The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Journalists to revisit 9/11

It has been more than two years since the terrorist attacks on American soil, but the personal stories of that day are still being told and three of them will be presented at Marquette next week.

The College of Communications, the Marquette Journal, the Communication Alumni Association and the Society of Professional Journalists are sponsoring "The Journalists of 9/11," a presentation scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in the Helfaer Theater.

This presentation will feature three journalists who were at the scene of 9/11. They will discuss the events from their professional and personal point of view. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

Junior Erin Brethauer, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Marquette Journal's editor is the main organizer of this event. She hopes the audience will gain new insight from these journalists.

"I hope that they'll kind of look at events that happened with keeping journalists in mind," Brethauer said. "The journalists are the ones who are observing what happened. These journalists are going on the scene to get all the info they can. Once you met these people you have more empathy and appreciation for what they do. It would be interesting for anyone to get a more intimate perspective into these events."

The three journalists are Richard Drew, Richard Pyle and David Handschuh. Brethauer said she shadowed them last summer when she was visiting a friend in New York. She said she stayed in contact with them and they were interested in talking to university students about 9/11. Brethauer then organized the presentation.

The event will include explanations of the journalists' personal experiences about where they were and what they were doing at the time of the terrorist attacks as well as how they perceive these events through the eyes of a journalist and an ordinary citizen citizen. Drew and Handschuh will also present slide shows of their work.

Dean of College of Communication William Elliott said this is a perfect opportunity for students to meet top professionals and a great chance to reflect on Sept. 11.

"Many people are always somewhat reluctant to revisit the events of 9/11 and that's what we're going to be doing partly," Elliott said. "Our students are going to have the chance to meet three well-established professionals who have made a difference in the world through their coverage. It's a wonderful chance for our students to rub elbows with some of the nation's finest journalists. It's just a rare opportunity and these are people who covered — for your generation — the single most event that's going to define your lives."

Gary Meyer, associate dean of the College of Communication, said the presentation would be eye opening to both students and faculty.

"I think bringing these journalists to Marquette is important in that their talk will help personalize the tragic event for those who might yet see it as some distant occurrence," Meyer said. "Students and faculty alike will be provided a rare glimpse of 9/11 through the keen lens of three top journalists, a unique perspective that will rekindle discussion about this event and associated consequences."

Richard Drew is a 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner in photojournalism and a photojournalist for the Associated Press. Richard Pyle is an Associated Press journalist and wrote "Lost Over Laos." David Handschuh, a photojournalist for the New York Daily News, teaches photojournalism at New York University and wrote a book entitled "National Media Guide for Emergency and Disaster Incidents."

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