We watched it all unfold on our television sets.

We gasped at the dreadful picture of the smoking north tower. Gasps were replaced with fear and tears 18 minutes later when a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, ripped a gaping hole through tower No. 2.

Then we learned of the crash at the Pentagon.

Then in Pennsylvania.

Glued to our televisions, we were too afraid to look away, terrified of what might happen next.

Confused news stations scrambled to decide what they should broadcast, contemplating how many times the public could stomach watching its symbol for prosperity get churned into a burial ground of rubble.

Would images of frightened victims plummeting from the towers to their deaths to avoid the flames go over well with scared Americans?

Some stations, including Fox News and CBS, showed victims falling from the towers, while CNN and MSNBC chose not to show them. Many of the stations admitted the coverage of the jumpers as accidental.

ABC chose to show two women watching in horror as their eyes followed a helpless person falling to the ground.

On Sept. 19, ABC adopted a policy of no longer airing video footage of the planes hitting the World Trade Center, the explosions or the collapse of the buildings. They chose to only show still images.

But for today, as the one-year anniversary, ABC told its producers that ban will be lifted.

“We’ve at least told people that you can come back and ask for it,” ABC News President David Westin said. “Before, we said ‘don’t ask.’” CBS and NBC have adopted polices where the images will be used exceedingly sparingly.

Despite ABC’s decision, both national and local television stations continue to struggle with how to be tasteful and still report the news effectively.

Nearly a month ahead of the anniversary, CNN began airing an advertisement that shows one of the planes heading directly toward the tower, but the scene cuts away before impact.

Some local stations, including Lansing-based CBS affiliate WLNS, adopted a policy like ABC’s and decided not to show the planes crashing into buildings unless the story absolutely warranted it.

WLNS News Director Lisa Farrell said she had a meeting with her staff shortly after Sept. 11 to discuss the future coverage of the event.

“We decided that there was no reason to show it again,” she said. “What purpose does it show to show it over and over?

“If we are trying to titillate people, that’s one thing, but that’s not what we’re in the business for,” she said.

Some students, including supply chain management junior Leah Minnis, didn’t agree with television stations showing repeated footage of the attacks. She said that too often the media go for shock value without thinking of the person on the other side of the screen.

“I think what happened made a lot of Americans angry and by showing it repeatedly, particularly in motion, it doesn’t help us get past the anger,” Minnis said.

“They could have showed less images and still gotten the information out.”

Farrell said that although she received positive feedback about WLNS’ coverage, by Christmas the public were burned out from the repeated footage.

“People were really grateful that we were showing them what was going on locally and it was kind of reassuring to them,” she said. “But as the coverage wore on, a little deeper into the year, they were like ‘OK, we’ve had enough, please give us a rest.’”

Farrell said WLNS takes the viewer into consideration more since Sept. 11 when deciding program content and news coverage.

“A lot of us saw it as it happened and when we’re showing remains, we try to be very tasteful when we can and, if possible, avoid it when it doesn’t serve a purpose,” she said. “I’m a hard person because I work in news and I still wince when I see it.

“And for those who aren’t as hard as the rest of us, that’s got to be pretty painful (to see those images).”

Michael King, vice president and general manager of Lansing-based NBC affiliate WILX, said his station didn’t receive any complaints of the images shown a year ago.

Many stations will air special documentaries about Sept. 11 today, and some will commemorate the day by blacking out television screens during the morning hours of the attack.

King said that while he can’t control what NBC decides to show, his station is going to focus on how the attacks have affected the local area.

“The networks do a great job on focusing on New York and the world view, but what they can’t do is focus on Mid-Michigan,” he said.

Fox News has prepared a minute-by-minute account of what happened a year ago and includes use of violent video images.

“Every time I see this stuff it disturbs me,” said Tom Bird, a senior producer at Fox News. “Knowing how I’m affected, I’m certain there are viewers that feel the same way.

“At the same time, we can’t forget this, and I think those images are very important in that goal.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.