Just before 9:11 p.m. on Sept. 11, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Richard Gage, AIA, founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, stood at the corner of Church and Worth Streets in Lower Manhattan with 200 9/11 Truth advocates in eager anticipation of the switch being thrown on what until that moment had been a tightly held secret by the AE911Truth leadership -- a two-billion-candlepower Third Beam of light about to shoot into the NYC skyline representing the controlled-demolition destruction of Building 7 -- the third WTC skyscraper, not hit by any plane, to fall on 9/11.

The purpose of the Third Beam -- championed and executed by Barbara Honegger with the enthusiastic support of AE911Truth core team members, NYCCAN and the BuildingWhat? Campaign -- was to break through the media blackout surrounding Building 7’s fall and its censorship by the official 9/11 Commission Report.

As Barbara pressed the buttons on the high-power spotlights and the Beam ignited the night sky at exactly 9:11 p.m., an AE911Truth press release was simultaneously issued to the 500 mainstream newspapers, TV networks and stations, and radio in the larger New York City area via PR Newswire’s  ‘NYC Metro’ media distribution list. This press release and the release on AE911Truth’s Washington, DC, press conference of two days earlier ranked second and third “Most Read” on the PR Newswire web page. As part of this planned media blitz, Gage distributed a call list which Honegger prepared for attendees at the concurrent INN World Report conference on “How the World Changed After 9/11” being held nearby, asking each to contact a designated mainstream media company with the question, “Why is there a third Beam of light in the New York City skyline tonight?!”

Queens residents Arlene and Michael Rubin, who were present at the lighting of the spotlights, responded within moments, contacting the main newsrooms of both ABC and NBC.  According to the couple, each station responded unequivocally and without hesitation, “It’s for WTC 7.”  Despite this admission, which demonstrates that AE911Truth’s 9:11 p.m. press release was being actively read at both network’s NYC headquarters, neither ABC nor NBC followed up with the story on their nightly newscasts, or after.

Also that night, another INN Conference attendee, Scott Halfmann, called WBAI Radio (99.5 FM), Pacifica Radio’s Manhattan flagship station, to alert its listeners to the historic Third Beam during the ninth anniversary call-in program. In response, the station acknowledged the Third Beam in its broadcast: “The third beam represents the all-but-forgotten WTC  Building 7 and its mysterious collapse, which really has never been fully explained,” the talk show host said.   

First out of the block to post the Third Beam photos, videos, press release and story was, of course, Architects &  Engineers for 9/11 Truth, itself quickly followed by Northern California 9/11 Truth and 911 Blogger.

9/11Truth Nor Cal reported that Wired Magazine, which otherwise covered the 9/11 ‘Tribute Lights’ story, made no mention of the Third Beam, but only of the two official beams. “So far, not one media outlet has reported on the incredible addition of a 3rd beam of light to the memorial on 9/11/10. Can it not be more clear that there is a media narcosis on the matter?” The article further stated, “For a ’science‘ magazine like Wired to completely ignore the 3rd beam of light, erected by 1,300 architects and engineers to remind and inform people of the destruction of World Trade Center # 7, is absurd.”

Giving the Third Beam story both major play and wide coverage was Online Journal, which on September 29 posted associate editor Jerry Mazza’s article going into significant detail in the second part of the story. Mazza's story was quickly republished as a feature article with videos and links by Dandelionsalad.com and by FlybyNews.com.

Except for the instant success of the Third Beam itself, the most amazing event in NYC on the night of the 11^th was the shutting down of the two official beams for the first time in eight years of ‘Tribute in Light’ memorials, at 11:00 p.m. EDT.  Still maintaining the media blackout of the Third Beam, Wired did mention the two official beams and “their interruption at 11 p.m.”  In that article, “9/11 Memorial Lights Trap Thousands of Birds,” the online magazine claimed, “On the evening of the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the twin columns of light projected as a memorial over the World Trade Center site became a source of mystery. The two beams were shut off after migrating birds became trapped and disoriented by the light’s intensity.”

With the Third Beam now lighting up the skyline alone, the AE911Truth group decided to shut theirs down. The two “official beams” turned back on within an hour, but only after the activists had left the scene and driven the lights back to their storage location.

In her Feb. 15, 2010, article The Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement, Part II: A Survey of Attitude Change in 2009-2010, Professor David Ray Griffin’s research associate Elizabeth Woodworth discusses a changing trend toward fuller reporting of the events of 9/11.  Thanks in great part due to the efforts of Professor Griffin and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, she notes, “Increasingly, the issue is treated as a scientific controversy worthy of debate, rather than as a ‘conspiracy theory’ ignoring science and common sense.”

According to Woodworth, internationally to date, eight countries including Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Russia, have allowed their publicly owned media to report on 9/11 evidence challenging the official story.  As part of her findings, she concluded, “The evidence now being explored in the international media may pave the way for the US media to take an in-depth look at the implications of what is now known about 9/11, and to re-examine the country's foreign and domestic policies in the light of this knowledge.”

But no one can prevent The Third Beam -- AE911Truth’s valiant effort to burst through the government censorship and mainstream media blackout of the still-forbidden truth about WTC 7 and, through it, the truth about 9/11 overall – from being seen on the Internet, and by millions around the world.  We hope that its energy and brightness will only grow with time and will continue to throw the spotlight on the forensic facts about the destruction of all Three World Trade Center Buildings – WTC 1, 2 and 7, the pretexts for two illegal wars, and the assault on our civil liberties.