I really don’t know how I feel about this:
A 911 operator, speaking to a woman trapped on the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center, offered hope of a rescue team that never appeared, recordings of emergency phone calls from Sept. 11 released Wednesday show.
“Listen to me, ma’am,” the operator told a panicked Melissa Doi during a 20-minute phone call. “You’re not dying. You’re in a bad situation, ma’am.”
A portion of Doi’s conversation was played for jurors in April at Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui’s trial, but the rest was wasn’t public until Wednesday’s release of 1,613 previously undisclosed 911 emergency calls from the morning of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
***The New York Times and families of Sept. 11 victims sued for access to the emergency calls and firefighters’ oral histories. Attorneys said they wanted to find out what happened in the towers after two hijacked jetliners crashed into them and what dispatchers told workers and rescuers in and around the buildings.
The calls also include 10 previously unreleased 911 calls made by people trapped in the towers, although those calls will include only the voices of the operators who heard their pleas.
The city in March released transcripts of 130 calls from people trapped in the towers, including only the voices of operators and other public employees. The callers’ voices were cut out after city attorneys argued that their pleas for help were too emotional and intense to be publicized without their families’ consent.
Thousands of pages of emergency workers’ oral histories and radio transmissions were released last August.
I am conflicted- I think they are our recordings, as we paid for them and we should be able to hear them, and the government should not have the right to supress them. At the same time, I don’t feel the need to have these calls splashed all over the news causing unneccessary pain and suffering. Is there a middle ground that could have bbeen found, or is this just one of the flaws of our form of governance?
The Other Steve
I figure I’ll just not listen to them.
I do that a lot, sometimes I just turn off the news because it’s not something I have any desire in hearing about.
Usually it’s right when they start announcing sports scores, but sometimes it’s earlier.
Nikki
I remember when my local TV news crew went bonkers because “WE’VE GOT THE 911 CALLS FROM THE WTC!!”
Turned them off the minute Judge Judy was over.
Jill
If the city’s attorneys are saying no it makes me think they are only covering their asses. The families seem to want the calls out in public. Let them out there and you can either listen or not, it isn’t mandatory.
srv
I think everyone working or living in iconic high-rises should be listening to these and asking their city councils, planners and fire chiefs what their plans are.
Unless you fantasize that our policies in the ME are going to lead to less of these kinds of scenarios.
Steve
I know a lawyer who was working in his office at the WTC when the first plane hit. Instinctively, he hit the stairwell and scampered down 80+ flights, living to tell the tale. Other people called 9/11 and, tragically, were told to stay put.
There are important reasons why this sort of thing needs to come to light, so we can avoid making the same mistakes in the event of another disaster. That’s why many of the 9/11 families have been fighting for the release of the tapes. We can’t trust the government to listen to the tapes in private and implement all the necessary remedial measures on its own; we know that’s not how life works.
It’s very unfortunate that some of the trashier elements in the media will sensationalize this stuff for ratings. I hate it, and I hate the fact that listening to stories from 9/11 still makes me want to cry. But this is a matter of life and death, and if we don’t publicize the information from 9/11 and let people fight for corrective measures, the likelihood is that there will be unnecessary deaths if and when the “next time” comes. We can’t let that happen simply to keep the tapes out of the hands of unprincipled media types. All we can do is condemn the people who choose to exploit tragedy rather than report responsibly.
Mac Buckets
Yeah, there was a horrific 911 call time-synched with video of the WTC up on Youtube a couple weeks ago and it was just too disturbing. But there’s always Faces of Death idiots who want to be ghouls.
Instead of terrible tragedies, listen to music. Here’s a pretty funny song by Sprites called “I Started A Blog Nobody Read”! Not that this applies to anyone we know…
Pooh
John – much better. I agree (per usual) with Steve.
scs
Everyone should know by now never listen to 911 operators. Haven’t we heard enough dumbass 911 operator tapes exposed on TV by now? They are usually not the most well paid or the brightest people. Instead, always listen to your own instincts.
Steve
Scs, these people died about as horribly as one can imagine. You could try to show a little more compassion than “everyone should know not to listen to 911 operators!”
Tom in Texas
This is one of the flaws of a free press. Some trashy outlet will sensationalize the news. I don’t think there is a middle ground here, exactly. We can’t prevent shitty television.
Steve
Well, not unless a nipple is involved. We can stop nipples.
Circy
Maybe they could release a written transcript of the 911 calls if the tapes are “too emotional”. Personally, if I were a family member, I wouldn’t want the media to have free access to something that is so personal. We all know they would play the tapes repetitiously and incessantly. The public would end up desensitized to to it all.
Mr Furious
Release ’em. Jus don’t watch/listen if you don’t want.
But if somebody wants to or needs to hear these tapes they should be available. Steve pretty much nailed it.
Pooh
There is no middle ground when the families want the tapes released.
Alternatively, the middle ground is more sensible – change the channel if it comes on.
Ancient Purple
The compromise, if you need one, is for news agencies to state that the tapes are available online at their website. Those that want to listen can do so and those that don’t can continue listening to the Tom Cruise “baby or no baby” nonsense.
That being said, I have no problems with the tapes being available or broadcast. The news channels (air and cable) should be respectful enough to their audiences to warn viewers before hand, but other than that, I fail to see how anyone is protected by keeping the tapes out of the public eye/ear.
Jackmormon
The New York City NPR station has been playing one of the clips at the top of every hour. One assumes that her family was okay with the publicity, since individuals’ names were only released to the press with the family’s okay, but, jeez, every hour?
Zifnab
I like the idea of written transcripts. There’s something of value to have access to what was said. However, I’m betting its harder to hype a piece of paper than a tape recording. People don’t need to hear some poor victim screaming or crying or panicing in his/her last moments.
That said, I am a bit surprised the GOP isn’t pimping these tapes like a crack whore on labor day. Maybe screaming 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! isn’t producing the same type of emotional kick it used to.
Steve
Frankly, after the tear-jerking presentation by the US Attorney’s office at Moussaoui’s sentencing hearing, I’m not sure the media could manage to use this stuff in a much more exploitative manner. I mean, I felt traumatized just reading third-hand news stories on CNN.com.
Not that getting a tougher sentence for a nutjob like Moussaoui was a bad cause, but due process is supposed to involve something more than a raw appeal to the jury’s passions and emotions. Not to mention, it’s pretty sick that the government wouldn’t turn some of this stuff over to the families themselves, but had no problem playing it in open court for the whole world to hear.
Jackmormon
Ah, I finally listened carefully enough to the WNYC intros to understand. The clip that so upset me–of a woman in the towers panicking on the phone with a female 911 operator–was the only “civilian” clip in the recent release, and that clip had already been played during the Moussaoui trial.
All of the other phone records were internal: between 911 and the FDNY, between the FDNY and the City, etc. Exposing those records to the public eye will probably force real change in emergency response. Five years later, I’d like to feel that the city is addressing honestly and openly whatever communications breakdowns occurred that day.
The internal records are probably what the families were pushing to be released. Until they’re analyzed independantly, it might be hard to say what they reveal. Unfortunately, to mark the release, some media chose to play and replay and replay the most distressing new clip available.
cmh
I remember when I was a kid and we used to do earthquake drills at school. The deal was to duck under your desk and cover your head. That made sense because I was small and the desk was a pretty large sturdy two student slab of covering. By the time I was in high school and we had to do this I had grown and the tables were now hardly going to cover a thing. I thought “who are they kidding?!”
In other words I think releasing these tapes are important if merely to demonstrate that you should never listen to anyone in any postition of power that tells you to STAY in a burning building.