American journalist and CNN news anchor Aaron Brown delivers the news from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, October 9, 2001. Brown died Sunday at the age of 76. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, the veteran broadcaster who won critical acclaim for his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks, died Sunday at the age of 76, CNN said.
Brown’s television career began in Seattle, first as an assistant night editor at KING 5 beginning in 1976, and then anchoring the 11 p.m. newscast on KIRO 7 in 1986. In 1991, he hosted a national nightly news show for ABC.
Ten years later, he joined CNN to host “NewsNight.” The show hadn’t started yet September 11, 2001when a group of terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Penn.
But Brown sprang into action, delivering calm, insightful and honest reporting from the roof of CNN’s Manhattan office. According to CNN, he became a leading figure for millions of viewers during one of the most important days in American history, reporting live for 17 hours.
Former CNN anchor and veteran journalist Aaron Brown received widespread praise for his reporting on the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. He died Sunday at the age of 76, his family told CNN. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
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CNN anchor John Vause, who also reported from New York on September 11, recalled Brown taking off his reporter hat as the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
“When he was live on air, he just stopped and looked at it. And paused for a moment. And he shared this moment where everyone was like, ‘Good God. There are no words,'” Vause said in a CNN report announcing Brown’s death.
Brown won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting on the attacks.
Brown’s colleagues praised him as “first and foremost a writer and craftsman” with a “biting sense of humor.” He also emphasized the importance of empathy in reporting, according to former CNN producer Amanda Turnbull.
“His stories were based on the facts, but his delivery was always deeply human,” Turnbull told CNN.
American journalist and CNN news anchor Aaron Brown delivers the news from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, October 9, 2001. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
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Brown was born and raised in Minnesota. He hosted a radio talk show in Minneapolis before attending the University of Minnesota for about a year in 1966, the university said, and then joining the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.
Brown’s departure from ABC was to helm CNN’s primetime news show “NewsNight,” but in 2005 the network changed its lineup and Anderson Cooper replaced Brown’s show.
Brown later taught journalism at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School.
