Solution: CQD

CLUES IN PUZZLE:

Time is shown in a couple pictures (TWA800, for one)
Intro "text" is about hours
Frames in animation are about being "out of time"

SOLUTION:

Watch animation, hear intro "text"
Get intro text - Morse code is "Nobody has heard the Titanic for about 2 hours," a message sent from La Provence to the Celtic, 2:28 am, April 15, 1912. Key here is *HOURS*
Recognize disasters (some human, some natural, some engineering)
Find time of disasters (these all had DISTINCT moments in which they happened)
A-X = 1-24
Get "EBWHITELOUISSPECIES"
Be smart! Get answer. Direct Google hits (EB White, Louis, Species) are crap, but answer is gettable.

DETAILED SOLUTIONS:

Events

(A ".." indicates that the minute could not be found, but that the event definitely occurred within the hour)

05:46	Kobe, Japan earthquake
02:30	Texas A&M bonfire collapse
23:40	Titanic Struck iceberg
08:32	Mount Saint Helens
09:00	Columbia lost
20:31	TWA 800 July 17 1996
05:05	Andrew hits land at Homestead, FL
12:31	Kennedy shot
15:20	NY ferry crash
21:30	Lake Nyos, Cameroon CO2 Lake
09:38	Plane hits Pentagon
19:..	Hyatt walkway collapse, 1981, Kansas City
19:02	Lockerbie, Scotland air disaster
16:40	Challenger disaster
05:..	1906 San Francisco earthquake
03:01	Izmit earthquake, 1999
09:03	Second plane hits world trade center
05:..	USS Jacob Jones torpedoed by U-53
19:25	Hindenburg!

Hours

5,2,23,8,9,20,5,12,15,21,9,19,19,16,5,3,9,5,19

Spells:

EBWHITELOUISSPECIES

E.B. White is the Author of "Trumpet of the Swan," about a young trumperter Swan named Louis. Trumpeter Swans are, in taxonomy, Cygnus (genus) buccinator (species).