CNN Marks 20 Years Since Rodney King Beating With New Special
Don Lemon talks to Rodney King in a new special marking 20 years since his arrest and beating. Details and preview from CNN is below.
CNN Press Release:‘Race and Rage’ – CNN’s Don Lemon Talks with Rodney King 20 Years Later. Documentary debuts Friday, March 4, 8:00pm ET & PT
In the early morning hours of March 3, 1991, construction worker Rodney King and two companions were pulled over after a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. King’s friends were arrested without incident, but the violent confrontation between King and the officers on the scene made national headlines, and ignited racial tensions in the city – and the nation.
CNN anchor Don Lemon retraces the events of that morning, and the riots that divided Los Angeles and the nation in Race and Rage – The Beating of Rodney King, debuts Friday, March 4 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN/U.S. It replays on Saturday, March 5 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT.
King was tasered, kicked, and beaten by officers on the scene. He received more than 50 baton blows that crushed bones, shattered teeth, injured his kidneys, and fractured his skull.
Lemon asked him what thoughts he had during the beating, “Stay alive – I knew I had to survive this,” King tells him in an exclusive interview.
The altercation awakened George Holliday who grabbed his home video camera and filmed the incident. The video became a national sensation and the cornerstone of an excessive force trial against the Los Angeles Police Department.
King became a visual symbol of police brutality, but the officers were acquitted in the original trial. News of the acquittal ignited anger that erupted into riots in Los Angeles that lasted for days. Over 50 people were killed, businesses were looted and burned, and even cities as far away as Atlanta reported violence inspired by the news of the verdict.
Lemon and King revisit the scene of the beating together, retracing the events that altered his life, and the riots that followed. Lemon also speaks with Bobby Green, who famously rescued white truck driver Reginald Denny, who was assailed by a mob at a city intersection during the riots.
A digital feature deconstructs the timeline of the events of March 3, 1991, and includes a special report on King’s life today. The Holliday video became a powerful example of “citizen journalism” and is examined in the context of other watershed historical moments witnessed and captured by citizens across the country and around the world. These and video excerpts from the documentary will be reported on www.cnn.com.
Stan Wilson is the senior producer for Race and Rage. Jeffery Reid is executive producer of the documentary. Dionne Hill is producer and Marcus Hooper is Associate Producer. Scott Matthews is the executive producer for the CNN Productions unit.
CNN debuts a new special investigation from Drew Griffin this coming Sunday.
CNN Press Release: Drew Griffin reports for ‘Rogue Justice’ debuting Sunday, Jan. 30 at 8:00pm ET & PT on CNN/U.S.
Greg Taylor spent 17 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. Floyd Brown, also innocent, was forcibly detained in a mental institution for 14 years. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) was at the center of both cases.
CNN correspondent Drew Griffin investigates for Rogue Justice, airing on CNN/U.S on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT, and replaying on Saturday, Feb. 5, also at 8:00p.m. ET and PT.
In Taylor’s case, the jury took just hours to sentence him to life, but the SBI had withheld evidence from the jury. In Brown’s case, an SBI agent claimed that he had written down verbatim a six-page confession that Brown had given him describing the murder in intricate detail. But Brown has the I.Q. of a seven-year-old and is incapable of even spelling his own name. Though there was no physical evidence linking Brown to the crime, the alleged confession resulted in his confinement to a mental institution.
“The SBI lab became the prosecution’s lab, not the justice system’s lab,” says Christine Mumma, Taylor’s attorney.
Taylor’s and Brown’s cases raised serious questions about the SBI and its investigations. An audit of the SBI’s crime lab ordered by the State Attorney General’s office in North Carolina found more than 200 cases between 1986 and 2003 in which blood test results were withheld from trial. In many cases, the evidence withheld would have helped the defense. In three of those cases, defendants were executed; four more remain on death row.
Taylor’s and Brown’s terrifying experiences and personal struggles to achieve justice can be seen in separate features on www.cnn.com, as well as a video excerpt from the documentary. Digital material from Rogue Justice will be available beginning today, Thursday, Jan. 27.
Rogue Justice was produced by Brian Rokus and Taryn Fixel. Kathy Slobogin is managing editor and Scott Matthews is the executive producer for CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries unit.
CNN Press Release:Amber Lyon Reports for ‘Selling the Girl Next Door’ for Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8:00pm ET & PT on CNN/U.S.
Selling the Girl Next Door takes viewers into the world of underage American girls caught up in the violent sex trade. Hundreds of thousands of girls under the age of 18 are ensnared into lives of prostitution annually, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Many are runaways or “throwaways” trapped in “the oldest profession” by pimps who sell them using modern sales and marketing techniques.
In a year-long investigation, CNN correspondent Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the business of underage sex – speaking to a young teen runaway sold online from a Las Vegas hotel, the men that obsessively seek Internet sex connections, and women long into careers as sex workers who were trafficked as teens or children.
Selling the Girl Next Door debuts Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN/U.S. Selling the Girl Next Door will debut on CNN International on Saturday, Feb. 5 (please check local listings for airtimes).
Along the way, Lyon interviews well-known brothel owner Dennis Hof. Hof’s sex workers describe their own dark pasts and the frightening underworld of underage sex trafficking.
Lyon also goes undercover herself, posting an online ad, and taking calls from solicitors – and Internet pimps – to understand more about how girls are victimized by traffickers.
An interactive map on www.cnn.com/siu, posted after Wednesday, Jan. 20, will share Lyon’s coast-to-coast journey – from Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Nevada – trailing runaways, finding their families, meeting sex workers, and visiting a “Johns’ school” where convicted solicitors are forced to face the social and criminal consequences of their actions.
Selling the Girl Next Door was produced by Steve Turnham. Courtney Yager was associate producer. Kathy Slobogin is managing editor for CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries unit. Scott Matthews is the executive producer for the unit.
CNN is set to premiere a brand new documentary that promises to go "behind enemy lines" to look at the Taliban with never-before-seen footage.
CNN Press Release:CNN’s ‘Taliban’ Exposes Lives and Motives of Fighters. Documentary Debuts Saturday, Dec. 11 at 8:00pm ET & PT on CNN/U.S.
CNN's Taliban takes you behind enemy lines, and face-to-face with the men our troops are fighting. The Taliban are a violent enemy that have killed hundreds of American troops in Afghanistan since 2001. Despite a nearly ten-year war with the Taliban, most Americans know little about how they fight and live – until now.
In Taliban, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper debriefs Norwegian journalist Paul Refsdal about his unprecedented filming behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. No Western journalist has ever spent as much time with the Taliban, with as unrestricted access, as Refsdal.
CNN’s Taliban reveals the enemy at war – preparing weapons, planning attacks, and interacting with their families and fellow fighters. Refsdal risked his life to capture these never-before-seen images, and ended up being kidnapped. His harrowing escape is also documented in the film.
Cooper presses Refsdal about why he put his life in jeopardy to film the Taliban. Refsdal said, “The problem has been with the – the people [journalists] who meet the Taliban, they stay for one hour, and they ask the Taliban to...go around arranging some kind of training...And you have one commander with his face covered...to see the real Taliban, you have to stay for a while...”
The one-hour documentary, Taliban, debuts Saturday, Dec. 11 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN. It will air on CNN International in late December.
A multimedia report including historical timelines of the Taliban and the country of Afghanistan, video excerpts from the documentary, and an interview with journalist and 'Guerilla Reporter' author Paul Refsdal can be found at www.cnn.com/taliban after Wednesday, Dec. 8.
Taliban was produced and filmed in Afghanistan by Paul Refsdal, produced for CNN by Jennifer Hyde and Ken Shiffman, and edited by Cliff Hackel. Bud Bultman is managing editor for this production. Scott Matthews is the director of CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries unit.
First on CNN Observations - A CNN spokesperson confirmed to us that Special Investigations Unit Correspondent Abbie Boudreau is no longer with the network. More to come...
CNN Press Release:CNN’s Right on the Edge Documents the New Generation of Guerilla Journalists.
With a growing distrust of the mainstream media among young conservative activists, CNN takes an inside look at their new generation of guerilla journalists. Armed with video cameras and ideas, these young activists post their videos online to get their message directly to the public, bypassing the mainstream media. It’s the new wave of what they say is old-fashioned guerilla journalism.
CNN’s investigative correspondent Abbie Boudreau follows four rising stars in the conservative movement. They have changed the course of public debate and pushed the envelope of journalism. They are controversial and confrontational.
Right on the Edge debuts Saturday, Oct. 2 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on CNN/U.S. The one-hour documentary profiles:
Lila Rose, an anti-abortion activist who goes under-cover at Planned Parenthood clinics around the country;
Christian Hartsock, a Hollywood video director whose work is layered with a conservative message;
Jason Mattera, confronts liberal lawmakers in the hallways of Congress and posts his videos online; and
Ryan Sorba, an anti-gay activist not afraid to stir up controversy.
There’s no singular leader of this new generation of activists going under-cover with video cameras, though James O’Keefe is well-known to the four activists and appears in some of their videos. He infamously dressed as a pimp, and along with another activist who pretended to be a prostitute, videotaped his own application for public assistance inside the community-organizing group ACORN. Earlier this year, two other activists posed as telephone repairman and entered Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s office while O’Keefe secretly videotaped it, which led to his arrest. His alleged plans of an under-cover video operation would reveal to CNN how far this movement is willing to push boundaries.
Scott Zamost is the senior producer for Right on the Edge. Bud Bultman is managing editor for CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries Unit. Scott Matthews is the executive producer.
CNN Press Release:One Year Ago, A Legend Died – CNN’s Don Lemon Gets AnswersMichael Jackson – The Final Days debuts Friday, June 25 at 8:00pm ET & PT
Though he died a year ago, the circumstances surrounding the death of Michael Jackson are still a mix of mystery and contradictions. CNN anchor Don Lemon unspools the confusing reports still swirling around his death in MICHAEL JACKSON – THE FINAL DAYS debuting on CNN/U.S. on Friday, June 25, at 8:00pm ET and PT; and CNN International Saturday, July 3, at 8:00am ET. Following Lemon’s report, a special Larry King Live tribute program highlighting the music milestones Michael Jackson achieved during his lifetime will air at 9:00pm ET and 6:00pm PT.
Lemon’s revealing hour allows viewers to hear directly from Tito and Jermaine Jackson about their last contact with their brother and, how they first learned of their brother’s collapse and death.
Lemon begins by pressing music producer Rodney Jerkins about reports that Jackson was too physically frail to fulfill his nine month, 50-performance THIS IS IT! engagement in London. Lemon also confirms with concert promoter Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, that Jackson had missed several rehearsals in the run up to the tour.
Though they had some doubts about Jackson’s ability to manage the grueling rehearsal and performance schedule, musical director Michael Bearden, and concert tour choreographer Travis Payne, insist Jackson’s dancing and voice were both strong, that his mood was optimistic – and that Jackson’s stamina surpassed that of the dancers preparing to tour with him, many of whom were half his age.
Jermaine Jackson, who says he was unaware of the extent of his brother’s alleged drug use that other family members and friends have described, tells Lemon that there was a conspiracy to kill his brother. When Lemon asks Jermaine Jackson directly about the culpability of Michael Jackson’s last physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who is currently standing trial accused of involuntary manslaughter, Jermaine Jackson responds with:
“I think he [Dr. Murray] know[s] the players. And I think if you squeeze his hand hard enough, he would say.”
Celebrity biographer J. Randy Tamborelli tells Lemon that Jackson may have been using the anesthetic drug Propofol as long as 5 or 6 years ago. “Acute propofol intoxication,” among other conditions, is indicated as the immediate cause of death on the medical report from the Los Angeles Coroner’s Department. Jackson friend Dr. Deepak Chopra has confirmed knowledge of Jackson’s extended use of prescription drugs.
Lemon’s documentary ends with intimate reflections from Tito and Jermaine Jackson on the family’s mourning of the loss of their beloved brother, son, and friend. Viewers can also remember Michael Jackson’s life at www.cnn.com/michaeljackson, where they can find a photo archive and follow developments in the ongoing probe into his death.
Scott Matthews is executive producer for CNN Productions, which produced MICHAEL JACKSON – THE FINAL DAYS. Bud Bultman and Jeffery Reid are executive producers for the documentary. Brian Larch and Stan Wilson are senior producers for this program.
CNN Special Investigations Unit correspondent, Abbie Boudreau, will front the latest feature from CNN's Special Investigations Unit this weekend, "Death And Taxes: Joe Stack’s Attack on the IRS". CNN Press Release: A clear morning. A rogue plane. A building billowing smoke. And an angry manifesto left behind. In Austin, Texas, 53-year-old Joe Stack, made a missile of his small plane, slamming it into the IRS building…a last expression of a simmering rage.
On the surface, Joe Stack seemed affable. A good guy. Sound and sane. So what drovethis “regular Joe” to launch a deadly suicide attack? CNN’s Special Investigations Unit looks into what drove Stack to become what some call a domestic terrorist. SIU correspondent Abbie Boudreau talks to those who knew Stack, as well as the victims of the assault, and the heroes who came to their rescue.
The hour also examines Stack’s personal vendetta against the IRS—and the idea that Stack was a “lone wolf,” an extremist who was not a part of any anti-tax group or movement, but whose anger was fueled by the anti-tax rhetoric around him.
The program premieres on Saturday, April 17 at 8 p.m. (ET) on CNN/U.S. You can also catch the repeat screenings at 11pm (Saturday) and 8pm and 11pm Sunday.
New CNN Investigation - Killings At The Canal: The Army Tapes
CNN Press Release - Special Four-Part Investigative Series Killings At The Canal:The Army Tapes to air on Anderson Cooper 360° beginning Nov 10th
Anderson Cooper 360° reports Killings At The Canal: The Army Tapes, a powerful and provocative four-part series about U.S. soldiers who were convicted of murder on the battlefield. The series runs over four nights beginning Tuesday, November 10th, and concludes Friday night, November 13th.
Three sergeants used their service pistols to execute four Iraqi men they had in custody who they believed were insurgents. Questions have emerged: On the battlefield, is murder a crime? And is the Army’s policy on detainees realistic for its soldiers in the battlefield?
While many were focused on the outcome of the presidential election, courts-martial were underway at a U.S. Army base in Germany. Ultimately three army sergeants were found guilty of the execution-style murders of the four Iraqis their 13-man unit had detained. The soldiers were certain the Iraqis were insurgents who had been shooting at them. But under Army rules for holding detainees, they knew they could not meet the burden of proof -- and they feared the suspects would be released only to be shooting at soldiers again. So the sergeants made a decision: bypass the detention center, take them to a canal, and kill them.
Anderson Cooper 360° also obtained almost 24 hours of interrogation footage which includes a confession from one of the sergeants.
In the series, investigative correspondent Abbie Boudreau and senior investigative producer Scott Zamost also shine a light on the U.S. Army’s policy about how to handle detainees, a policy that was a response to the abuses of Abu Ghraib. Some say it puts an undue burden of proof on U.S. soldiers.
On Saturday, November 14th at 8pm ET, CNN's Special Investigations Unit premieres an hour-long special titled Killings At The Canal: The Army Tapes. The special will reair Sunday, Nov. 15th at 8pm ET.
CNN Press Release - “What’s going to happen to me in the future?” Rick Kelly, former Marine with breast cancer
SIU: Poisoned Patriots?
“What’s going to happen to me in the future?” Rick Kelly, former Marine with breast cancer
CNN’s Special Investigation Unit examines the story of an extraordinary group of men with breast cancer. Their common link besides their shared rare diagnosis? They all lived on the same Marine base. Watch their story reported by Abbie Boudreau on Campbell Brown, Thursday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. (ET).
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
Amanpour, CNN Investigate Tibetan Buddhist Struggles, Political Unrest in Myanmar
CNN Pressroom - One-Hour Buddha’s Warriors Documentary Premieres Saturday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT)
Expanding upon her award-winning investigative series God’s Warriors, CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports in a new documentary that examines the nexus of politics and faith. For Buddha’s Warriors, Amanpour explores a new generation of Buddhists who are actively engaged in political struggle. These believers of love, kindness and nonviolence struggle to remain true to their beliefs while at the same time confronting severe political and cultural oppression.
The one-hour documentary will air on Saturday, Aug. 2, and Sunday, Aug. 3, at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. All times Eastern.
In Buddha’s Warriors, Amanpour investigates the roots of the conflict between Chinese authority and ethnic Tibetans. Nearly 50 years ago, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against communist rule. Tibetans say that all but 13 of 6,000 Buddhist monasteries were destroyed under Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Those that have been rebuilt are now under the close, watchful eye of the Chinese government. Monks there say that they are forced to denounce the Dalai Lama and swear allegiance to China.
“Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some type of cultural genocide is taking place,” the Dalai Lama tells Amanpour in the documentary. “Present situation is, [the] Tibetan nation [is] actually facing death.”
The Chinese government declined several CNN requests for interviews, but the documentary does include the viewpoints of Chinese people who believe Tibet is rightfully part of China, and comments from a Chinese expert who says the Tibetans are better off under Chinese rule.
In March 2008, tensions reached a boiling point. The Dalai Lama explained his dilemma to Amanpour in a candid interview filmed the week before violent clashes between Tibetan activists and Chinese troops in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. He advocates a “middle way” – Tibetan autonomy under Chinese rule. Many of his followers, however, have grown impatient for more freedom and want complete independence from China.
Amanpour also interviews some exiled Tibetan activists in India who have led the latest protests for greater freedom and independence. Some say the Dalai Lama’s “middle way” has failed to stop the huge migration of ethnic Chinese into Tibet, stoking the resentment that exploded in the streets of Lhasa. Chinese authorities charge that the violence was instigated by the protestors for political gain. The violence so dismayed the Dalai Lama that he threatened to resign.
In Myanmar, formerly Burma, Buddhist monks are also at the forefront of political unrest. Amanpour meets the leaders of the September 2007 Saffron Revolution, now in hiding in Thailand. Monks marched from their monasteries in protest over high food prices and spreading impoverishment. The Myanmar junta, one of the world’s most brutal military dictatorships, reacted swiftly. Monks and other sympathizers and protestors were arrested and beaten, and some were even killed. A CNN team goes undercover into Burma itself to investigate the aftermath of the revolution. In clandestine interviews, monks vow to continue their fight.
About Christiane Amanpour
Amanpour has reported on crises from many of the world’s hotspots and war zones and marks 25 years with CNN in 2008. Her assignments also include exclusive interviews with world leaders on the human consequences of natural disasters and global politics. In 2008, the National Press Club will honor Amanpour with The Fourth Estate Award for a lifetime of contributions to American journalism. In 2007, she received a Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for highly distinguished, innovative contributions to the field of journalism. Throughout her career, she has won eight Emmy® Awards, four George Foster Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Television Academy Honors Award to list a few.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
CNN: Special Investigations Unit - Amanpour Reports: Notes from North Korea airs Saturday, May 10 at 8:00 PM ET and will re-air on Saturday at 11:00 PM and Sunday May 11 at 2:00 AM, 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM.
Here are some photos from her recent trek to North Korea.
Christiane Amanpour at the Monument to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation (Photo: Brian Rokus/CNN)
Mark Nelson and Christiane Amanpour in North Korea (Photo: Brian Rokus/CNN)
Scott Zamost to Join CNN’s Investigative Team in Atlanta
CNN Pressroom - Award-Winning Producer to Contribute to Special Investigations Unit, CNN Presents, Other Programs
Scott Zamost, an investigative journalist who has won nearly every major broadcast journalism award for his hard-hitting reports, has joined CNN as an investigative producer, it was announced today by Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. Zamost will be based at the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta.
“For more than 15 years, Scott has maintained a reputation as one of the most astute and accomplished investigative journalists in the country,” Nelson said. “So when we learned that he was seeking new opportunities to expand his investigative efforts, we were not surprised that many networks and news stations actively sought him out. I’m pleased to say we won.”
“Investigative reporting has been my passion and the root of my journalistic endeavors for many years,” Zamost said. “I’m honored to join CNN as it expands its enterprise reporting efforts and have the opportunity to take my investigations to a national and global level.”
Zamost most recently was the investigative producer for WTVJ-TV/NBC 6 in Miami where his stories received national attention. Among his investigations were “Citizenship For Sale,” which revealed how illegal immigrants traveled to Florida to purchase Indian tribe memberships with the promise they could stay in the United States, and “Selling Innocence” about how parents were exploiting their own children as child models online.
Prior to WTVJ-TV/NBC 6, Zamost was an investigative producer for WPLG-TV in Miami and a producer for CBS News in New York. Before his broadcast journalism career, Zamost was a reporter and gaming editor at the Las Vegas Sun and a contributing editor to Las Vegan Magazine. He also worked as a reporter, columnist and assistant editor at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.
His awards include a national award from Investigative Reporters and Editors and a National Press Club award in 2007; two National Clarion awards for investigative reporting; four Edward R. Murrow awards; three National Headliner awards; numerous state, regional and national awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists and 23 Emmy awards and 43 Emmy nominations.
Zamost received his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Reports from Russia on Democracy in Jeopardy
CNN Pressroom - ‘Czar Putin’ Documentary Premieres Today at 10 p.m. Prior to Russian National Elections
With modern Russia flush with oil money wealth, President Vladimir Putin enjoys a 70 percent approval rating among the Russian people according to some polls. But Putin’s power and popularity may come at a price. Some observers say there is a dark side to Russia’s capitalistic miracle. Days ago, several political rivals of Putin were imprisoned, and many Russian journalists charge that the government intentionally intimidates the independent press.
As Russia’s parliamentary elections approach this weekend, chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports for CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Czar Putin, on Friday, Nov. 30, at 10 p.m., with replays on Saturday, Dec. 1, and Sunday, Dec. 2, at 1 a.m. and 10 p.m. All times Eastern.
Amanpour meets world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who is fighting an uphill battle to challenge Putin. Arrested last weekend under charges of “administrative offenses,” Kasparov is a would-be Russian presidential candidate who says that democracy in Russia is a farce.
Disturbingly, press freedoms have been curtailed under Putin’s regime. Yevgeny Kisilev, formerly Russia’s leading national news anchor, describes for Amanpour how Putin thwarted an independent television network NTV from reporting freely in Russia. NTV management was accused of financial improprieties; special police stormed its headquarters; and Gazprom, a Russian energy giant, gained control of the company, ending its independence and forcing out Kisilev and his news team.
More than 200 journalists have been killed since the fall of communism in 1991, according to Alexei Simonov of the Glasnost Defense Foundation. While Russian police solve 80 percent of all murders, the number drops to only 6 percent when the victim is a journalist. This includes the murder of famed Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya, Russia’s most famous investigative reporter. Simonov believes that the Kremlin is responsible for creating a climate of fear for journalists.
Russia appears to be flexing its military capabilities as well. Amanpour challenges Konstantin Kosachev, one of Putin’s party leaders, about aggressive Russian bomber exercises near British and American air space during a time of peace.
“The point is, that they need to have training in a real situation,” Kosachev says.
In Czar Putin, several Russians of all ages give Putin credit for their country’s rising global economic status and geopolitical influence. And as Putin has moved to consolidate his powers, he has also developed a savvy sense of photo opportunities that fuel his “rock star” admiration among some Russians.
Yulia Latynina, an anchor for Moscow Echo Radio and outspoken Putin critic, says about Russia’s rollbacks of democratic freedoms: “For Putin, it’s about power. For people that surround Putin, it’s about money.”
Czar Putin was produced by Andrew Tkach; the managing editor was Kathy Slobogin. The vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions is Mark Nelson.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
Abbie Boudreau to Join CNN’s Investigative Team in Atlanta
CNN Presroom - Emmy Winner’s Arrival Marks Expansion of News Network’s Investigative Efforts
Abbie Boudreau, a multiple Emmy-winning investigative reporter with ABC15 in Phoenix, will join CNN as an investigative correspondent, it was announced today by Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions which produces CNN: Special Investigations Unit, CNN Presents and other programming. Boudreau, who will join CNN Oct. 15, will be based at the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta.
“Abbie comes as a welcome addition to CNN as we continue expanding our investigative reporting with CNN: Special Investigations Unit and other long-form programming and investigative packages,” Nelson said. “In Phoenix, she demonstrated the rare ability to uncover stories with national implications from a local station. With the resources of CNN at her disposal, we anticipate even more high-impact results.”
“Investigative reporting is my passion, and I’m honored to join CNN as it expands its enterprise reporting efforts through Special Investigations Unit and other distinctive programs,” Boudreau said.
While at ABC15, Boudreau’s investigations exposed a cult posing as a drug-rehabilitation center for teenagers and uncovered improper spending habits of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a report that won her a regional Edward R. Murrow award. In 2005, she was the first to report a possible design flaw produced by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., the nation’s fourth largest tire manufacturer. A year later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into possible tire tread-separation defects in a line of Cooper tires.
Boudreau joined ABC15 after working as an investigative reporter and fill-in anchor for WWMT in Kalamazoo, Mich. She began her career in Dubuque, Iowa, as a reporter.
Boudreau’s awards include four Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards for investigative reporting and writing, two regional Edward R. Murrow awards and honors from such groups as the Arizona AP Broadcasters Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the American College of Emergency Physicians. Recently, her investigation into Cooper Tires earned her another regional Emmy nomination.
Boudreau received her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University of Chicago and her master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
CNN Investigates Global Effects of Skyrocketing Oil Prices
CNN Pressroom - Special Investigations Unit, Frank Sesno Considers Scenarios for Documentary Set to Air on Saturday, June 2
As Americans face the highest gasoline prices in the nation’s history, CNN special correspondent Frank Sesno investigates the obstacles to finding solutions for the world’s addiction to oil. At the dawn of another busy summer travel season, this hour-long documentary examines a hypothetical, yet plausible situation: A series of natural and man-made disasters interrupting the already strained oil supply chain.
CNN: Special Investigations Unit – We Were Warned, Out of Gas, will air on Saturday, June 2, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
Sesno examines how major stresses on the international fuel supply chain could cripple domestic and international commerce, tourism and the multinational food supply web and how over-reliance on fossil fuels causes global climate change. Sesno speaks to global entrepreneur and innovator Sir Richard Branson, who intends to do something about both challenges, particularly when his Virgin Airlines fleet burns 700 million gallons of fuel annually, an increase in costs of about $1 billion dollars over the past three years.
“If fuel prices went to a $120.00 a barrel, which is not beyond the realms of possibilities, the short-term effect would be massive bankruptcies in quite a lot of industries,” Branson says in the documentary.
To meet the global challenge of energy security, Branson founded a renewable energy research corporation, Virgin Fuels, that is providing industry leadership in an apparent vacuum of government leadership. An exception may be Brazil, which produces fuels from sugar cane.
With rare interviews with famed automobile industry innovator Bob Lutz and former CIA Director James Woolsey, Sesno also explores the oil sands of Western Canada, the efficiency of hybrid automobiles and the American politics and international trade policies that maintain dependence on such a fragile balance.
CNN: Special Investigations Unit – We Were Warned, Out of Gas was executive produced by Steve Robinson; Heather O’Neill was producer. The vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions is Mark Nelson.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live video news service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and two Web sites.
CNN: Special Investigative Unit Finds America Still Vulnerable to Disaster
CNN Pressroom - Anderson Cooper, Top CNN Correspondents Investigate Solutions to Strengthen Nation’s Soft Targets
In the latest CNN: Special Investigations Unit documentary, anchor Anderson Cooper and homeland security expert Stephen Flynn not only show the nation’s vulnerabilities to a range of natural and man-made catastrophes but discuss real solutions. We Were Warned, Edge of Disaster, a one-hour documentary, will premiere on Saturday, April 28, and Sunday, April 29, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
Flynn, author of Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation, asserts that resiliency is America’s most valuable asset and offers his top security recommendations. CNN’s top investigative journalists uncover weaknesses in protecting the nation’s food supply, ports, and power grids. Security experts reveal the government’s preparedness to protect citizens against the threats of biological warfare and dirty bombs. CNN’s Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena, national correspondent David Mattingly, homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve and special correspondent Frank Sesno also examine possible threats to the nation’s urban centers and suburban neighborhoods.
“A smallpox attack would kill one-third of all exposed. A major earthquake could leave thousands homeless and without access to even basic medicines or water. Unfortunately these issues are top of mind for Americans in this day and age,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. “Our goal is to offer thoughtful, realistic solutions to help viewers understand what they can do to protect themselves.”
Edge of Disaster was co-executive produced by Jeffery Reid and Claire Brinberg.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live video news service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and two Web sites.
Latest CNN Documentary Reveals Life Behind the Camera in Iraq
CNN Pressroom - CNN International’s Michael Holmes Offers Reporter’s Perspective in Month of Mayhem
Only 10 minutes after arriving at CNN’s Baghdad bureau on Jan. 9, 2007, CNN International anchor Michael Holmes began reporting as a full-scale battle raged nearby in an upscale Sunni neighborhood. Thus opens Holmes’ intensely personal, behind-the-scenes account of life in Iraq through the eyes of a journalist. His resulting hour-long documentary, CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Month of Mayhem, will premiere on Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
Throughout this assignment, Holmes and CNN photographers film what life is like for them working and living at CNN’s bureau outside of Baghdad’s Green Zone. This assignment marks Holmes’ eighth in Iraq since the onset of war there in 2003. In January 2004, Holmes survived an ambush on a two-vehicle convoy that left two CNN staffers dead and one wounded.
Putting human faces on the casualties of war, Holmes reports on the bombings in markets and at universities, the kidnapping and torture of Iraqi civilians, and attacks on military troops that occasionally come across as “routine” to viewers of nightly newscasts.
“One thing that annoys me about my own profession sometimes is that we sanitize things a little bit,” Holmes says in the documentary. “Necessarily, too. A lot of people don’t want to see these, or know these horrific things, but some things people need to know.
“It’s not pleasant to know, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t know,” he says later about the victims of torture and insurgent violence.
Holmes sensitively recounts the personal and professional difficulties of reporting on daily violence and despair, and how these challenges have intensified since the war began. He marvels at the bravery of the troops, describing how teenaged troops with a bit of downtime play video games indoors and how their demeanor rapidly matures when they must perform their official duties. Holmes also reveals the dignity and hospitality of Iraqi civilians trying to live and work under trying circumstances.
During the second day of Holmes’ current assignment, U.S. President George W. Bush announced a troop increase in Iraq. During what turned out to be one of the bloodiest months since war began in Iraq, more than 2,000 people were killed in hostile fighting or sectarian violence; of these causalities, 113 total coalition troops were killed, 108 of these were U.S. troops.
CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Month of Mayhem was produced by Sheri England and Jenni Watts. The vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions is Mark Nelson.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live video news service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and two Web sites.
CNN: Special Investigations Unit Examines Virginia Tech Massacre
CNN Pressroom - Soledad O’Brien Provides Minute-by-Minute Account into Tragedy in Blacksburg, Va.
In what has become the worst mass shooting in American history, a lone gunman killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech on an otherwise ordinary spring morning in Blacksburg, Va., before turning the weapon upon himself. Anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien will report on the tragic events for an hour-long CNN: Special Investigations Unit documentary. Massacre at Virginia Tech will air on Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
O’Brien will provide a minute-by-minute account of the campus rampage as she discusses how and why the events happened and whether they could have been prevented. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has investigated the nation’s gun laws in previous reports and will trace how the shooter acquired his weapons and exploited vulnerabilities in campus security to inflict maximum damage.
“The stunning events at Virginia Tech on April 16 are devastatingly shocking,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. “CNN will use its investigative resources to help put these terrible events into context and reveal the lessons to be learned from our current gun laws.”
Steve Robinson is the executive producer of this documentary. Robert Howell, Kathleen Johnston, Emily Probst, Brian Rokus and Michelle Rozsa are the field producers.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live video news service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and two Web sites.
