The “After Newtown” programming airs on PBS stations February 18-22 (check local listings). “This week of specials gives PBS the opportunity to take an in-depth and thoughtful look at the issues the Newtown tragedy laid bare,” said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming for PBS. “As we mourn the lives lost in Newtown, it is important to present the facts, the science, and the history behind the issues to provide information and context as we collectively look at how better to protect and serve our communities.”
Every day this week from 6-7pm ET
PBS NEWSHOUR: Each newscast will
include a segment dedicated to exploring the issues surrounding the Newtown
tragedy.
*Last night’s newscast was “a report on how the
community of Aurora, Colorado, scene of last summer’s shooting spree in a movie
theater, is reacting to the national debate stirred by Newtown and the
recommendations for reducing violence proposed by the Biden task force. The
town has recently been reliving the details of its own tragedy during the
recent pre-trial hearings for the alleged killer.”
Tuesday, February 19: NewsHour Senior
Correspondent Jeffrey Brown taps into a discussion about the connections—or
lack of connections—between violent video games and violent behavior. The
Newtown killer reportedly spent hours playing such games, but is there any
evidence that one thing leads to the other?
Wednesday, February 20: NewsHour Science
Correspondent Miles O’Brien explores what scientists know, and don’t know,
about adolescent brain development and what risk factors may lead a young
person to violent behavior.
Thursday, February 21: NewsHour delivers a
report from Florida, the first state to record more than one million requests
for permits to carry concealed weapons. The story explores the increase in
requests for gun licenses in the wake of Newtown, and the arguments for and
against concealed carry laws in the state where Trayvon Martin’s killing is
still a fresh memory.
Friday, February 22: From Chicago, a look
at gun violence as a public health issue. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
recently shared that many more children die of gunshot wounds every day in
Chicago than are killed by mass murderers in a year. PBS NewsHour explores how
the Administration’s proposals for gun violence might change that statistic.
Tuesday 9-10pm and Thursday 10-11pm ET
AFTER NEWTOWN: GUNS IN AMERICA
In April 1775, it took a Minuteman roughly 15
seconds to load, aim and fire his musket at the advancing British Redcoats in
Lexington, Massachusetts. In December 2012, at a primary school in Newtown,
Connecticut, it took Adam Lanza a mere 60 seconds to fire off dozens of rounds
with an assault-style weapon.. Gun technology has evolved a great deal since
the Colonial era. So too has America’s gun culture. With an estimated 300
million firearms in circulation, the nation is saturated with firearms, many
argue, and the human toll they’ve taken is too high. More than 30 people die
every day from a gun-related injury. GUNS IN AMERICA is an unprecedented
exploration of America’s enduring relationship with firearms. From the first
European settlements in the New World to frontier justice; from 19th-century
immigrant riots to gangland violence in the Roaring Twenties; from the Civil
War to civil rights, guns have been at center of our national narrative.
Americans have relied on guns to sustain communities, challenge authority and
keep the peace. Efforts to curtail their distribution and ownership have
triggered epic political battles. On one side, the cry for gun control gets
louder after each mass shooting. And on the other, Charleton Heston’s 2000
rallying cry, “From my cold, dead hands,” still resonates across the land. GUNS
IN AMERICA traces the evolution of guns in America, their inextricable link to
violence and the clash of cultures that reflect competing visions of our
national identity.
Tuesday 10-11pm and Thursday 9-10pm ET
FRONTLINE “Raising Adam Lanza”
In the wake of the mass killings at Sandy
Hook Elementary School, FRONTLINE investigates a young man and the town he
changed forever. Adam Lanza left behind a trail of death and destruction, but
little else. He left no known friends, no diary. He destroyed his computer and
any evidence it might have provided. His motives, and his life, remain largely
a mystery. In collaboration with The Hartford Courant, FRONTLINE
looks for answers to the central—and so far elusive—question: who was Adam
Lanza? Also this hour: In the aftermath of the tragedy, President Obama called
for a national conversation about guns in America. Nowhere is that conversation
more intense than in Newtown, where FRONTLINE finds a town divided and explores
how those closest to the tragedy are now wrestling with our nation’s gun
culture and laws.
Wednesday 9-10pm ET
NOVA “Mind of a Rampage Killer”
What makes a person walk into a theater or
church or classroom full of students and open fire? What combination of
circumstances compels a human being to commit the most inhuman of crimes? Can
science in any way help us understand these horrific events and provide clues
to prevention ? As the nation tries to comprehend the tragic events in Newtown,
NOVA correspondent Miles O’Brien separates fact from fiction, investigating new
theories that the most destructive rampage killers are driven most of all by
the wish to die, not by the urge to kill. Could suicide — and the desire to go
out in a media-fueled blaze of glory — be their main motivation? How much can
science tell us about a brain at risk for violence? Most important, can we
recognize dangerous minds in time to stop the next Newtown?
Wednesday 10-11pm ET
THE PATH TO VIOLENCE
Ever since the wake-up call that was
Columbine, schools and law enforcement have developed multiple strategies to
prevent attacks. Remarkably, more than 120 school assaults have been thwarted
in the past 10 years. Security hardware and physical barriers may play a deterrent
role, but it’s been psychologists — working hand in hand with law
enforcement officers — who have devised the most helpful tools to preventviolent
attacks. THE PATH TO VIOLENCE details a powerfully effective Secret Service
program — the Safe School Initiative — that’s helped schools detect problem
behavior. However, despite progress, recent attacks reveal a gaping hole in the
safety net. Shooters like Adam Lanza, Jared Loughner and James Holmes all
executed their attacks after they’d left their schools. In such cases, parents
may be the first and only line of defense — parents who are terrified of their
own children and who receive inadequate help from the mental health and legal
systems. Can the gains made by social psychologists and law enforcement be
extended to encompass the parents and families of violent individuals? Is the
country ready to have a national conversation about the balance between school
safety and civil liberties that interventions — including gun control —
require?
Friday 8-8:30pm ET
WASHINGTON WEEK WITH GWEN IFILL
Moderator and Managing Editor Gwen Ifill will
feature a segment discussing how Washington lawmakers are addressing the issue
of gun control.
Friday 8:30-9pm
NEED TO KNOW
NEED TO KNOW explores the ripple effects of a
single fatal shooting incident. Twenty years ago, an 18-year-old freshman and
his professor were shot dead at a small Massachusetts college. The killer was
apprehended, convicted and sent to prison. But the events that day continue to
reverberate all these years later for the victim’s family, the killer and his
family, others wounded that day, school administrators accused of not doing
enough to prevent the shooting and still others in the community. During
this program PBS stations will also have the option to insert 90 seconds of
local content.
