25 years since 9/11: How Latvian media reported on the terror attacks in the US
Twenty-five years ago the terrorist attack on the United States shocked Latvian society as well, and journalists at Latvia's leading media outlets of the time rushed first to understand what was happening, then to inform the public.
This year marks 25 years since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 — an event that shook not only American society but Latvian society too. The world had not previously witnessed a strike of such scale aimed at the very heart of one of the world's greatest powers.
The attack took place in the afternoon of September 11, 2001, Latvian time. Journalists at Latvia's leading media outlets of that era immediately got to work. At first they themselves had to make sense of what was actually happening, as information arrived chaotically and incomplete, while the scale of the events was unlike anything seen before. Only once the first picture began to emerge could journalists turn to their main task — informing Latvian society about what had happened.
A historic day for the media
That day demanded quick action and the ability to work under pressure, as events in the US unfolded faster than they could be fully grasped and verified. The September 11 attacks became one of the rare instances when world history changed live on air, and that experience has stayed with the Latvian journalists who were working in newsrooms at the time.
Now, 25 years on, the anniversary is prompting a look back at how Latvian society learned of the tragedy unfolding in the US, and at how the media landscape of the time managed — or struggled — to respond immediately to an event whose consequences were felt around the world.
