Barack Obama's inauguration joins an ever-shrinking list of modern media magnets

Years from now, those who are gathered around TV sets, computer screens, radios or big-screen projectors to watch today’s inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, will have a simple answer to a momentous question:

Where we you when this history was made?

In today's super-fragmented media environment, little beyond American Idol and the Super Bowl can draw us together around TV's electronic hearth. Once upon a time, everyone could remember where they were when news broke that President Kennedy was shot or Saigon had fallen. These days, when even the selection of a vice president is announced by text message, that memory is gone, swallowed by technology's new ability to bring us instant reporting from just about anywhere to wherever.

Like the first moon landing was for one generation, Obama's inauguration may revive that feeling that comes when you know you're witnessing history.

Here are five other seminal television moments for today’s generation of TV watchers, developed with sizable input from entertainment Web page guru and Stuck in the '80s mastermind Steve Spears.

Where were you when these happened?

1. Space Shuttle Challenger explodes: In a blink, seven astronauts are erased and news is given a new subject to chew on for days. I was in my college newspaper's newsroom when it went down in 1986. I eventually saw the footage often enough I could draw it in my sleep.

2. The O.J. Simpson verdict: The former football star's 1995 acquittal for the murder of his ex-wife and her lover capped a continuously televised trial that had become a national soap opera and birthed the modern-day cable TV news punditry industry. I watched it in a newsroom in New Jersey, where mostly white co-workers were too uncomfortable to ask if I supported the verdict (I didn't).

3. The 9/11 attacks: Made for TV by occurring in the the morning newscasts on the East Coast, the 2001 attacks sparked five days of continuous coverage and serious scapegoating of Arabs. I remember sitting down to my desk with a cup of coffee as NBC was showing the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

4. Princess Diana’s funeral: A day of mourning for a celebrity royal who seemed to be killed by our own ceaseless fascination with her. Watched this one in the Times office so i could crank out a 25-inch analysis of the TV coverage. (Those were the days!)

5. The  Persian Gulf War: The first U.S. war televised live, this 1991 conflict helped create viewers' expectation that they would see every nook and cranny of modern warfare. I watched this one in the apartment of a fellow journalist in Pittsburgh, gathered there with other young journalists who weren't in need for news coverage but still wanted to band together to do . . . something.

Eventually, we went home and went to sleep.

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Comments

[Eric Deggans]

I think taking a step back and deep breath would be useful here.

First, I never really said the events were listed in order of importance. they are not. they were listed in the order that we thought of them.

Secondly, we don't really know why another terrorist attack has not occurred in America since then. It took the 9/11 hijackers years to set up their attacks. and because the government has not shared its information openly, we don't have much data on what plots have been foiled or why.

As a journalist, I'm committed to the idea of an open government. And i'm happy that much more of our activities will take place in the open sunshine of public view.

[Tracy]

Still, Larry has a good point. In your little item on 9/11, you mention "scapegoating of Arabs" but you fail to mention that 3,000 Americans (and people from other countries) were murdered by Arab-born terrorists bent on causing the most damage and destruction possible. THAT was the big deal about that particular news event. And it was larger than any other event on your list.

And the other news that was far bigger than the "scapegoating" -- which, in reality, was quite limited -- was the fact that this was the first time that this kind of nasty islamofascist terrorism reared its ugly head on U.S. shores.

Thanks to the efforts of Bush, our government has successfully protected us from additional terrorist attacks.

Sad that Obama's people seem to be hellbent on removing some of the very policies that have served to protect us (although, thankfully, as Obama becomes less naive about the world, thanks to daily intelligence briefings, he's backing away from some of the Far Left rhetoric he so willingly parroted, for the sake of votes, during the election).

Here's hoping that, four years from now, one of the "big media events" won't be another major terrorist attack, resulting from poor decision making on the part of Obama.

[Fred]

Hopefully, now that the inauguration is over, the collective media orgasm that has occurred the last weeks will be over, and maybe we can judge someone based on their performance and character rather than their race.

[Eric Deggans]

Or perhaps the writer just doesn't agree with you, Larry.

I too did a lot of reporting during and after 9/11. i can tell you that hate crimes against Arabs and people of middle eastern heritage skyrocketed in the year following 9/11 in Florida.

I remember interviewing the owner of a coffeeshop which was a social gathering spot for many Muslims in Tampa who had a six-foot flag on display at his door for fear that his establishment might defaced the way a nearby mosque was defaced in the days after 9/11.

I can also tell you that Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales, writing a column for a TV industry trade magazine, called the late ABC anchor Peter Jennings' patriotism into question for holding a roundtable discussion with experts from Middle Eastern media and political organizations days after 9/11.

Let me suggest that perhaps you and I just remember the weeks following 9/11 a little differently. Along with other media events, apparently.

[Larry Moniz]

9/11 attacks: "...serious scapegoating of Arabs." What the heck is that, revisionist history? I was a journalist covering the attacks from New Jersey. In case the reporter is too young to remember, 19 of the 20 conspirators were from Saudi Arabia. As an award-winning journalist and writer for more than 4 decades, not only is the writing in this piece amateurish, it goes to the point that "reporting" is supposed to be about facts, not innuendo, personal opinion and writing what fits without regard for accuracy. Also I would hardly rank Princess Diana's funeral and OJ Simpson's verdict as memorable top news events. If that's all the writer can remember, Altzheimer's has set in or the writer is simply too young to remember more significant things.

[Eric Deggans]

As the item says, this list is for a younger generation....

[theresam]

ok i must be too old because no one mentioned when armstrong landed on the moon,watergate hearings or kennedy/mlk assasinations

[Thomas B]

You're right about the Top 3, although the 9/11 terrorist attacks really belong at the top, in terms of major international impact and wall-to-wall television coverage that went on for days and days.

I'd agree that the Challenger explosion and the O.J. are pretty close behind.

But Princess Diana's funeral? That was a big deal for celebrity watchers, and for TV critics, I guess. But many people I knew thought that it was overblown, much ado over not-much. Its inclusion on your list has much to say about journalists' insularity.

One big oversight: The day that Reagan was shot. It was a gigantic news event -- a sitting U.S. president took a bullet! At my college, everyone was glued to the TVs in the student lounge.

Also, regarding Obama - I think the bigger news event, and bigger media event, in retrospect, will be the day that the American people ELECTED Obama, rather than the day he was sworn in. But ... I could be wrong.

[I do not want to give you my name]

I find this country's fascination with our new president sad and unwarranted. Sure Bush was not the best president we had but he certainly was not the worst either. Carter was a pretty horrible president. Hey what are you going to do. Obama is not a rock star, he is not a savior, he is not a king, and he is definitely not a God. He is an inexperienced senator from Illinois that Hollywood and The media helped get in office. Heck if Hulk Hogan were running on the democrat ticket people would have voted him in because he is not a republican. It is a shame people put their hatred for Bush and projected it on to the more qualified candidate and made him lose. Well I hope the next four years are fine.

[rriddler]

A Presidential inauguration happens once every four years, like clockwork, on January 20th. It hardly seems like a momentous occasion, along the lines of 9-11, the Challenger or JFK being assasinated.
The same thing goes for a double-murderer going free, or a Princess being buried. Neither one is exactly an earth-shattering occasion.

[Eric Deggans]

Boy, that's a lot of vitriol over a one-word error. Should have read Challenger, not Columbia, and has been fixed.

And the previous post criticizes the media for fawning over Obama too much. So I sahre your concerns...

Do you guys not check content at all? Columbia??? 1986??? A picture of Challenger??? Come on guys, please edit for facts before you blindly post these things as fact. Even fluff pieces need to be accurate when facts are stated. So what does this person remember? Challenger blew up upon launching. Columbia disintegrated on re-entry.

Your gramatical errors are almost as annoying, but we will overcome the need to be able to properly communicate professionally since our savior will fix everything in 10 minutes. As long as you wear the Obama family's concert T-shirt, you are good to go. Sad quality from Florida's allegedly Best Newspaper. I would hate to read the worst...