Associated Press Story Change:
The Flight 93 Tape
| "Peterson said he learned things from the tape that he did not know before, but declined to elaborate." |
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>>> In an unprecedented move, the FBI allowed relatives of those killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93--which crashed in Pennsylvania during the 9/11 attacks--to hear the cockpit audio tapes from the doomed plane. They listened on headphones while watching a transcript projected onto a screen. They were not allowed to record the proceedings in any way, and were not even allowed to take notes. Reporters were refused admittance. The Associated Press released 11 versions of their article about this event, starting on 18 April 2002 at 2:07 PM Eastern. As the day went on, AP reporter Sheila Hotchkin heard from more family members who offered their take on the voice recordings, which were added to the article. So far, so good. Starting with the fifth version of the article, released at 7:48 PM, the article includes some quotes from Hamilton Peterson: "Today is a very bittersweet day," said Hamilton Peterson, whose father, Donald, died in the crash. "Obviously, the enormity of the tragedy is here but it's a very proud moment." Peterson said he learned things from the tape that he did not know before, but declined to elaborate. That last line is quite interesting, no? The audio recording from the cockpit revealed facts that this immediate relative of a passenger hadn't known. Cryptically, though, he refuses to say what things he learned. Could it be that we're not being told all that happened on that flight? Through the next four versions, those two short paragraphs remained in tact. The last of these articles appeared at 11:11 PM. As often happens, a new day brings strange cuts to AP articles. I believe this is because higher-ups in the company arrive for their workday, which consists of normal business hours, and proceed to take scissors to articles from the day before. Sure enough, a new version of the story was released at 8:06 AM on 19 April 2002. Peterson is still quoted, but now his portion reads: "Obviously, the enormity of the tragedy is here, but it's a very proud moment," said Hamilton Peterson, son of passenger Donald A. Peterson. "These were clearly people who, when confronted with the unthinkable, digested and acted upon it in no time at all." As you can see, someone cut the sentence: "Peterson said he learned things from the tape that he did not know before, but declined to elaborate." That troubling sentence--with its tantalizing allusion to things we haven't been told, things even the passengers' families hadn't known until they heard the tape--was flushed down the memory hole. It remained missing in the final version of the article, released at 9:54 AM. |
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Relatives of Flight
93 Hear Tape ... "Today is a very bittersweet day," said Hamilton Peterson, whose father, Donald, died in the crash. "Obviously, the enormity of the tragedy is here but it's a very proud moment." Peterson said he learned things from the tape that he did not know before, but declined to elaborate. ... |
Flight 93 Relatives
Hear Recording ... "Obviously, the enormity of the tragedy is here, but it's a very proud moment," said Hamilton Peterson, son of passenger Donald A. Peterson. "These were clearly people who, when confronted with the unthinkable, digested and acted upon it in no time at all." ... |
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