Remembering 1999

As the brutality of the Serbian regime came to the world's collective attention, we knew our international resources would be tested. We made a conscious decision to commit the reporters, producers and cameramen that it would take to tell the story of the West's response to Slobodan Milosevic's obduracy.

The investment was worthwhile. We were on the steps in front of the Serbian congress as bombs fell around us. We worried about our reporters and cameramen, and at the same time we exhorted them to get the story.

There is always a danger in assuming that atrocities take place only in foreign, savage lands. The Columbine school shootings took us by surprise, but shouldn't have. Many of us had children in school. What did we think it meant that so many kids were dressing in black and thinking deadly thoughts? It was every parent's worst nightmare: slaughter in a schoolhouse. We quickly learned the "who, when and how" of the story. The question we didn't answer, because we couldn't, was: why?

The shocks were not over. Just as his father was a symbol of the changing of the guard in American politics, JFK Jr. epitomized the idealism and exuberance of his generation. The first reports that his private plane had failed to land as scheduled near the family retreat in Massachusetts were leavened by the reassurances that he was an experienced pilot. But like the death of Diana, the facts inextricably led to the worst conclusion: Kennedy, his wife and her sister were gone, a new chapter in a tragic family tale. The little boy who'd saluted his daddy's coffin had joined him, far too soon.

John Moody serves as the Senior Vice President, News Editorial for FOX News. He is responsible for both the design and editorial direction of FOX News Channel and oversees all story content for FOX News.