ITV News marks 25 years since 9/11 with James Mates retrospective
James Mates, the first British TV journalist into Manhattan after the attacks, revisits his 9/11 coverage and its lasting consequences.
The Full Story
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ITV News has marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a special retrospective featuring James Mates, who was the first British TV journalist to reach Manhattan after the Twin Towers fell. The report, part of ITV's Reporting History series, revisits Mates's original coverage and reflects on the day's impact and its long-term consequences.
Mates was in Washington when the attacks unfolded. He described watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center live on television, and the immediate realisation that the world had changed. With all flights grounded, he and his cameraman headed to Union Station, only to hear the explosion as a plane struck the Pentagon. He eventually made it into Manhattan on a train that was the only transport in or out of the city that day.
Once there, he found a city in shock, covered in dust, with rescue teams still searching for survivors. He spoke to a woman who had called every hospital looking for her husband, one of thousands of people reported missing.
Looking back, Mates argued that 9/11 was an 'era-defining inflection point' that led to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Spring, the crisis in Syria, the European immigration crisis, and arguably even Brexit. He posed the counterfactual: if 9/11 had never happened, how different might the world be today?
The full episode, featuring all of Mates's original reports, is available on ITVX and podcast platforms.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | ITV |
|---|---|
| 9/11 led directly to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and later to the Arab Spring, the Syria crisis, the European immigration crisis, and arguably Brexit. | |
| James Mates reached Manhattan on the only train that went in or out of the city that day. | |
| James Mates was the first British TV journalist to reach Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
This broadcast focuses on James Mates's personal retrospective, drawing on his original reporting from the day. It highlights his unique access as the first British journalist into Manhattan, the sensory details of a city in shock, and the long geopolitical chain of events triggered by the attacks. The tone is reflective and historical, with an emphasis on the consequences that still shape the world.
- “We were watching, wondering what could be going on in there, how many people might have died in there, when we see live the second plane go in.”
- “The emphasis here is still very much on search and rescue.”
- “It's legitimate to say, in a massive counterfactual, if 9-11 hadn't happened, if this era-defining inflection point in world history had never happened, how different might the world be today?”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.