U.S. Marks 9/11 Anniversary

What happened

The facts the coverage agrees on, drawn from reporting across the political spectrum. Where the sides dispute something, it's attributed.

Today, the focus shifted to public remembrance. Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks with moments of silence, wreath-laying, vigils, volunteer projects and name readings. Al-Qaida hijackers seized four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people. At Ground Zero, relatives read the names of the 2,977 victims. The Pentagon is preparing to break ground on a Visitor Education Center as more than 100 million Americans lack direct memory of 9/11.

Both sides

How left-leaning and right-leaning outlets told this story, in their own coverage. Outlet names link to the article we drew from.

From the left

Left-leaning coverage paired mourning with scrutiny of the aftermath. HuffPost stressed the shock, those killed and that al-Qaida extremists hijacked four jets. The Atlantic framed the milestone as 25 years since nearly 3,000 people died in a terror attack. MS NOW said Americans still wrestle with the legacy, including wars where more than two million U.S. service members served. Salon argued fear built a lasting surveillance state; Democracy Now! highlighted nearly 10,000 illness deaths.

From the right

Right-leaning coverage cast remembrance as a test of memory and meaning. Fox News emphasized education for more than 100 million Americans with no memory of 9/11, and the Pentagon’s planned Visitor Education Center. The Daily Wire argued that remembrance must confront Islamism while not treating Muslims as one group. The Federalist said secular liberal ideas obscured the conflict’s religious nature. The American Spectator warned that fading memory has brought apathy and sympathy, plus some glorification of the attackers.

Coverage•21 articles — 6 left, 5 center, 10 right