This was not a story they were planning on reporting from afar, however. So at 5 a.m. Wednesday, Rome time, they chartered a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, because they thought they could catch a commercial flight to Montreal from there. They were wrong. So they returned to Rome then hired another private jet to get them to Milan, where they caught a plane to Reykjavik, Iceland, with connection on to New York..
Of course, en route from Reykjavik they were diverted, landing instead in Montreal on Friday morning well after 1 a.m. From there they rented a car and drove, eight long hours to New York City, making them among the very first of the international press corps to make it across the ocean and no-fly zone to cover the worst terrorist attack in history. “We have not slept in 70 hours,” DiLellis says. “But we had to be here.”
Throughout the day Friday, a small number of equally intrepid foreign journalists began arriving in Manhattan. Angus Stickler, a BBC Radio 4 “Today” reporter, chartered a 747 from London to Montreal for himself and more than 100 of his colleagues. They sold seats to other stranded reporters, including a team from Australia’s “60 Minutes.” Once in Canada, however, the camaraderie was gone as they scrambled to rent cars, vans and buses. The BBC team arrived in New York City more than 60 hours after their journey began.
And that’s when they realized the charter’s crew left behind much of the BBC’s luggage, including laptops, recording equipment and all Stickler’s clothes. “Am I frustrated?” he asks, interviewing himself. “Is the pope Catholic?”
Some foreign media outlets were considerably more lucky. Annelies Rohrel, from Die Presse in Vienna happened to be vacationing in New York City. So was Der Spiegel war correspondent Carolin Emcke-she watched the towers collapse from the street outside where she was staying and filed first-person accounts through the early days of the disaster.
But for most members of the foreign fourth estate, the journey to New York has been a challenge. There are reports of journalists crowding airports in cities all over Europe and Latin America. Even a few American journalists have been having to resort to heroics. CNN’s Mexico City bureau chief, Harris Whitbeck, managed to get himself to El Paso, Texas, but rented a car and drove the rest of the way-2,180 miles-to Manhattan, his colleagues report.
New York City police officials are expecting a flood of reporters from around the world will arrive to cover the story. But with international flights still limited and shifting policies on which domestic airports are open and when, the influx is not expected for several more days. Which leaves the field wide open for the intrepid few who have already arrived to transmit back the enormous story. “I just spoke to my wife, and she has been glued to the TV for three days,” says Peter Wilkinson, a producer with Australia’s “60 Minutes,” who is planning an hourlong show this Sunday. “That’s what kind of impact this has had around the world. New Yorkers should know that everybody is watching. Everybody.”
