Aaron Brown, CNN Anchor During Sept. 11 Attacks, Dies at 76

variety.com:

Lauren Coates Aaron Brown, a news anchor known for his coverage during CNN‘s broadcast of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, died on Sunday in Washington, D.C., his family confirmed to CNN.

He was 76. Brown began his career as a radio talk show host in Minneapolis before moving to local television in Seattle and eventually becoming the anchor of ABC’s overnight news programs “World News Now” and “World News Tonight Saturday.” He joined CNN in 2001, eventually anchoring “NewsNight,” which combined breaking news with in-depth analysis.

Brown was still in training when the Sept. 11 terror attacks occurred and though he hadn’t been scheduled to go on air that morning, but he rushed to CNN’s Manhattan office, making his first appearance as an anchor and guiding millions of viewers through the dramatic events of Sept.

11. “I felt, in that moment, profoundly stupid,” Brown told CNN’s Brian Stelter years later in an interview about reporting the attacks live. “A million things had been running through my mind about what might happen … and it just never occurred to me that they would come down, and it’s the only time I thought, ‘Maybe you just don’t have what it takes to do a story like this.’” For his work broadcasting during the attacks, Brown was honored with the Edward R.