How do you make sense of a seemingly senseless act of violence? How do you help the country begin to process the trauma of 20 small children shot dead in their classroom?
That was the challenge we took on when, in the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, PBS asked us to take part in a week-long slate of programming, "After Newtown," exploring the tragedy and its implications.
One of my first thoughts was to turn to Andrew Julien, a long-time colleague who is the editor of The Hartford Courant, the largest daily newspaper in Connecticut, and the local paper to the tragedy. Julien's reporters had already been all over the story, covering it with depth and accuracy, so when I brought up this idea in our editorial meeting, Executive Producer David Fanningstrongly encouraged the idea of a collaboration.
Julien was intrigued by the challenge, and as he laid out the stories they were covering, we both decided the strongest story of all was that of the woman who had raised Adam Lanza – his mother Nancy. After the Sandy Hook tragedy, memorials had been raised to 26 victims, but she was the 27th. Even President Obama had left out her name. Nancy had become a polarizing figure, perhaps because early reports had emphasized that she had owned and taught Adam to use the guns that killed so many at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
And yet, as Julien pointed out: “Nancy Lanza is the person Adam was closest to in the world. She was the first person he killed. He shot her four times in the head while she was in bed, and then he went off to Sandy Hook Elementary School. If we can begin to understand Adam’s relationship with Nancy, we probably can begin to understand Adam.”
Our film team arrived at the Courant’s newsroom the day after that conversation, and began a process of following two reporters, Alaine Griffinand Josh Kovner, as they traveled from Connecticut to New Hampshire to try to get friends and family to go on the record about Nancy’s life and her struggles to raise a young boy with profound psychological problems.
We had far less time than usual to report, produce, edit and complete the program – weeks rather than months – but the result is a compelling and insightful portrait of an ongoing investigation, which will premiere tonight on air and online at 10 p.m. ET (check your local listings).
Part one, Raising Adam Lanza, draws on Nancy’s own emails, previously unseen photos and exclusive home video footage of Adam, as well as insider interviews, to reveal a mother’s complex relationship with her troubled young son. Part two, Newtown Divided follows Courant reporter Matt Kauffman as he explores the consequences of the shooting in a town that has a long history of firearms and gun ownership, and where people most deeply affected by the tragedy are wrestling with our nation’s gun culture and laws.
As we all struggle to understand the Newtown shooting and its aftermath, we hope you'll find this special episode of FRONTLINE to be compelling and essential viewing.
Thank you for watching.
Raney Aronson-Rath
Deputy Executive Producer, FRONTLINE
P.S. You can join us for live-tweeting during the broadcast with #Frontline
and #AfterNewtown.
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