CNN Domestic yesterday announced four new specials that will form part of the network's programming to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. Drew Griffin, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Soledad O'Brien will front three of the specials, while the fourth is Time/HBO presentation. Details from CNN below.

CNN Press Release: During the week leading up to the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, CNN will premiere four one-hour productions on its domestic network. In investigations led by chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, investigative correspondent Drew Griffin, and anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien, CNN is reporting new insights into the health consequences experienced by the first responders working at New York’s Ground Zero, examining the events of that day through the eyes of people who were on the front lines of one of America’s most tragic days, and profiling several unsung heroines who saved lives on that day. A fourth presentation from TIME in association with HBO features a collection of TIME magazine oral histories from people who experienced the events of that day as they unfolded, and their reflections as the nation reacted in the days, months, and years afterwards.

“It was a day that changed us all and CNN is leveraging its unmatched resources to cover remembrances from around the nation and the world as we look back on 9/11 and what it means a decade later,” says Bart Feder, senior vice president of programming for CNN. “In addition, these documentaries tell stories we feel will evoke pride in the heroism and bravery of the Americans who risked their lives, and some who sacrificed themselves on that day to save others. And, they present an opportunity to remember the difficult work of first responders – and our servicemen and women on the front lines overseas – who continue to try to keep this nation safe each day.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 11:00pm (replay on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 8:00pm), CNN will debut FOOTNOTES OF 9/11, featuring interviews with people who went to work on Sept. 11, 2001 – and unexpectedly became part of history. Each of the eight people profiled by investigative correspondent Drew Griffin for this documentary is mentioned in The 9/11 Commission Report – their unique experiences are drawn from the 1,742 footnotes of that report and offer critical detail to the tragic events of that day – are literal and figurative footnotes to one of America’s darkest days. They include ticket agents who checked in some of the terrorists, a maintenance technician who answered a call from one of the planes under attack, and the Lt. Col. in the Massachusetts Air National Guard – also a United Airlines pilot – who scrambled to provide defense to New York, and faced possibly having to shoot down a passenger plane.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 11:00pm (replay on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 9:00pm), DR. SANJAY GUPTA REPORTS: TERROR IN THE DUST, will examine how responders who breathed in the toxic dust and noxious fumes at New York City’s Ground Zero are coping with the health effects of the attacks. The environmental hazards at the World Trade Center disaster site – mercury from fluorescent light bulbs, dioxin and benzene emitted as the jets burned, asbestos from the building materials, and more – have caused severe respiratory ailments, immune problems and, some suspect, a greatly increased cancer risk. Among those who speak to Dr. Gupta are two brothers – firefighters who searched for survivors in the pile of the collapsed towers – one whose lungs are now failing and the other who appears to have had no permanent physical effects. Ten years after the attacks chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks to first responders who continue to experience emotional trauma. Dr. Gupta’s investigation includes never before broadcast footage of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the medical consequences of the killer dust, and safety recommendations for future crisis responses.

BEYOND BRAVERY: THE WOMEN OF 9/11 will air on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 11:00pm (replay on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 9:00pm), and profiles the sometimes overlooked female rescue workers who raced to the Twin Towers in the wake of the attack. Anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien looks at the work of these rescue workers over the decade following their life-altering experiences. Among the stories of these heroic women of New York’s Ground Zero is an African-American firefighter whose company lost seven of the 342 firefighters who died that day. She is pushing to recruit more women to this dangerous job, even as the number of female firefighters has dropped to less than one percent of the NYFD. O’Brien also speaks with the family of a decorated police officer and mother who was photographed rescuing survivors just moments before the collapse of the towers. O’Brien reports the present-day health and emotional struggles of these unsung heroines and hears about their determination to be prepared for the next attack – and to restore hope.

On Friday, Sept. 9 at 11:00pm (with replays on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 8:00pm and 11:00pm), CNN will premiere a special presentation from TIME in association with HBO, BEYOND 9/11: PORTRAITS OF RESILIENCE. Captured in words and moving images, this documentary features untold stories drawn from 40 women and men who led and sacrificed for America in the hours, days, and months that followed the attacks. Working with the editors of TIME, award-winning photographer Marco Grob produced an astonishing set of portraits which are coupled with dramatic recollections from government leaders, survivors of the towers, and first responders.

Kathleen Johnston, Brian Rokus, and Bud Bultman produced FOOTNOTES of 9/11, Stephanie Smith and Roni Selig produced TERROR IN THE DUST, and Rose Arce and Geraldine Moriba produced BEYOND BRAVERY.

CNN will premiere three new specials this weekend, as well as examine the life of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in an updated special, 'In The Footsteps Of bin Laden'. Airtimes and descriptions from CNN below.


CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden

CNN’s Anderson Cooper anchors an investigation into the life of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, killed earlier this week by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs directed by the CIA. Partially-based upon the book, The Osama bin Laden I Know, by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, who was among the first team of television journalists to interview bin Laden in 1997, FOOTSTEPS was filmed in 10 countries, and features interviews with 10 people with first-person knowledge of bin Laden. Former CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour’s reporting sheds light on the man who declared war on the United States and was the world’s most wanted terrorist.


CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic

CNN’s Larry King hosts a special on the sixth-leading cause of death across all ages in the U.S. that afflicts 5.4 million people, about which many Americans still know relatively little. King will be joined by people who have been touched by Alzheimer’s disease and will include interviews with former First Lady Laura Bush and California’s former First Lady and Alzheimer’s activist Maria Shriver; actors Seth Rogen, and Angie Dickinson; TV host Leeza Gibbons; football star Terrell Owens and son of President Ronald Reagan, Ron Reagan. Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain what Alzheimer’s is and how this disease affects the human brain.





Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Saving Gabby Giffords

CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta adds his expert medical insights to a report of how U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) survived the mass shooting in Tucson earlier this year that killed six and wounded 18 others. Describing how the frantic, life-saving efforts saved the Congresswoman’s life, Gupta interviews the EMTs who evacuated her to a trauma hospital, her surgeons, her rehabilitation doctors and other therapists. Gupta also performs a surgical demonstration of the skull surgery for the documentary so that viewers can better understand how it works.




CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story

American exchange student Amanda Knox was convicted nearly 18 months ago for the murder of roommate Meredith Kercher, British exchange student in Perugia, Italy. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin traveled to Perugia, Italy, where the sexual assault and stabbing death occurred, and Seattle, WA, where Knox grew up and her parents still live, to report the truth behind the international headlines. Griffin has a rare television interview with the chief prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, and reveals a pattern of prosecutorial behavior that raises questions about the original conviction.



Friday, May 06, 2011

11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden (LIVE with tape)


Saturday, May 07, 2011

2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
8:00pm – 9:00pm CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic
9:00pm – 10:00pm CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic


Sunday, May 08, 2011

12:00am – 1:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
3:00am – 4:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic
5:00am – 6:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
7:00pm – 8:00pm Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Saving Gabby Giffords (PREMIERE)
8:00pm – 9:00pm CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story (PREMIERE)
11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story


Monday, May 09, 2011

2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story

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.

All Things CNN notes CNN's recent honors at the 2010 National Headliner Awards; where the network scooped a one, two, three placing in the Investigative Reporting category.

CNN's winning entries:

Feature or Human Interest Story (Broadcast Radio Division)
Third Place: CNN (Radio)
Young, Black and Unemployed
Dan Szematowicz, Lisa Desjardins


Continuing Coverage of a Major News Event
First Place: CNN
Anderson Cooper 360: Inside the Battle Zone: Afghanistan
Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, David Doss

Documentary or Series of Reports
Second Place: CNN
World's Untold Stories: Killing Fields: Long Road to Justice
Dan Rivers, Kocha Orlan, Mike McCarthy and Sheri England


Investigative Reporting
First Place: CNN
Your Government at Work: Post Office Mansion
Abbie Boudreau, Scott Zamost and Jessi Joseph

Second Place: CNN
Anderson Cooper 360: Texas Highway Robbery?
Gary Tuchman, Katherine Wojtecki, Kevin Myers, Derek Davis and Alana Duglas

Third Place: CNN
American Morning: Gulfstream Air Investigation
Allan Chernoff, Laura Dolan, Janelle Rodriguez, James Kraft


Business and Consumer Reporting
First Place: CNN
The Border
Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Scott Matthews, Todd Schwarzschild, Marcus Hooper

Second Place: CNN
How the Wheels Came Off: The Rise and Fall of the American Auto Industry
Michael Kane, Ali Velshi and Christine Romans


Health/Science Reporting
First Place: CNN
The Wheelchair
Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Scott Matthews, Todd Schwarzschild, Marcus Hooper

Third Place: CNN
Another Day Cheating Death
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Roni Selig, Tim Langmaid, Caleb Hellerman, David Martin

A full list of all the award winners is here.

CNN Press Release - In addition to CNN’s continuing coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti and the upcoming State of the Union, CNN will devote programming to the impact of the economic stimulus plan one year after it was enacted. Beginning on January 24 and continuing through January 29, CNN will break down where the money has gone, whom it's helping, and who has abused the program. In advance of the January 30 release of new stimulus data, CNN will utilize its vast TV and online reach to inform its viewers about which projects have received the stimulus dollars, what is and isn't working, if Americans’ lives have changed for the better, and who's still fighting to get help. Beginning on American Morning and continuing throughout dayside and primetime programming, CNN will highlight the stories of everyday people, offering viewers an understanding of the good, the bad and the reality of whether the stimulus money is being well spent or going toward wasteful projects. In his first television interview, Inspector General Earl Devaney, “the stimulus watchdog,” will sit down with CNN correspondent Kate Bolduan to give his take on how the stimulus money has been spent.

Leading the coverage on CNN/U.S. will be chief business correspondent Ali Velshi and CNN business correspondent Christine Romans. Velshi, along with CNN anchor TJ Holmes and correspondents Tom Foreman and Josh Levs, will review stimulus projects from CNN’s “Stimulus Desk,” and bring to light those that are the most interesting and newsworthy. CNN correspondents including Elizabeth Cohen, Drew Griffin, Joe Johns, Randi Kaye, David Mattingly, Ted Rowlands, Gerri Willis, and Kareen Wynter will fact-check the plan and report on which projects have been funded so far, where the jobs are, whether these projects will help the economy recover and where the loopholes are. In addition, CNN’s All Platform Journalists (APJs) have been deployed across the country on “stimulus patrol” and will contribute pieces throughout the week about various projects and people across the country that have been affected by the stimulus.

Online, CNNMoney.com is the premiere destination for all news, information and analysis related to the stimulus, and will feature multi-media photo galleries, text stories and video. Additionally, as part of "The Stimulus Project," CNNMoney.com is launching a data visualization that details how much stimulus money has been spent thus-far and on which programs. The first of its kind, this interactive graphic will provide users with the most comprehensive and accessible view into the state of the stimulus. CNN's chief business correspondent Ali Velshi also will use the data visualization on the Magic Wall on CNN/U.S. to help television viewers understand how the money is being used.

Additionally, at www.CNN.com/Stimulus, CNN.com has a special report that features an economy tracker which shows how stimulus money has been spent so far by state, and where new jobs have been created according to government information, an info-graphic that takes a look at some key factors of the economy and how it has gone up and down. In addition, the section includes opinion pieces on how the stimulus has worked and how it hasn't. CNN iReport, the network's user-generated news community, is asking iReporters to share their personal stories to add color to the numerical data.

Viewers can call CNN at 1-800-TIPS-LINE, to explain what's going on in their communities and how they feel the stimulus has impacted their jobs and lives. CNN will also conduct a poll and release numbers daily about Americans’ views of the stimulus package and the economy as a whole.

CNN is the only cable news network that provides non-partisan programming representing all points of view.

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.

In today's afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom, CNN International anchor Isha Sesay is anchoring.

Update (12/31): Isha anchored again for Fredricka on Sunday. Drew Griffin was in for Rick Sanchez on the evening edition of CNN Newsroom this weekend also.

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.

CNN Pressroom - Fatal Journey, Due for March 10 Premiere, Tracks Tragic Accident, Examines Highway Safety in U.S. Cities

In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, March 2, a charter bus transporting the Bluffton University baseball team to Sarasota, Florida, tore through a guardrail and plunged 30 feet onto Interstate 75 near downtown Atlanta. The accident took the lives of four players, the bus driver and the bus driver’s wife.

CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Fatal Journey will investigate both the accident and whether highway safety is being compromised by the urgent need for more highway capacity in America’s growing cities. Fatal Journey airs on Saturday, March 10, and Sunday, March 11, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.

CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin and CNN: Special Investigations Unit will employ a bus and helicopter to re-enact the fateful journey of the Ohio students.

Speaking to survivors and their families, transportation authorities, rescue workers and traffic experts, CNN will scrutinize the accident, examine lessons learned from similar accident investigations and focus on what can be done to prevent future accidents. CNN also visits with a family struggling to cope with the loss of a son in the accident and listens as surviving players ponder why they survived while others lost their lives.

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 news video service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and one Web site.