9/11: a Reminder that Facts Matter

There is the story of 9/11. And then there is the event itself, something that shattered everything that came before it.

It has taken time for me to realize the magnitude of that event. When a colleague told me two planes crashed into the World Trade Center that day, at first I did not understand what was going on. I was told I had to go down there to report with a camera. Our newsroom’s cameraman could not make it that day, so I just had to go out on the street with a huge Belcam camera on my own.

It really took me years to process the whole thing and admit, “We didn’t know what was going on.” It was not like today when you look to your phone and you have all of the information out there in the world all at once. On that day, you really had to be there and experience it as a witness, and as a reporter, processing what was going on and how the city was feeling. I remember trying to understand everything, but it was so challenging.

For me, that day really shaped me and spun my life in a totally different direction. It was the day I fully embraced journalism and that reporting reality is a way to tell the story in real-time, of what’s going on. All my respect goes to journalists, really. Not only reporters, but cameramen, producers, and everyone that is there on the front lines making sure that news is being delivered on time.

Last year, l covered the trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is the most famous drug lord in the world. I spent three months with around 30 journalists doing what it took to report the story, even sleeping on the street without our phones. We covered the trial sometimes just by our presence or with our bodies as much as our notes. It felt like an incredible experiment. It was a reminder that as journalists, we are not competing for the story. We are stronger together. We are nobodies, really, on our own.

Today, more than ever, journalists need to back each other up. We need to tell each other, “Wow, our work is courageous.” Let’s continue on this path based on principle, truth, and courage. In the end, you never know when you will have to go, grab a camera, and chase the truth.