First lady
Laura Bush will be on NBC's "Concert for
America" at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
She said she hopes it "will allow us to use
the arts to soothe our emotions." Over the
past few months, television network executives
have been struggling with the issue of what tone
to set with their Sept. 11 coverage and how
extensive it should be, trying to anticipate the
public's desire to reflect.
"My own strong impression
is there has been a drifting away emotionally and
intellectually" from the events of last Sept.
11, NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw said.
NBC hopes, with its news
coverage, to remind people of what the country
went through and tell what's been learned since
then, he said.
ABC, CBS and NBC will all air
expanded editions of their morning news shows that
morning to cover planned commemorations. Many of
those are timed to coincide with what happened
exactly a year ago that day; the first plane hit
the World Trade Center at 8:48 a.m.
From there, the network plans
diverge. ABC News plans continuous coverage
through prime-time, with breaks for local news.
NBC will also show news that
afternoon, including a town meeting-format
interview featuring Brokaw and rescue workers,
survivors and family members.
CBS hasn't set its afternoon
plans, in part because it's still trying to gauge
the level of interest among the public and its
affiliates.
The network will turn its
prime-time schedule over to its newsmagazines,
"60 Minutes" and "60 Minutes
II," for Sept. 11-related programming.
CBS will also rerun its two-hour
"9-11" documentary featuring footage
from inside the World Trade Center.
Fox will air a two-hour
prime-time special, "The Day America
Changed," on Sept. 11.
ABC's prime-time news coverage
will feature a minute-by-minute reconstruction of
events within the World Trade Center that morning,
the network said.
Brokaw said NBC was approached
by the Kennedy Center about a concert, and the
network thought the music would be "an
important and necessary ingredient" to the
coverage. He noted that the Concert for New York
helped to elevate the public mood last fall.
Except for the National Symphony
Orchestra, NBC hasn't announced the musicians that
will participate, although Gloria Estefan and
country singer Alan Jackson reportedly will be
there