And the media are going to be ready:

Sept. 11 Anniversary Coverage Hour-by-Hour Schedule



ABC: Continuous coverage of the day's memorial events from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. In a four hour prime-time special, Peter Jennings will moderate a new edition of last fall's town hall meeting, "Answering Children's Questions."

CBS: 9/11: The Day That Changed America offers expanded editions of The Early Show and the CBS Evening News. Prime-time coverage includes a 60 Minutes interview with President George W. Bush. The documentary film 9/11 also will be rebroadcast Sept. 8 at 9 p.m.

NBC: The network's America Remembers coverage includes a six-hour edition of Today, a town-hall meeting with survivors, rescuers and victims' families, and daylong coverage anchored by Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. At 9 p.m., a Concert for America (to be taped Sept. 9 in Washington, D.C.) will serve as a memorial tribute.

FOX: The Day America Changed, a two-hour special hosted by Brit Hume, will air live at 9 p.m., including interviews with survivors, rescuers and family members.

CABLE STATIONS

Arts & Entertainment: At 8:46 a.m., A&E Television Networks, which includes The History Channel, The Biography Channel, and History International, will fade to black. For one hour and 43 minutes - the time between the first plan hit and the second tower collapsed - the channel will show a continuous scroll of the names of attack victims. Later in the evening, two documentaries will air "Minute By Minute: The Attack on the Pentagon and Investigative Reports: Anatomy of September 11" plus a repeat of Portrait of a Terrorist: Mohammad Atta, the hijacking ringleader. A&E will also begin syndication of Third Watch , the show about emergency response crews in New York City on the anniversary.

BBC America: Events in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania will be covered live, from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., along with coverage from overseas.

Civilization Channel: Documentary Voices from Ground Zero will air at 2 p.m.

CNN: CNN plans 12-hour coverage of the days events beginning 6 a.m. Connie Chung hosts a two-hour special at 7 p.m., and Larry King anchors from New York at 9 p.m. The documentary 16 Acres will follow the rebuilding process.

Country Music Channel: The country and western music channel will focus on music videos and songs with a patriotic theme on September 11.

Discovery Channel: The channel will show three documentaries between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Portraits of Grief at 8 p.m., After 9/11: Rebuilding Lives, and Rebuilding Ground Zero.

ESPN: On September 11, 2002 ESPN and ESPN2 will televise three Major League Baseball games. SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight will cover tributes and remembrances. ESPN CLASSIC will air four specials connected to the anniversary: The Bravest Team: The Rebuilding of the FDNY Football Club, SportsCenter Flashback, a compilation of pieces reflecting on how the sports world responded to the tragedy, and a look at the 2001 World Series, where the New York Yankees played host to the first major sporting event after the attacks.

Food Network: At 8:30 a.m., the 24-hour food channel will suspend its regular programming and run "a series of images, words, and music intended to inspire quiet reflection" for two hours.

Fox News: Fox News will provide commercial-free coverage on Sept. 11 from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

HBO: Rebroadcast of documentary In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01 at 8 p.m. The film features interview with more than 100 New Yorkers and host Rudolph Giuliani.

History Channel: The 9-11 Year, a series of six specials on the attacks, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Islam.

MTV: Carson Daly, the host of the popular music television show "Total Request Live," will host a open forum discussion on the events of 9/11 with teenagers and musicians.

TLC: The Learning Channel will air specials between 5 p.m. and midnight, including 9/11 Babies, Here is New York, Anatomy of a Collapse, and Inside Flight 93.

PBS: PBS will air We Remember, a selection of programs between September 3 and September 11. America Rebuilds, a documentary about the aftermath, filmed with special access granted by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, airs Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. On the anniversary Bill Moyers hosts a Frontline documentary Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero at 8 p.m., followed by A Requiem for September 11 at 10 p.m., a live concert event at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

Sundance Channel: 9 Views: 9/11, short films that reflect the events and emotions of the terrorist attacks, airs at 8 p.m.

Travel Channel: Special programming includes a look at airline security in Airport on Alert and documentary World Trade Center: Triumph and Tragedy.

VH1: The music channel will replay the Concert For America, the benefit concert for victims of September 11 held last October at Madison Square Garden. Musicians include Paul McCartney, the Who, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Mick Jagger, Backstreet Boys, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Bon Jovi, Macy Gray, Goo Goo Dolls, Melissa Etheridge and Five for Fighting.



What you will mostly see: a whole boatload of people talking about September 11, singing about September 11, doing art about September 11, doing interpretive dances on September 11, and telling how September 11 affected them.

What you will mostly not see: planes hitting buildings, people leaping into space, buildings collapsing, ash-covered people wandering the streets, mountains of ruins with hapless firemen trying to find survivors. This kind of thing might get us pissed off again.

The order of the day for the media will be to wrap us in emotional cotton wool, with endless panels and debates on the meaning of it all, and lots of shots of kids holding candles at ceremonies. The last thing on Earth they want is for us to get pissed again. They want to put the dampers on any potential military action, and getting America pissed works against that. Good grief, who knows...those horrible, imperialistic American flags might start popping up again.

What I hope is that real documentaries show up, on the Net if not in the mainstream media. Things that remind us exactly what these monsters did. This Shockwave movie is a good start.