---
4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
---
---
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 2001
TALK TO US
Kursten Phelps
editor
864-4854 or
editor@kansan.com
Leita Schultes
Christina Neff
managing editors
864-4854 or
edukan@kansas.edu
Erin Adelson Brendan Woodbury opinion editors 864-4810 or opinion@kansas.com
Jenny Moore business manager 864-4014 or addirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
864-4462 or
retailsales.kansan.com
Tom Eblen
general manager and
news adviser
864-7667 or
teblen@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing
adviser
864-7666 or
mtfser@kansan.com
NATION AT HALF MAST
JAMIE ROPER/KANSAN
Flags fly at half-mast across the nation. Heightened security was evident around Kansas state buildings yesterday after terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
PERSPECTIVE
Learning to cover a catastrophe
Tragedies like the events that unfolded yesterday in New York City, Washington, D.C., and rural Pennsylvania are hard to understand.
For Kansan staffers still learning the trade, it is even more difficult to know how to cover a tragedy like yesterday's apparent terrorist attacks.
When the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed — the most recent disaster comparable to yesterday's — I was a freshman in high school.
Now, I'm editor of the Kansan. I arrived in the newsroom yesterday morning with news of a national disaster. Trust me, no course taught me how to make the right news and management decisions in a situation like that. I learned on the job yesterday.
Ironically, a debate was waged on yesterday's opinion page about whether to focus on national and international news. The opinion editors this semester have generally tried to focus on campus and local issues that directly relate to students and University life.
Today's Kansan is a good example of how our news coverage shifts as major events unfold off campus. We try to cover our own backyard first,
Commentary
Kursten Phelps
Editor-in-chief
opinionkaren.com
The more important question for us is how to cover this horrific occurrence. Our goal was to reflect this story in a way that matters to students. We found students who had family or friends in New York and Washington. We talked to professors with expertise in international relations and terrorism. We worked to find out how this apparent terrorist attack directly affected all of us here.
but if the World Trade Center is destroyed, the Pentagon is attacked and the White House is evacuated — we're going to cover it.
It wasn't easy, and we didn't have a blueprint of how to approach this story. It's tough to be a reporter on days like yesterday, when you have to talk to people who don't know if their loved ones are dead or alive.
But it's our job.
One journalism professor told me this was the biggest news event of his lifetime. Yesterday's casualties stirred strong emotions for a lot of people. Some sources shared gut-wrenching emotions.
Our policy as we worked on today's coverage was to spread out and try to find anyone we could who had any connection or vested interest in this tragic event. At the same time, Kansan staffers were instructed to interview sources with the highest level of sensitivity and respect. We wouldn't push someone to talk to us, but we did try to get all the reactions and interviews possible.
Yesterday was a historic day, and I think it's safe to say we're all still in shock, trying to understand why and how this tragedy occurred. Kansan staff members, as humans trying to understand this event, and as student journalists grappling with tough news decisions, are no different.
Phelps is a senior in Spanish, Latin American studies and journalism from Manhattan. She is editor-in-chief.
OPINION EDITOR'S NOTE
Commentary
Erin Adamson
Opinion Editor
opinionkansan.com
Americans must resist impulse to lay blame
What can we say? How can we react to the enormity of what we saw?
Riveting images played and replayed.
We've seen this before in Oklahoma and at embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
As in the Oklahoma City bombing, Saudi exile Osama bin Laden came to mind. We now know that, in that case, one of America's own turned out to be the terrorist who took so many American lives. Those responsible for yesterday's attack remain unknown.
News broadcasts have drawn comparisons between yesterday's attack and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Certainly, the horror and disbelief Americans felt yesterday mirrored the disbelief they felt when, huddled around the family radio, they learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Sixty years later, the second attack on U.S. soil is strikingly different from the bombing of the military installation on Hawaii. Pearl Harbor was, after all, an attack on the military. And it was immediately known that Japan was responsible. The United States was able to react and declare war against Japan.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Americans watched the attack replayed on TV in full color. They watched as flames shot out of the towers. They watched as clouds of debris engulfed lower Manhattan as the towers crumpled. But yesterday was an attack on civilians, and this perpetrator was nameless and faceless.
When one is punched in the mouth, the immediate reaction is to punch back. After such a tragedy, the reaction is to lash out, fight back, try to erase the harm that has been inflicted.
The most dangerous reaction on the part of Americans and the U.S. government now would be to demand an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
A likely suspect could be Osama bin Laden. He was indicted in the embassy bombings in Kenya in 1997. He is known to have pilots capable of flying commercial aircraft. But he was wrongly implicated in the Oklahoma bombing.
The attack coincided with a number of world events. It fell a week before the anniversary of the 1978 Camp David peace accords and a week after the United States and Israel pulled out of the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, to protest language in the accord that they deemed unfair to Israel.
the government and military of the United States must use this time to determine how such a devastating attack on U.S. soil took place. Americans must question how an attack of this magnitude could have taken place? How can we prevent this from happening again?
Now is not the time to judge. Draw conclusions based on facts. Suspicions are not good enough.
From New York to Los Angeles this morning, Americans sit stunned at their kitchen tables, stand over their radios and stare out their windows, wondering what this tragedy means. As the dust settles, Americans mourn lost ones and a lost sense of security.
Winston Churchill assumed the position of prime minister of Great Britain in the Spring of 1940 as German armies were rolling across Europe. In his maiden speech to parliament, he announced, "I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, toil and tears."
Adamson is a senior in Spanish, Latin American studies and journalism from Lawrence. She is opinion editor.
What you can do: Follow Churchill
EDITORIAL
BLOOD: Late yesterday afternoon. New York City issued "an urgent plea for blood." Unfortunately, blood must wait three weeks before it can be transfused into a patient, so blood donated now is unlikely to help victims of yesterday's attack.
For KU students wondering how to react to yesterday's attack on America, Churchill's promise is a worthy model.
Faced with tragedy, good-hearted people naturally want to do something. A list, based on Churchill's promise, follows for those looking ways to help.
"I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, toil and tears."
However, for months, the United States has faced a "severe blood shortage," and donations will alleviate that shortage. Donations will ready America for the day when terrorists strike again. The American Red Cross is sponsoring a blood drive on campus in early October. It has asked students to wait until that blood drive to donate. For those who wish to give immediately, Kansas Blood Services at Sixth and Gateway is staying
Winston Churchill former prime minister of Great Britain
SWEAT. Some people responded to the attack by calling in threats to Free for All and Muslim groups. It goes without saying that retaliating against those who look like those who might have carried out the attack is cowardly and senseless. For those who feel they must retaliate, armed forces recruiting centers are listed in the yellow pages.
open until nine o'clock to accomodate donors.
TOIL: Many organizations, including the American Red Cross are asking for donations. For many students, money is the thing they are least able to give, but one day's wages or one night's beer money represent a way to share in the nation's sacrifice. Those wanting to donate can go to the Red Cross web site at www.redcross.org.
istries will be holding a prayer vigil tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. at Danforth Chapel. The vigil may be moved to the Campanile if the turnout is too high for Danforth. White ribbons memorializing the tragedy will be distributed in front of Kansas Union and Strong Hall for students to wear on their clothing throughout the week. Finally, you can always say prayers in private.
PERSEVERE: President Bush told the nation last night America was attacked because it stands as "the brightest beacon of freedom." Despite the cost, that beacon must remain lit. Students must preserve the freedom of thought and the tolerance of others that distinguishes our great nation.
TEARS: Ecumenical Christian Min-
Brenden Woodbury for the Kansan editors.
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
图
I
As tragic as the events in New York and Washington D.C. are, I think it's important that we realize that this might be a turning point in American culture and society. It's important that we type our reaction to ensure peace for the future and the present.
dent
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims and rescue workers that were involved in the attack. May the perpetrators be found and punish
I wish there was something that I could do to help these people. This is so awful, what can I do to help? It's so frustrating not to be able to help them, I'm so sorry for them and their families.
Wear a yellow ribbon for everyone in our country please, wear a yellow ribbon to remember all the people that are in hospitals right now and who have already died and who are helping those who are injured or are coping with loss.
图
In regards to the World Trade Center bombing, everyone needs to pray to someone, no matter who they worship, about the lives that we lost today and pray that they're in a better place.
May God be with the United States and the whole world.
STUDENTRESPONSE
"I'm in shock, basically. I don't think anybody expected this to happen. I'm sure there will be some form of retaliation once we find who is responsible."
Justin Snook, Lawrence junior
"It's horrible, what can you say?"
Jennifer Hermes, Colby junior
"My parents called me to let me know, so I immediately came to the Union. I was shocked by the racist reaction by KU students against Palestinians."
"I was watching TV and I saw it. It was just kind of bewildering that this could happen. Everywhere you go, you can hear the news of it on every person's car radio."
Mike Black, Lenexa resident
"I was pretty shocked, I've been watching all morning. The Trade Center towers are not there anymore. There are so many unanswered questions. It's just shocking.
Jesse Mundy, Topeka sophomore.
"I'm very angry and distraught. It's very sad, and I'll keep all those people who died and their families in my prayers."
Ailecia Ruscin, Auburn, Ala. graduate stu-
Latasha Reed, Topeka junior
"It's devastating. I'm interested to see where we go. In terms of foreign policy, we can either become more aggressive, or more isolationist, or more willing to be a-part-of instead of in-charge-of. Its devastating for Americans because, this is on domestic soil. This is in a league of its own."
Eric Snider, Wichita senior
"Obviously, the event is unimaginable for many of us college students that have never been exposed to this before."
"I think the most important thing is to realize when dealing with this is that we don't want to have any xenophobic attacks on anyone until we know who is responsible."
Shawna Smith, Hayssenior
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.