Reporting 9/11 and Why It Still Matters

Phil Hirschkorn is WMTW’s lead political reporter who also covers investigations and hard news. He has authored dozens of articles for magazines, newspapers, and websites and is a coeditor of the oral history book Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11. He and his crew were one of the first CNN crews on the scene of the World Trade Center (WTC) attack. He extensively covered the aftermath of and the investigation into the 9/11 attacks, including the work of the 9/11 Commission. He also covered the debate over rebuilding the WTC site and its memorial, producing the episode “16 Acres” of the documentary program CNN Presents. He began covering al-Qaeda in 1998, reporting on the federal trial stemming from the twin terrorist bombings of US embassies in East Africa. He reported on many other major terrorism prosecutions, including the 9/11 trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. He also produced an extensive series of reports on the 10th anniversary of the attacks for CBS News.

Allison Gilbert is an Emmy Award–winning journalist and author who was nearly killed on 9/11 working as a television news producer at Ground Zero. She is a coeditor of Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11, considered the definitive historical record of how broadcast journalists covered that tragic day. She is the official narrator of the audio tour for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s historical exhibition September 11, 2001. Her 9/11 reflections are introduced by Robert De Niro on the museum’s Witnessing History tour, and she’s the only female journalist to be so honored. Her journalism career spans nearly 30 years: as a frequent writer for The New York Times; a producer for CNN, WNBC-TV, and WABC-TV; and part of the original launch teams for New York 1 News and MSNBC. She serves on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief and on the advisory board for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the preeminent national organization providing grief support to families of America’s fallen heroes.