I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this. I considered all of the forums but it didn’t really seem to belng anywhere, so if this is not the best place please feel free to move it!
I am looking to obtain a tape or DVD of the Today Show for 9/11/01, that will show the footage from the beginning of the WTC event, through about noon. I was watching that channel at home that day but never thought to tape any of it. I have four very small children and I know that they will never have the same sense of this day that we all do, and someday, when they are older, I want to be able to show it to them. I also want it for my own remembrance.
I know there are lots of compiled documentaries, by CBS and CNN, but I really would like to get a simple unedited tape of the first 3-4 hours, ideally beginning before the first plane hit.
Does anyone have any suggestions? The Today Show will sell you 5 minutes of footage of any show for $150, which is impossible. I watch Ebay but nothing has come up that is appropriate yet, although there are some things that are close.
I think the closest thing to a simple unedited tape that you’re going to get, commercially anyway, is 9/11. It’s the footage shot by the French film maker brothers that was shown a while back. It does start before the first plane hit. This may be the CBS one you mentioned.
Vanderbilt University has set up a TV News archive. They do sell copies of the tapes and I think they will loan them through interlibrary loan to other libraries - but you may be charged a fee by your library.
Registration is required to search the database, but it’s free, and once you’re in you can browse by date - and from there you can see what they have in their collection.
I don’t know whether they make copies, but the museum of television & radio is almost certain to have this material in its archives, available for viewing at their library.
Copyright restrictions probably limit how much can be sold by any commerical enterprise.
I dunno, but as I recall that day, the news broadcasts reflected enormous confusion, a lot of repetition and a lot of chatter by people who really didn’t know much. For your purposes, the edited tapes might be more useful.