Carol Lin - September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

However, of all the news stories Lin reported on and anchored, she is best remembered as the first television anchor to break the news of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 to a worldwide audience. It was three minutes after those attacks began in New York that CNN interrupted a Ditech TV commercial at 8:49 a.m. EST with a live picture of the World Trade Center's north tower on fire and Lin reporting from CNN Center in Atlanta:

"Yeah. This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center."

Less than two months after Lin reported the news of the Sept 11th attacks to the world, she was once again traveling the globe to bring world news to CNN viewers, this time from Pakistan, reporting on numerous topics, including Afghan refugees in that country.