This is a round of fraternal applause for American journalists, who earned everyone's sincere respect on September 11th. Journalists from all levels of the profession who were on the story are interviewed. Their tales are then spliced up and laid out in chronological order, from onset to post-traumatic jitters. The professionalism on display here is absolutely superb. Most people have some idea of how hectic the job of getting the news produced each day is. Here we have the spectacle of these brave professionals getting the job done minus most of their familiar tools and surroundings, and plus a soul-sucking fear that they or their colleagues are about to die. No smirks, no condescension, no "women and minorities hardest hit" credentializing.

So is this book an adequate tribute to them? Yes. Can't go wrong. The text is punchy and hot-off-the-presses, and the photos really crackle. There is a problem, though.

The book seems to discriminate against Foxnews. Apart from a screenshot of Shepard Smith and a photo of a correspondent at the Pentagon, Foxnews is excluded from this collection. This is very strange, since Foxnews is based in New York and is the number four American news network, behind the networks and ahead of CNN. Could it be that the Newseum staff who edited this book don't consider those eeeevillll conservatives to be *real* journalists? That's a nasty thought, but what other explanation could there be? Even a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, in town for a fashion show and caught up in events, is quoted multiple times. To be sure, staff from the Wall Street Journal are quoted extensively, as their offices were hardest hit.

Apart from that, the book is gripping. The journos' professional instincts snapped into action. Taking to bicycling when traffic congeals, giving the cordon police the slip, phoning Mom to relay a report second hand, the ingenuity and dedication is impressive. There's also a seldom-reported sensitivity. Some reporters pitch in with relief efforts. Some cry along with the sobbing victims they are interviewing. There's only one case of a reporter getting the bum's rush, from some firemen who were trying to catch their breath.

We get all meat in this book. The actual TV broadcasts that day were teeming with hastily miked-up guests experts, helping the gabbling anchors fill air time until actual news got into their earpieces. But ever the pro, Peter Jennings signaled for silence on the set when the towers came down. No comment was necessary.

It might have been nice to include a story or two from a West Coast news outlet. When the attacks happened, I couldn't get into any of the national news websites. I finally connected to the Sacramento Bee's site. The webmaster was frantically posting up wire photos and rolling copy through, with what must have been a small, sleepy crew.

And then in a few weeks things were back to normal. NPR's Loren Jenkins blurted in an interview that he would "smoke out" and disclose the location of any U. S. troops on a secret mission, if it meant getting the story. The TV news people harrumphed at Fox for wearing lapel flags, fearing that the sight of the national flag on the set would signify support for the Bush administration and not the country as a whole. Reuters insisted on calling Arab terrorists "militants", and putting "terrorism" in skepticism-implying quotation marks. The liberal pundits covered the Afghan war like children in the back seat whining "Are we there yet?" New York Times editorial page editor Howell Raines concluded that the war on terror was Vietnam II, and used his page of that august newspaper to try to block further retaliation. But even with all its faults, the American press is mano-a-mano the greatest in the world. It's inspiring to see this record of how great it was on a day when it laid its faults aside.

From Library Journal Reviews ; October 1, 2002 Tuesday By Audrey Snowden
The Newseum, an interactive museum of news located in Arlington, VA, was operating as usual on September 11, 2001. After seeing smoke billowing from the ravaged Pentagon, its staff members immediately closed the museum and worked through the night assembling an exhibit of wire service photos from around the world. This book is the outgrowth of that initial exhibit. What sets it apart from the plethora of books on 9/11 is its focus. Told chronologically through 100 first-person vignettes and 75 powerful color and black-and-white photographs, the book covers the varied experiences of members of the press. Big-name anchors weigh in, but the stage belongs to the reporters and photographers who usually work behind the scenes. Authors Trost, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and Shepard, award-winning media critic, provide a firsthand - and very human - look at the process behind the coverage, revealing how the immediacy of ongoing television and Internet coverage helped journalists, photojournalists, and anchors shape a nation's perception of a tragically unique day. A valuable addition, especially to school libraries. - Audrey Snowden, formerly with Clark Univ., Worcester, MA
Newseum with Cathy Trost & Alicia C. Shepard. Rowman & Littlefield. 2002. c.256p. photog. ISBN 0-7425-2316-0.

The authors do an amazing job of letting the stories stand on their own in providing readers with a rare and engaging look at how the press responded to a national tragedy. Even just one year later, Running towards Danger, is already an important piece of American history.