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WASHINGTON -- First, the news broke that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. Then another. And it became clear this was something big, although the magnitude of this story, of the national crisis and scope of the terrorist attack that had been launched against the United States, would not be evident until a third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington.

The students of the Boston University Washington Journalism Center had just arrived in the nation’s capital. It was their first full day in the newsroom of the Washington News Service as reporters for their New England papers and suddenly they were covering a city under siege, a nation in crisis.

The students scrambled to make contact with press secretaries and members of Congress who were being evacuated from the Capitol and its office buildings about five miles away.
The three television monitors in the newsroom were tuned to the networks and the images on the screen were horrifying.

"We got through the day by staying inside, staying together and watching the news coverage while trying to mold our stories," said graduate student Cathleen Genova. "We spent about 10 hours on the phones to press secretaries, congressmen, senators and citizens, shaping the stories each of our editors needed by that evening." Genova was assigned by her editor at the Manchester Union Leader to write a story about college students from New Hampshire studying in Washington.

She managed to locate three young women who had eyewitness accounts of the Pentagon's smoke plume. They described their fear and anxiety as well as the patriotism that was evident on their campuses after the attack.

"They were all eager to tell me what they had seen and felt," Genova said. "Each had a different perspective on the scene, but all three supplied extremely colorful, vivid and exciting accounts."

"My editor at The Union Leader liked what I had written and I shared a byline with a staff reporter who covered the reaction at the New York tragedy site," said Genova.

"We focused on our individual missions to craft a story on the events. We knew we had a unique perspective on the world's largest terrorist attack and we didn’t waste the opportunity," said Genova.

Elizabeth Jenkins, a senior journalism major, said initially the story was moving so fast "all we could do was sit in the newsroom and read the AP wire and watch the TVs." Because the Capitol had been evacuated and cell phone lines across Washington were down, reporters could not use the usual numbers to contact members of Congress and their press secretaries.

Eventually, someone found the home telephone phone number for New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg's home in Virginia and Jenkins managed to interview him. Gregg had been with First Lady Laura Bush when the planes hit the World Trade Center. She had come early to Capitol Hill to testify at a hearing run by Gregg and Sen. Edward Kennedy on early childhood education. Her Secret Service guards said they did not think the White House was secure and wanted to take her out of the Capitol, Gregg said.

"My adrenaline kicked in when I was writing," said Jenkins, a correspondnet for the Ealge Tribune in Lawrence, Mass., which also has a substantial circulation in southern New Hampsire. "It was a long day. This was the biggest story I’ve ever covered – the saddest and at the same time the most exciting." Sarah Sparks, a graduate business and economics journalism major, was trying to find students from Rhode Island who were in Washington for a story for the Providence Journal.

"The day was one phone call after another," Sparks said. "Every interview started, ‘Is everyone okay? Is the Senator safe?’ I kept typing and calling press secretaries, congressmen -- sending notes to friends and family when there was no one else to call -- trying to keep busy enough to avoid thinking about how helpless we all were to help or to avoid more attacks. I have never had a deeper need to keep moving."

Dana Razzano, another graduate journalism major, said she spent Tuesday "digging for information."

"I was assigned to find a former Maine resident who witnessed the Pentagon attack for the Bangor Daily News. I called all of my press secretaries in D.C., my representatives' offices in Maine, the governor's office, several former Pentagon employees from Maine and a list of people associated with the Maine State Society."

Despite her persistence, Razzano was unable to locate a Maine resident who was at the Pentagon when it was attacked.

"I was hoping I would have a story on my first day as a correspondent from D.C., but I never would have imagined anything of the magnitude of the terrorist attacks would occur," said Mindy Finn, a senior journalism major. "From a journalist’s point of view, it was a wonderful opportunity."

Finn interviewed Connecticut Congressman James Maloney and wrote a piece for the Waterbury Republican about his experiences, reactions and comments about the series of events in New York and Washington. "I was working on updating my story throughout the day as events unfolded," said Finn. "It wasn’t until I left the newsroom at about 7:30 p.m. that I started to absorb the reality of what had occurred. Yesterday (Sept. 11), I experienced firsthand how a journalists’ reaction to big news, pleasant or unpleasant, is not the typical human reaction."