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Aaron Brown, news anchor who helped CNN viewers through Sept. 11 attacks, dies at 76

A male news anchor sits in a suit and tie with "America Strikes Back" on a screen behind him
Former news anchor Aaron Brown in CNN’s New York studios in October 2001.
(Gino Domenico / Associated Press)
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Aaron Brown, a veteran television news anchor whose steady hand helped guide CNN viewers through the unfolding tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, has died. He was 76.

CNN, citing a statement from Brown’s family, reported that he died Sunday. A cause of death was not given.

Brown began his career in Minneapolis as a radio talk show host. His career in TV began in Seattle before he was named the founding anchor of ABC’s “World News Now.” He also anchored “ABC’s World News Tonight Saturday” and was a reporter for “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings,” “Nightline” and other ABC News programs.

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But it was at CNN where he made a lasting mark — even before he was supposed to be on the air.

Neil Cavuto, the first anchor hired by Fox News in 1996, is leaving the network, another casualty of cost-cutting in the TV news business.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Brown started his career at the network earlier than expected, anchoring from a Manhattan rooftop as the attacks were happening. When the second tower fell that morning, Brown responded with the horror most viewers no doubt felt.

“Good Lord,” he said. “There are no words.”

His coverage of the attacks earned Brown the Edward R. Murrow Award. He also won three Emmy awards during his career, along with other honors.

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Brown’s quirky, cerebral 10 p.m. CNN newscast “NewsNight” had a following with fans who enjoyed his commentaries and “The Whip,” a quick review of top international stories, but he lost ratings ground to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News.

Greg Gumbel, the longtime voice behind many CBS NFL and college basketball broadcasts and a studio host, has died from cancer at age 78.

Brown left CNN during a shakeup in November 2005, when his time slot went to rising star Anderson Cooper.

Looking back at this time at CNN, Brown said he was confronted by the challenge of doing serious journalism while also being in a “very ratings-driven environment.”

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“I don’t want to get into the business of indicting cable TV, but some of what went on was just television, not journalism,” he told the Associated Press in 2008.

“I didn’t practice the ‘high church’ of journalism all the time, but I think there was some sense that I was uncomfortable in that other, tabloidy world, and I think viewers knew that and I couldn’t pull it off,” Brown said in that 2008 interview.

The longest-tenured journalist at the network gives up her daytime cable program but remains chief Washington correspondent.

After leaving CNN, Brown taught for years at Arizona State University as its first Walter Cronkite professor of journalism. In 2008, he came back to TV on PBS’ “Wide Angle,” a weekly public affairs show.

“Aaron got to do the work that he loved — and he felt lucky to do that work as part of a community of people who were dedicated to good journalism and who became good friends,” Brown’s wife, Charlotte Raynor, said in a statement.

She noted that Brown worked varying shifts over his career, but “he always found a way to make both ordinary and special times with our daughter Gabby and me.”

Salter and Rico write for the Associated Press.

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