Nic Robertson: Eyes on Ground Zero

The Other Side: Nic Robertson in New York

CNN's Nic Robertson

NEW YORK (CNN) -- CNN Correspondent Nic Robertson was in Afghanistan on the day that the World Trade Center's twin towers fell, and would spend the next four months covering the story from that struggling country. Yet something, he has said, was missing; Robertson felt he had to come to New York City and find the other half of the story. Robertson filed this report on Friday.

NIC ROBERTSON: [On September 11th] I was in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, watching as the Northern Alliance launched a nighttime helicopter raid on a Taliban arms dump. [That day] Taliban officials denounced terrorism and denied Osama bin Laden's involvement in the U.S. attacks.

Now, I'm in New York, witnessing the loss he has wrought on this nation. [As] I come here on the river, I can see a skyline that I recognize that doesn't have those buildings on it -- it really impacts me. I can only begin to imagine how that is for New Yorkers, and for other Americans. It must be a deeply hurtful thing.

VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson takes his first look at Ground Zero to get a fuller understanding of his reporting from Afghanistan. (January 18) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

In a downtown cafe, I fear that so long after September 11th, few would want to share their thoughts with journalists... I could add little to the comprehensive coverage of my colleagues. My fears were quickly dispelled by recovery workers, apparently eager to learn about Afghanistan.

[This is] the constant concern of journalists: Do we understand what our viewers want and need? It is a theme I returned to throughout the day, because I want to learn. I want to do a better job as America's new war unfolds.

To come here and not know the city, the landmarks [and] the features; but to know Afghanistan and try to bring the two together and make sense out of it -- it does feel like a long journey. There's a huge gap between the two places, geographically. Even if, in time, I've only recently left Afghanistan -- from the mountainside in Tora Bora to downtown at the World Trade Center -- it's a very strange experience.

A chance encounter with journalist Kevin McCrary, whose dedication to showing Ground Zero to the world has landed him in hot water a few times already, propels me towards the moment I've been waiting for -- Eyes on Ground Zero.

This memorial, at the gates of St. Paul's Church, yards from where the World Trade Center stood, helps explain why today, access to the huge recovery site is limited.

Death was on such a scale here. This is, for many, hallowed ground.

No amount of preparation, no amount of knowledge of the country, of the city, of even what the buildings looked like will prepare you for -- for what people are going to say to you at that level.

I'm 100 meters from being up there now [on the viewing platform]. Four months, and this is the reason why I've spent so much time away from home and done so much reporting in the last few months. I don't know what I'm going to think, but I'm looking forward to seeing it, that's all I know.

Like the view from above, though, I'm grappling for something more concrete, some outline of a building to define what is missing.

There's barely anything there to remind you that there was even a building standing there.

Remember, as somebody coming from Britain, we don't have very many buildings that are as tall as the buildings that are left standing here, so the scale of it is very dramatic.

[I am now at] Grand Central Station. There's an exhibition here of photographs from September the 11th. I want to see the photographs.

The silent images tell the tale of this country's new heroes. The silence in the hall tells the reverence with which they are received.

What have I found? You know, it only impacted me really when we were on the water, and I was looking at the skyline, and then I had a visible picture, a mental picture. I could match it with the photographs I'd seen -- where the World Trade Centers were.

Perhaps, in the final analysis, there is little new understanding I have brought to this side of the story. What I trust, though, is that my time here in New York translates into more relevant reporting from the other side of the world.