Troy Roberts, 48 Hours and CBS News Correspondent,
Reflects on September 11

Not surprisingly, the human impact of the events of the morning of September 11, 2001, have been compared to the day Pearl Harbor was attacked or President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. People will not only recall where they were the moment they learned of the attack, but they will also recall how they learned about what was happening.

For those watching CBS Network News that morning, Troy Roberts was one of the first reporting journalists covering the unbelievable events as they unfolded before the world.

"I was at home in lower Manhattan when the first plane hit the World Trade Center; and I immediately phoned Susan Zirinsky, my boss and executive producer for 48 Hours at CBS, to tell her I was going down to the area and to send a film crew down to meet me".

"I arrived just after the second plane struck the other tower. I was three blocks from the Center and waiting for the crew from CBS, and the moment is still horrifying for me: seeing people jump to their deaths, others waving their shirts from the windows trying to attract the attention of rescue workers".

"When the first tower fell, you felt like you were trapped not knowing which way it was going to fall. You didn't expect it to fall inside itself, you expected it to topple ove"r.

"Everyone started running; people were falling and others were stopping and trying to help them up so they could get away. And even though I thought I was running fast, that moment came when everyone was enveloped in smoke and dust".

"But what was most difficult for me as a journalist was trying to process the events on a personal level and do my job as a reporter".

"First of all, New York City is my home. I live in Manhattan and I felt, like so many others did, that my home and neighbors were being attacked and in danger. That alone was horribly upsetting".

"As a television journalist, part of my feelings are that it was a very saddening experience. Yet, speaking with some of my colleagues afterward and since that day, we agreed that while it was a most difficult time, it also was a most gratifying period. We were actually performing a public service and that's what we are supposed to do".

"We played such a critical role in helping to inform people everywhere about what was happening during the attack. We went back to our roots as media professionals; and for many of us in the profession, after September 11, we rediscovered what our real professional roots are".

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Roberts, 39, grew up in Los Angeles; and after graduating at the University of California, Berkeley, he began working at CBS affiliate KPIX-TV in San Francisco. It was during his junior year at Berkeley he began taking journalism classes on the graduate level. One of his professors, Cynthia Borney, who had been a Washington Post reporter, acted as his mentor. "It was she," he says, "who first saw I had writing ability and encouraged me to take her class. "She encouraged me to write for The Daily Californian and I would take my articles to her to get her feedback.

"I took advantage of several internship programs during my junior and senior years in college, and one summer I think I even had three internships in Los Angeles. "By the time I graduated, I had six intern-ships under my belt; no doubt about it, the experience was very helpful later on." Mr. Roberts has been with CBS News in New York for 14 years.