Former CNN Photographer Recalls What It Was Like to Record the Newsroom on 9/11

At 8:49 a.m. ET, on September 11, 2001, CNN abruptly returned from a commercial break showing a live video image of smoke billowing out of a gaping hole in one of the twin towers at the World Trade Center. 

Carol Lin, a CNN anchor at that time, relayed to viewers the little she knew of the unfolding situation, saying they had unconfirmed reports of a plane crashing into one of the towers, adding, “CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened.”

Atlanta-based CNN videographer Ric Blackburn was on bump-shot duty that Tuesday morning, capturing shots of the CNN newsroom inside its former home at the CNN Center going into and out of commercial breaks for the network’s morning news shows.

Upon seeing the rising newsroom chaos following the first plane crash, Blackburn’s journalism instincts immediately kicked in, and he started documenting what he saw.  

The CNN original’s incredible recording is available in two parts on YouTube and offers a rare vantage point on how a global operation like CNN responded to one of the biggest stories of the century. This internal account of what happened inside the CNN building amazingly captures how the network’s journalists responded and adjusted to the growing calamity in real time.

Like a loud crescendo

Speaking exclusively to TVNewser, Blackburn, who is now retired, recalls his experience that Tuesday morning. He said that, for the 16 video journalists stationed in Atlanta, to give them a break from all the traveling they did, they’d go on a one-month rotation at a time inside the CNN Center doing bump-shot duty. 

It was his turn that month, and his shift began at 5 a.m. and was to run until 2 p.m. ET. As the intensity of the newsroom picked up, he called his supervisor and requested his regular camera and a boom microphone to capture the sound.

Blackburn’s recording starts around 9:25 a.m. ET, and by that time the second plane had already crashed into the second tower, with the gravity of the situation well established.

“I just started roaming the newsroom, people on the phone, people looking up at the monitors, people talking to each other, and it just crescendoed, like a loud crescendo as time went on,” Blackburn said.

He noted that Walter Isaacson, CNN’s president at that time, was not initially thrilled with his work capturing the newsroom and the many conversations happening in real time.

“He told me several times to ‘get the F out of the newsroom with that camera.’ I just kind of ignored him because he seemed too serious. Because I knew what I was doing,” Blackburn said.

A shocked Turner

Other CNN executives shown in the footage, besides Isaacson, include Sid Bedingfield, Tom Johnson, Jim Walton, Earl Casey, Jamie Kellner, Eason Jordan, Sue Bunda, and Jane Maxwell.

CNN founder, the late Ted Turner, also makes an appearance in the video, with Blackburn recalling that they knew it was a huge story when Turner initially walked into the newsroom shortly after the first plane hit the tower, “with his hands clasped over his face, just looking up at the monitors, and kind of shaking his head.”

At one point, Blackburn captures Turner, Isaacson, and Jordan discussing whether the other Turner news and entertainment networks should switch to CNN’s coverage, with Jordan later on informing Turner that the first tower had collapsed. A shocked Turner wonders who could have orchestrated such an attack, speculating it was the Taliban.

Blackburn seemed to have some fortuitous luck that morning, capturing key moments related to CNN and its programming decisions, including the discussion of introducing Aaron Brown to CNN’s airwaves; appearances of various CNN on-air talent at that time, including Daryn Kagan, Leon Harris, Bill Hemmer, and Lou Waters; technical issues concerning bringing the network’s signal down from New York City; the CNN Center being closed down and restricted to essential staff only; and food and beverage being transported to the newsrooms.

Interestingly, his camera was also present when a brief verbal fight broke out inside CNN’s control room.

Blackburn was also present as staffers received and reacted to announcements about the ongoing tragedy. This also included initial reports of fire at the Pentagon; the White House being evacuated; the airports closed and all planes being grounded; the collapse of the first tower; and news of a plane down in Somerset, Pennsylvania.

As he went on chronicling what was happening inside the building, he noted a work mode shift, transitioning from a sense of chaos to an acceptance of their new reality, saying, “I believe that that’s what’s amazing about CNN is they knew what’s ahead of them.”

Surreal feeling in the whole city

Blackburn said he worked until 12:30 p.m. ET, when he received word of his next assignment, traveling 18 hours by van to New York City, where he would be stationed for the next month and a half.

While up there, he said, “there was such a solemn, disbelief, surreal feeling in the whole city,” compounded by the smell of burning bodies and hair in the air: “It was like a twilight zone,” he added.

The 34-year CNN veteran wasn’t fond of his time in the city, saying there was a sad, expressionless feeling, with people coming to his camera with pictures of loved ones.

However, he considers himself lucky, from a journalistic point of view. His footage will forever remain a window into how newsrooms operated before today’s new tech, all the while covering “one of the craziest things” in his life.