Newly viral footage from a live NY1 news broadcast on the morning of September 11, 2001, documents the chilling transition from ordinary news coverage to the unfolding tragedy of the terrorist attacks.
The broadcast begins with anchor Patrick Kiernan reporting on commonplace topics, including local weather, primary elections, and school dress codes. This initial segment, described as mundane, starkly contrasts with the events that rapidly transueed.
"This is a live picture from our camera on the Empire State building looking toward the World Trade Center," Kiernan states in the report, as the station abruptly begins showing footage of smoke billowing from the north tower of the World Trade Center. He calmly notes the visible smoke, indicating a large fire but lacking further details at that moment.
As the broadcast progresses, reporters begin to piece together the developing situation in real-time, confirming that planes had been hijacked in what appeared to be a terrorist attack. The severity of the event, which would become the deadliest in American history, gradually becomes apparent.
During the segment, a witness named George Shay describes hearing explosions and seeing debris fall as he drove into the city via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. "I heard an enormous explosion then I heard another enormous explosion and it scared me," Shay recounts, adding that debris filled the air and that he saw what appeared to be a "massive tire" smash onto the street. He described it as "the scariest thing I've ever seen."
The anchor then interrupts the witness account to report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. "I'm just getting word from our assignment desk that we have information that a plane has crashed into the side of the World Trade Center," Kiernan announces.
The tension escalates as a second plane crashes into the south tower. The footage captures the south tower falling, with smoke filling the streets of lower Manhattan. "That tower is not there anymore," Kiernan somberly reports, acknowledging the devastating impact and the likelihood of thousands of injuries.
Before the attacks, Kiernan had also covered items such as a New York Post headline about local primaries, a report on Whitney Houston cancelling a concert, and a science story about dental implants. He signs off the initial segment by saying, "That's what's in the papers this Tuesday," unaware of the impending tragedy.
The footage was shared on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette tweeted the clip, noting that it captures "15 minutes of news from the Before Times. Then the world changes."
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, orchestrated by al-Qaeda, resulted in the deaths of 2,977 victims. The attacks involved hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth plane that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.