The Associated Press

From the first hijacking to the collapse of the second World Trade Center tower, the terror attacks of Sept.

Wednesday, January 02, 2002

From the first hijacking to the collapse of the second World Trade Center tower, the terror attacks of Sept. 11 spanned less than three hours. But the effects were profound and long-lasting, at home and around the world.

Understandably, the attacks were the unanimous choice as the top news story of 2001, according to The Associated Press’ annual survey of its members.

The story received a first-place ranking from all of the 354 AP newspaper and broadcast members who voted on the year’s top news events. The war on terrorism, including the campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, was the overwhelming choice as the No. 2 story of the year.

The deaths – and widespread fears – caused by anthrax-tainted mail ranked as the No. 3 story, followed by the start of a recession.

Amanda Bennett, editor of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, made only one entry – the terrorist attacks – on her ballot even though 10 choices were allowed.

"The gap between Number One and Number Two is so huge that it’s not worth going there," she wrote.

This was the 66th year that the AP polled its members. A first-place vote gave a story 10 points, a second-place vote nine points, and so on. The top story last year was the nearly deadlocked presidential election.

Along with the war on terrorism, which has global scope, there was only one international story in this year’s Top Ten: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in seventh place.

AP subscribers outside the United States, in a separate poll, also chose the terrorist attacks as the top story. But they ranked the Israeli-Palestinian strife higher, in third place behind the anthrax threat, and their list included the indictment of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, the outbreak of livestock diseases in Europe and China’s admission to the World Trade Organization, among other international stories.

Here are the top 10 stories of 2001, as ranked by AP members:

1: SEPT. 11 ATTACKS. More than 3,000 people were killed as suicide hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed into a field south of Pittsburgh, apparently after passengers decided to resist.

2: WAR ON TERRORISM. After the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush declared war on international terrorists and those who assist them. The U.S. military and allied Afghan forces toppled Afghanistan’s Taliban regime and pursued members of the al-Qaida terrorist network.

3: ANTHRAX THREAT. Anthrax-tainted letters killed five people, disrupted mail in some areas and forced temporary evacuation of many important federal buildings in Washington.

4: RECESSION. Economists confirmed that recession began in March, ending a record-breaking economic expansion at 10 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were laid off.

5: BUSH INAUGURATION. After one of the closest presidential elections in history, George W. Bush was sworn in as America’s 43rd president.

6: MCVEIGH EXECUTION. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh became the first person executed by the federal government in 38 years.

7: ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT. Suicide bombings by Palestinian militants and repeated forays by Israeli forces into Palestinian communities created a climate of mistrust that severely damaged peace prospects.

8: JEFFORDS DEFECTS. Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont quit the Republican Party and became an independent, tilting control of the Senate to the Democrats.

9: POWER CRISIS. Californians endured rolling blackouts and debated the consequences of deregulation.

10: TAX CUT. In a victory for President Bush, Congress passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut.