ABSTRACT
During the first week of September 1998, the telephone rang while he was working on his computer in his basement, catching up on some very overdue and tedious bookkeeping. The crash of a flight which originated in New York City and was bound for Switzerland had drawn hundreds of newspeople from all over the United States, Canada, and Europe. Just telling who was who was a challenge amid the chaos. My arrival coincided with the news conference that revealed the trajectory of the doomed aircraft. The media operations center was an equally cavernous chamber the size of a large ballroom. It served as a joint operations center that let spokespeople for the various responding agencies, including the military, police, transportation authorities, and relief organizations, quickly compare notes.
