Engage Blog

When we asked last week for five good questions for Aaron Brown, we didn't realize we were opening the floodgates.

We received about 120 comments and e-mails; many of them weren't questions at all, but messages of gratitude that Aaron's back on television. (Most of you really love him.)

Of course, we also received some critical comments, including a few messages from folks who didn't like Aaron's coverage of the early days of the Iraq war.

The bottom line: This was the biggest response we've received since introducing "Five Good Questions" this month. (Hear that Gwen Ifill fans? The pressure's on!)

I sifted through the outpouring and chose five good questions. Here now are Aaron's answers.

What were your best and worst experiences as an anchor on CNN?
Susan Fox

The best experience was the worst day: 9/11.

This is a bit tricky but understand that no reporter wishes for such a tragedy but every reporter hopes that if something like this does occur her or she will have the opportunity to cover it. So it was with 9/11.

This was everything I had spent my life preparing to do, the biggest story before the largest audience – a story that mattered, a story where the audience was really counting on us.

So on the roof that day, the reporter in me understood that this was the moment of a lifetime. I have never been more proud of my business.

The worst: Yikes, so many to chose from.

I think the four hours we spent covering the arrest of the actor Robert Blake. It was beyond dumb and inconsequential. Of course it did a very good rating. Go figure.

What is your take on the news coverage in the run up to the invasion of Iraq?
John-Mark Gilhousen

This is such a complicated question I'm not sure this is the right place to kick it around. So let me just say this: I wish I had done better.

I don't think I did badly, that I made horrible editorial decisions, but I do think they could have been better, that skeptics could have appeared more often and (especially) received better placement in the program.

I think this is generally true in the business but I am a lot more comfortable talking about my own mistakes than others'.

But again, I do believe this whose coverage question is hugely important and very complex and just think there is a better forum than this to deal with its complexity.

What have you missed most since leaving daily broadcast journalism?
Justin

Less than I thought.

I miss the staff of course. The people I worked with at CNN were incredible.

For some reason, I missed reporting Virginia Tech. The presidential campaign, of course, has been great fun and great history. I'm not sure I have missed the day to day of it but there were days when it would have been a hoot.

That said, I really like the road life has taken me down and hardly sit around thinking about what I miss. I have far too much.

You're a journalist, but you're also a teacher. What is the single most important piece of advice someone has given you?
Lauren

If the facts are wrong, the story fails, regardless.

It doesn't matter how well you wrote it, how pretty are the pictures, how wonderful is the editing and producing and all the rest. An error of fact fails the piece.

Journalism is in a state of transition. Should journalists remain detached observers, or is it OK for them to show their feelings about stories that matter to them?
Donna L. Halper (via e-mail)

Well, the problem in the country today isn't a shortage of opinions, it is a shortage of facts.

Journalists would be better served and their audience would be better served if we all remembered that.

Viewers need to demand this from reporters. Largely, in TV at least, the reverse is true. Audiences flock to opinion people, Bill and Keith and Sean and Lou and the like.

If I ran the world that would not be so; the balance between facts and opinion would be turned around a fair amount. I am told however that the chances of my ruling the world are now quite slim.