World Trade Center
Since 2001 in the United States, especially in the media, "Ground Zero" is generally understood to mean the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The phrase was being applied to the World Trade Center site within hours after the towers collapsed. It appears that the first use of the term on a mainstream North American media outlet in reference to the September 11 attacks was at approximately 11:55 am when an eye witness who claimed to be a Fox News freelancer referred twice to ground zero. He may also have been the first person to suggest the cause of the collapse of the towers was due to "structural failure due to fires", when most media on 9/11 were likening the collapses of WTC 1, 2, and 7 to a building demolition. At 4:41 p.m., in an interview with Peter Jennings on ABC News, attorney and survivor of the attacks Tom Humphreys (spelled "Humphries" on air) said, in reference to the collapse of the South Tower, that
| “ | The tragedy is that the police and fire personnel that tried to help people out of that building were right at Ground Zero when that happened... | ” |
The next known reference occurred at 7:47 p.m. (EDT) on that day, when CBS News reporter Jim Axelrod said:
| “ | Less than four miles behind me is where the Twin Towers stood this morning. But not tonight. Ground Zero, as it's being described, in today's terrorist attacks that have sent aftershocks rippling across the country. | ” |
The term "Ground Zero" was simultaneously used by NBC News reporter Rehema Ellis when her own report was aired on NBC at around the same time as Jim Axelrod's report on CBS News. She said:
| “ | We're now just a block away from the World Trade Center and the closer we get to "ground zero" the harder it is to breathe and to see. | ” |
Rescue workers also used the phrase "The Pile", referring to the pile of rubble that was left after the buildings collapsed. Even years later, the term "Ground zero" has become a shorthand for the site, even after construction on the new One World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum were well underway. In advance of the 10th anniversary of the attacks, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg urged that the "Ground zero" moniker be retired, saying, "... the time has come to call those 16 acres what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial and Museum."
Read more about this topic: Ground Zero
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