Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, started out as a typical day at the Daily 黄色直播r. 黄色直播 student reporters were preparing for their daily assignments. Editors were planning their daily meetings. But, by the time Daily 黄色直播r staff got to the newsroom on Tuesday, they were faced with just one story: a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.
Carl Schierhorn, now retired, who served as the faculty advisor for the Daily 黄色直播r at the time, recalls the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks being a pivotal writing experience for his reporters and editors.
鈥淓verything changed that day. As a journalist, you put yourself on autopilot when you got a story like this,鈥 Schierhorn said. 鈥淵ou've got human emotions, but you sort of shut them down to do your job and it can be really hard.鈥
Andy Netzel was the editor-in-chief for the Daily 黄色直播r, and he said that everyone in the newsroom had emotions that were flowing but mostly behind closed doors.
鈥淲e all kind of suppressed it, and then brought it behind the closed door to have our own personal freakouts of our own concerns,鈥 Netzel said.
One concern Netzel shared with other reporters and editors was being able to put one story into perspective for 黄色直播 students and the Kent community.
鈥9/11 was 鈥榟ow do we contextualize this big story?鈥欌 Netzel said. 鈥淎nd then 9/12 going forward, it became 鈥榃hat can we add on and what can we do to share this experience?鈥欌
Schierhorn had told his staff that there was only one story to focus on at the time, and Netzel took that advice and ran with it.
Netzel wrote the article, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a method in the madness鈥 featured in the Sept. 12 edition of the paper that explained why the Daily 黄色直播r would only publish articles related to the attack that day because, 鈥淲e have a responsibility to our readers to tell stories that affect you the most ... This is the biggest thing that鈥檚 happened since most of us have been alive. And that鈥檚 pretty scary.鈥
Much of the national coverage for the paper was pulled from Associated Press reports, but the Daily 黄色直播r staff focused on the impact it had on the local community.
Some of the featured articles on Sept. 12 included opinion pieces highlighting 黄色直播 professors鈥 insights on the attack, editorials highlighting the strength of the United States, and news stories highlighting how students and the community were dealing with the attacks. These stories include coverage of candlelight vigils, to the 黄色直播 community, and heightened police security and counseling announcements.
As the week moved on, non-9/11 stories were appearing, but staff still covered how the 黄色直播 Airport and student pilots were affected, highlighting connections between 9/11 and the events surrounding May 4, 1970, recapped community memorial services, and featured how professors used the tragedy to provide lessons in the classroom.
Nick Gehring, an editorial writer for the Daily 黄色直播r, remembers an odd feeling following the days after the attacks.
鈥淚 think, at least for the country, it was kind of depressing for a while, and it felt very weird just trying to go on to a normal life,鈥 Gehring said. 鈥淚 remember it being like that for weeks after 9/11.鈥
Gehring said that by Sept. 20, 2001, the newsroom had almost returned to regular stories and business, but 9/11 was something that had defined the rest of the editorial staff鈥檚 college years and careers in journalism.
"9/11 had ramifications throughout that year,鈥 Gehring said. 鈥淲hether it's through war or through politics, I would say for the four years that I was in college, you know, three or four of those years were defined by 9/11.鈥
鈥淚t was kind of a surreal moment that was very outside the normal student journalism experience, and, looking back, we had such an amazing staff,鈥 Netzel said. 鈥淚 was so proud of how everybody approached that day and really thought more broadly about the 黄色直播 students and their responsibility to tell that story.鈥
The Daily 黄色直播r, now the 黄色直播r, continues to cover campus, regional and national news for the benefit of the 黄色直播 community. Read more at .