the photo captured the human touch- something to look for when you are taking photos.

What Jim said:

Hi Rachel,

      The first thing I noticed is that you met the deadline and came in close on the word count. These details matter to editors for obvious and practical reasons, and I am glad to see that you delivered.

      On Monday, I am planning to talk to the group about some reporting basics, which I suspect many will find useful, and I am looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences as well.

      Also, I plan to look over some of the photos together, and there will be opportunities for all who wish to further discuss your words and pictures individually.

      Yours was one of the cleanest and most professionally crafted stories I have seen from the group, but also one of the least emotional. You are the first I have read that didn’t concentrate on this year’s conflict, and that makes me curious about your story selection process. I would like to hear what you were thinking.

      For now, I will make some specific suggestions below.  Don’t panic. Many of the other reports had some of the same shortcomings, or others. The goal is to bring everybody around to the same professional standards.

Cheers,

Jim