Aaron Brown (journalist)

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Aaron Brown
Born (1948-11-10) November 10, 1948 (age 75)
NewsNight with Aaron Brown anchor (2001–2005)
Good Morning America Sunday anchor (1997–1999)
Nightline reporter (mid 1990s)
World News Now
anchor (1992–1993)
Spouse
Charlotte Raynor
​
(m. 1982)​
Children1

Aaron Brown (born November 10, 1948) is an American

NewsNight with Aaron Brown. He was the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle from 2008 to 2009. He was a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from 2007 to 2014.[3][4]

Career

Early life and career

Brown was born to a

U.S. Coast Guard reserves. He began his broadcasting career as a radio talk show host in Minneapolis and later in Los Angeles. Before his time at the national news networks, Brown was a Seattle broadcasting staple, spending more than 15 years at television stations there, first at the NBC affiliate and then the CBS affiliate. He was hired by Seattle's KING-TV in 1976, initially working as an assignment editor but soon becoming a reporter and eventually anchor. In 1986 he moved to KIRO-TV, where he anchored the evening newscast, and remained with KIRO until December 1991.[1]

ABC

Brown was brought to New York City to be the founding anchor of the late-night news program World News Now. He also worked as a reporter for ABC's news operation. He left World News Now to work as a reporter for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, as well as Nightline and various other ABC programming. He became the substitute anchor for Jennings and the permanent anchor of ABC's World News Tonight Saturday and Good Morning America Sunday.

CNN

9/11

Although Brown's first day at CNN was July 1, 2001, his first on-air broadcast was

Twin Towers in New York City
.

When the South Tower collapsed, Brown was listening to a report from the site of

another attack
. The building started to fall while Brown was offcamera, and he had to interrupt the reporter so he could report on what he had seen. Brown remarked that there was another massive explosion and that he could not see the building anymore (he was not aware that the entire building had fallen yet). As the second tower fell on live television, Brown fell silent, until he quietly said, "...good Lord...there are no words..." and resumed reporting after several seconds.
NewsNight with Aaron Brown. Brown also served as host of CNN Presents
and was assigned the lead anchor during breaking news and special events.

Post 9/11

He covered numerous other news events for CNN, including the

Beltway sniper attacks and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Brown anchored from the CNN Center in Atlanta, providing viewers with the latest information from frontline reports as well as from Washington, D.C., and United States Central Command in Doha, Qatar
.

In 2003, he garnered negative press attention for continuing to play in the

Bob Hope Classic golf tournament in Palm Desert, California, after the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster occurred. While other major news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather immediately left their vacations, Brown did not come into the studio and instead continued playing golf. The New York Times reported that Brown had actually been trying to get back to the studios, but CNN didn't go to special lengths to move Mr. Brown into position because Miles O'Brien, the channel's space expert, was anchoring the unfolding events.[9]

During the

House races
.

Brown won three Emmys, including one Emmy for his report "Streets of Iraq" during the Iraq War. In addition, Brown won a DuPont, two New York Film Society World medals and a George Foster Peabody Award.

On November 3, 2005, CNN announced that Brown would be leaving the network, with Anderson Cooper's program Anderson Cooper 360° replacing NewsNight as the flagship program in CNN's evening lineup in an effort to shift toward a younger demographic. The two had shared anchoring duties in the 10:00 PM time slot through the early fall after Cooper's break out success covering Hurricane Katrina. Many said Brown's cerebral "news for grown-ups" style would be missed.[10][11]

Public broadcasting

Brown was under contract with CNN until June 2007, which prevented him from doing interviews or returning to television.[12] In 2008, he returned to television as the host of PBS's Wide Angle. Brown was anchor of the series, and did reports from the field through the end of the series on September 2, 2009.[13]

In academia

In 2006, Brown assumed the John J. Rhodes Chair in Public Policy and American Institutions at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. He taught a course called "Turning Points in Television News History" at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU from 2007 to 2014.[4]

Personal life

While working in Seattle in 1980, Brown met fellow newscaster Charlotte Raynor. They wed in 1982.[7] They have one daughter, Gabby (b. 1988).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Boss, Kit (December 4, 1991). "Aaron Brown Will Leave Kiro-TV News Friday". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
  2. ^ Argetsinger, Amy; Roberts, Roxanne (August 6, 2006). "Out, Damned Spot!". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ "Aaron Brown Joining Cronkite School". www.adweek.com. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  4. ^ a b "Aaron Brown | iSearch". isearch.asu.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  5. ^ Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish By Abigail Pogrebin 2005
  6. ^ Interfaith Family: "Interfaith Celebrities: The Story Behind Eliot Spitzer's Intermarriage" By Nate Bloom 2012
  7. ^ a b c People: "Cool Hand - Two Months on the Job, CNN's Aaron Brown Awoke to the Story of a Lifetime" by Michael A. Upton December 13, 2011
  8. ^ "Most Difficult Part Of Reporting On 9/11 & How To Watch News (Aaron Brown Interview) from The Rubin Report". www.stitcher.com. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  9. ^ Carter, Bill (February 4, 2003). "LOSS OF THE SHUTTLE: TV NEWS; CNN's Anchor Was Caught At Golf Event". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Former CNN anchor Brown welcomes job at ASU
  11. ^ "Aaron Brown On His Way Out?". HuffPost. Mar 28, 2008. Retrieved Dec 5, 2022.
  12. ^ Learmonth, Michael (July 6, 2007). "Aaron Brown speaks his mind". Variety.
  13. ^ "Ex-CNN anchor Aaron Brown returns to TV on PBS' 'Wide Angle'". Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved Dec 5, 2022.

External links

Media related to Aaron Brown (journalist) at Wikimedia Commons

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