Like many Americans, Mary Sanchez stood in her living room on Sept. 11, 2001, fixated on the news of planes crashing into the World Trade Center. But as much of the world watched in horror, Sanchez knew she had to quickly report to work.
As the race reporter for The Kansas City Star at the time, Sanchez needed to fill in the unknown and connect the terror attacks to the region.
Sanchez said the media’s job was “to give them information that will help them process what is occurring. We didn't understand Afghanistan.”
Kansas City quickly learned about the local victims of the attacks, but there was more to understand.
“If you dig anywhere, enough people are connected, and we have connections that are deeply impactful to a lot of major events,” Sanchez said “And this one, we definitely did.”
In the days and months after the events, Sanchez explained to readers the religion of Islam, brought in information from a leading expert on Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden, and showed how Kansas City’s Muslim population was affected by the fallout.
- Mary Sanchez, journalist, Tribune Content Agency
