• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 4 hours ago

Five years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the TV Blog asked this question: Will we see the same emotional outpouring on the 25th anniversary of the attacks in 2026?

The question arose because of the onslaught back then of numerous 9/11 specials and 9/11-related features and interviews on national and local newscasts, and discussions on cable news.

In fact, this has been the case around most of the anniversaries -- especially at five-year intervals -- since the attacks occurred.

This year’s special content started last month and will continue at least through the 25th anniversary of the attacks on Friday. The answer to the above question appears to be yes. 

The special programs are almost always documentaries, some new and original and some that aired in past years. By now there is a supply of them that must number in the hundreds.

They all contain the terrible footage from that day, including the smoke billowing from the Twin Towers where the airliners hit them, the towers’ eventual collapse, the survivors covered in dust and people everywhere with stricken expressions on their faces. 

The terrorists also crashed an airliner into the Pentagon and hijacked another one that crashed in western Pennsylvania. 

But then as now, due to the density of national and local media in New York, the World Trade Center and the surrounding area was Ground Zero for the attacks and the coverage that continued for days afterward.

It was a live TV event like no other. The footage that was gathered on that day and the weeks that followed has provided a mountain of content for annual specials ever since.

But are people still interested in reliving it 25 years later? What purpose do the reminder specials serve? 

We all know what happened. Dozens of documentaries examining every facet of the attacks have amply filled us in.

The networks that make new 9/11 shows and re-air old ones at this time of year are evidently confident that their shows will find an audience.

Who would argue that remembering a day such as this one is important, in much the same way that older generations remembered Pearl Harbor? They were both days of infamy.

Still, TV today has an unsettling way of overdoing it when it comes to these kinds of commemorations. 

On Friday morning, a solemn ceremony at the site of the World Trade Center will take place as it has since 2002. 

As always, the centerpiece is the recitation of the names of the victims, sometimes by their loved ones. 

In this context, saturating TV with images of events in which friends and family members perished comes across as thoughtless.

Those who lost anyone in the attacks are really the central figures in the annual 9/11 remembrances.

We need to take care of them most of all. 

Photo credit: Author’s collection of World Trade Center postcards.