TUTV News will air an interview tomorrow night with freshman Arun Gupta, who lives in Battery Park City, only a few blocks away from the fallen towers of the World Trade Center.
Gupta lived in the residential building closest to the site about 150 to 200 yards from where the twin towers once stood. "People can't live there," Gupta said. "My parents had to wear gas masks when they went back, the air is so bad."
Gupta and his family could once see the World Trade Center from their living room window, and Gupta's senior prom was held in Windows on the World, the restaurant located on the top floor of the north tower.
When he went home earlier this month, Gupta had to pass through several checkpoints and show identification to get into his building. He was also required to wear a gas mask the entire time he was in his neighborhood. "It was very weird to have people walking around with all their stuff in shopping carts, getting ready to leave," he said. "I used to think it was one of the nicest neighborhoods in New York and it's really weird to be there now."
On the day of the attacks, Gupta was in contact with his father early in the morning but afterwards could not call him for four hours. The apartment was badly damaged. "Our windows exploded and smoke started coming in with burning papers," he said.
Gupta's parents and the rest of the apartment building's residents were taken by ferry to New Jersey that day, and their phone lines and cell phones did not work. For now, Gupta's parents are residing at a friend's apartment in Manhattan. If they decide to move back, they will have to wait at least four months.
Gupta is not the only member in his family to be featured in a television special on the attacks - in late September, his parents were one of four families in an MSNBC special on residents directly affected by the events of Sept. 11.
Gupta said he agreed to do the interview because he finds it therapeutic to discuss the attacks. "I find it really helpful to talk about it, to get feelings out," he said. "I was trying to move on with my everyday life, but it's still something I need to talk about."
Freshman Stephanie Leibert, who produced the story, said she hoped the piece would shed a different light on the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I wanted to do a really special piece, about someone who was close to the tragedy," she said.
Along with telling Gupta's story, TUTV News producers feel that the story will demonstrate improved news quality this year. "This story is really groundbreaking for us," said Adrian Baschuk, TUTV's news director. "We are trying to offer Tufts perspectives on important issues."
At the end of the last semester, TUTV received $15,000 in increased funding, including $10,000 for editing equipment alone. The station added graphics, special effects, and "tried to increase the entertainment value of our stories," Baschuk said. But he admits that even with the new money, TUTV News is not perfect.
"We are not trying to be the pinnacle of news," he said. "We are not trying to copy what the Daily does, we can't. We are trying to portray an accurate reality of students." Because their staff is small, with only six members, TUTV News has encountered organizational difficulties. "Everyone is expected to produce, write, and edit their own stories," Baschuck said. "But since we're getting bigger, we're starting to get a more organized method."
The station's news department was created in the fall of 1998 by Sarah Rosen with a program called "Perspectives." From there, Baschuk said the show has grown significantly.
"This is our fourth show in seven weeks, unheard of for a show of this high caliber," he said. However, TUTV News still has to gather awareness on campus before it becomes a daily news source for students. Some said they are not even aware of the program, while others have only heard of it, but never caught an episode.
"I've never really watched TUTV," senior Alain Chaglassian said. "I've never heard anything about it, but I suppose I would watch if I knew when it was on."
But Baschuk said he is proud of TUTV's productions. "We can actually show you what's going on and that makes the news more interesting," he said.
TUTV has been producing shows for about 20 years, but the station's present form is fairly young - in 1997, the station began broadcasting to dorms and last fall, 24-hour programming was implemented.
Mary Anne Anderson contributed to this article.
