Channel 4 News at 25: Jonathan Rugman

What is the most important event Channel 4 News has ever covered? Probably the end of the Cold War and Communism's collapse. But second to that, the horrific events of September 11 2001 have resulted in two wars in quick succession, neither of which is yet over.

In November 2001, I had the privilege of travelling to the epicentre of this new and terrible age, when I made the first of two films with survivors of the World Trade Centre attack.

They were not politicians or ideologues, but 'barrow boy' traders from New Jersey, Connecticut and New York State; men and women who got up early to catch the train and play the tough Wall Street buying and selling game.

Foot-soldiers of capitalism who through sheer graft had done well for themselves and raised families in pretty commuter belt suburbs, far nicer than the tough neighbourhoods they had grown up in themselves. Champions of the American Dream who'd witnessed that dream collapse one perfect September day.

The staff of 'Eurobrokers' let me and cameraman Malcolm Hicks into their temporary office space while they were still in the middle of their grief. We set up a camera and chair in an interview room off the dealing floor, and one after another the shell-shocked traders abandoned their deals to tell us their stories instead.

It was as if we were administering confession to them. We heard tales of losing colleagues and relatives, tales of escaping from the flames. In one remarkable case, one woman told us she was the only survivor from her dealing team, all because she'd taken the day off to go to the dentist.

The chief executive was in tears. I was weeping quietly to myself. Malcolm filmed it all with brilliant sensitivity and then went on to win a Royal Television Society Award for the work.

These films we made together are probably the work which means the most to me.

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