By Jane Gottlieb | Photo by Kyran M. John
By the time Bryant Gumbel interrupted morning programming to report that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center, Marcy McGinnis ’09 was in a cab and on the phone with Dan Rather.
“I said, ‘Strap on your armor, and get to the office,’” recalls McGinnis, then second in command at CBS News. “Then, I called the control room, and said ‘Stay on the air until Dan’s in.’”
So began a 93-hour broadcast and, for McGinnis, a marathon of split-second decisions and planning. A second plane attacked the WTC; another crashed into the Pentagon; a fourth went down in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died, as the world watched.
“In New York City, people who had just brought kids to school were a wreck,” McGinnis recalls.
24-Hour Coverage
"Like viewers, she worried about friends and colleagues she couldn’t reach."
In 35 years at CBS News, the New Jersey native rose from secretary to lead coverage of presidential elections, Hurricane Katrina, the Afghanistan war, and the death of Princess Diana, for which she won three Emmys.
Now, 9/11 demanded round-the-clock airtime, and CBS News was not 24-hour. Storytellers for the “The Early Show,” “48 Hours,” and “60 Minutes,” among others, deployed to Ground Zero, collectively phoning in breaking news, analysis, and human stories until satellite trucks arrived.
At the anchor’s desk, Rather balanced studio interviews, reports from disaster sites, and constant updates fed through earphones.
Photo Credit: John Filo
“Dan would calm viewers by saying ‘This is what we know, and this is what we don’t know yet,’ as planes are hitting, buildings are burning, and information is funneled from hundreds of people,” McGinnis recalls.
Like viewers, she worried about friends and colleagues she couldn’t reach. She enlisted mental health experts to counsel traumatized staff.
“One of our producers walked into the studio covered in white soot,” she recalls. “I said ‘Are you ok?’ gave him a big hug, and then said, ‘Can you talk to Dan?’”
McGinnis made a schedule so everyone could sleep. Ensuing days required more original reporting and new stories.
Roots Of Success
McGinnis says her willingness to advocate for herself steered her through a celebrated
career launched with an associate degree.
After retiring from CBS in 2005, she helped create a journalism school at Stony Brook University, becoming its founding associate dean. She also earned an undergraduate history degree from Empire State University.
Today, as a career coach McGinnis is advancing young journalists. She tells them that her impact on September 11 had everything to do with fostering a caring environment.
“I could not have been prouder of that moment in my career,” she says. “We were a team that trusted one another, and in an unimaginable moment everyone rose to the occasion and did the best work of their lives.”
Photo by Kyran M. John