Soledad O’Brien Brings Journalistic Excellence To CNN’s “Black in America”

Cover Story as previously published in the Spring 2010 Issue of Savoy Magazine.

When you talk with Soledad O’Brien, it becomes instantly clear that she is as impressive in person as on TV.  You also validate that she is so much more.  Soledad is soulful, smart and funny.  She doesn’t take herself too seriously, but seriously enough.  She is comfortable laughing hard, loud and often.  She is a proud wife and mother who was worrying (the day of our interview) about her sick kids and husband at home she’s been nursing back to health.  Soledad values the connections to people she has in her life and thankfully it reflects in her work as anchor and special correspondent for CNN.

She grew up in Smithtown near the north shore of Long Island, New York.  Soledad experienced the challenges facing a diverse family living in a town that was not.  Her mother Estelle is an educator of Afro Cuban heritage and her father Edward is a mechanical engineering professor with Australian, Irish origins.  With three sisters and two brothers she is the 5^th of Edward and Estelle O’Brien’s family of six.

“I never had a lot of angst about who I am,” Soledad reflectively shares from her office in CNN’s bustling NYC news center.  “I have five brothers and sisters who all look like me and identify themselves as Black.  There’s not one sibling who wrestled with it.” Soledad adds.  It’s significant to note that all five of her siblings and Soledad are Harvard graduates.

“When I was growing up, my Mom always told us, don’t ever let anybody tell you you’re not Black.  Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not Cuban.” Soledad is a talented journalist at ease in her skin.  She is one of the brightest broadcast journalists on television through hard work and unwavering focus on being the best at what she does.

Soledad is a news phenom that has earned stars and bars during her storied climb up the broadcasting corporate ladder.  After college she began her career in news behind the camera as an associate producer and news writer for a Boston NBC affiliate.  In 1991, Soledad began a career with NBC News that lead to positions in New York and San Francisco.  MSNBC showcased her talents as she anchored their weekend morning show and co-host of their award winning technology program The Site. Prior to her departure from NBC she co-anchored Weekend TODAY and was a contributing correspondent for the weekday TODAY show and weekend editions of Nightly News.

In 2003, O’Brien joined CNN and reported with the teams that earned CNN a George Foster Peabody award for their coverage of hurricane Katrina and an Alfred I. duPont Award for 2004 coverage of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami devastation.  In 2007, she received the President’s Award during the 38^th NAACP Image awards for her special achievements and distinguished public service.

Eminently qualified, Soledad was approached by CNN’s President of the News division to see if she’d be interested in serving as special correspondent for a project in development with a general title of Black in America.

“I thought this will really be interesting and certainly right up my alley in terms of things I think about and have always been interested in.  CNN had been interested in providing coverage that navigates through issues of diversity.   It started with us asking what does it mean to be Black in America?  With that I was sort of handed the ball to go and figure out how you turn that into a documentary.”

Soledad and CNN worked to develop what may be remembered as one of the most widely televised documentary series on the contemporary Black experience in cable television history.  Black in America (2008) and Black in America 2 (2009) have received close to 24 million viewers since their respective two night premieres. The documentaries have been rebroadcast to CNN’s reach of approximately 2 billion viewers worldwide.

Black in America and Black in America 2 are unique because they examine the Black experience in America from a people centered perspective. “As we broke down and started doing interviews and producing the segments, we went from what makes a good story, to who makes a good story?” The production schedule for Black in America was 18 months.  For many weeks Soledad and the team traveled six out of seven days a week conducting interviews with a spectrum of people sharing their unique perspective, creating the story of Black in America.

A cadre of professors and experts provided commentary and staggering statistics, but most compelling were the real life stories of families struggling, succeeding and sharing with Soledad objectively guiding the search light of observation.  “I think the most important thing about Black in America is that it was courageous, because we didn’t realize how brave it was,” said Soledad.  “All I thought about was doing a good job.  I’m going to ask smart questions, be well prepared and do a good job.“ Soledad and CNN showed great care to report American stories featuring Black people.

Black in America examined the complexities and range of experiences of Black women, the family and Black men.  Soledad recalls impactful moments from Black in America with the names, lives and people that were featured in the documentary. “Mrs. Abdullah was featured in our healthcare segment and is an amazing story.  We were in the hospital interviewing people that day and I ran into her. She held my hand and started to cry and said she wasn’t sure I would understand.  She talked about her neighborhood in Harlem, not far from where my sister lives, and how she can’t find fresh fruit near her home.  She’s elderly and not a healthy person. Her story was about the dramatic struggle to get fresh fruit and vegetables that she could afford in the middle of Harlem.”

Another impactful story Soledad sites from Black in America featured Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, acclaimed author, ordained minister and Georgetown University Professor of Sociology in a jailhouse interview with his younger brother Everett Dyson serving a life sentence for murder. “Michael Eric Dyson was a powerful story that could have been an entire hour, really.  What I loved about that interview is that it tackled a lot of things including skin color and incarceration.”  The interview with the Dysons revealed the vulnerability and contrast of two brothers spanning the reality of the American Black male experience, from light to brown skin and further with one a University Professor and the other an incarcerated prisoner.

“People come to me and say we’ve read your quotes and seen you on TV and been affected by your intellectual contribution to the culture but that interview personalized you for me and showed a vulnerability that made me identify with you even more.  I have Soledad to thank for that because she conducted an aggressively insightful and powerful interview,” Dr. Dyson shares, reflecting upon the impact of his Black in America segment with Everett and Soledad. “She didn’t skip over contradictions and complications with my brother and me and yet she allowed the story to breath enough that the outline of suffering for so many Black families became luminous under her careful and skillful journalistic hand and the story emerged as powerfully as it did.

Soledad is one of the most brilliant journalists we have working in America today.  Her ability to bring lucidity and clarity to often muddled and complex issues is remarkable and her profound humanity is edifying.  The long form journalistic series like Black in America allows her to tell a provocative story through a sharp prism that illumines the landscape that is overcrowded with cliché phrases and trivial approaches.”

Black in America 2 dedicated two shows to the examination of Tomorrow’s leaders and Today’s Pioneers impacting Black communities in the US and abroad.  Soledad followed a group of 30 Bushwick, Brooklyn youth selected to participate in Journey for Change, a volunteer mission to serve impoverished and AIDS orphans in South Africa.  Soledad documented her connection with the young men and women on the trip led by Malaak Compton-Rock, wife of comedian Chris Rock.

Capital Preparatory Magnet School was featured in Black in America 2 as an example of educational excellence.  Soledad interviewed Capital Prep’s principal Dr. Steve Perry and discussed his uncompromising expectations for his students.  “I am impressed with people who have a genuine commitment toward doing things.  I like that Steve Perry is the real deal.” With mostly Black and Latino students enrolled, the school deservedly boasts 100% placement of graduates into four-year universities. Over 2,000 applicants apply for 30 open spots in Capital Prep’s annual enrollment.

“Soledad is a genuine sister who can allow someone else to shine and still see that she shines by giving them access to the spotlight,” said Dr. Perry on Soledad’s contribution to the series. “There are millions of people, both Black and White who had their first exposure to the Black community through the broadcast of Black in America.  It is the (modern day) equivalent of Roots impact on the community through television”.

Production for Black in America 3 is underway along with another look at the Latino in America series.  CNN has also formed a news unit called “In America” that Soledad will be a part of.  “We are at a time when we can ask some really provocative questions about race.  My goal is to do compelling stories about people in America.”

Soledad is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and volunteers time to mentor aspiring journalists of color by sharing her winning techniques to help them grow.  “Whenever I talk to young journalists I tell them, you have to get out of your own head and just focus on the interview.  Don’t worry about how you look on camera.  Be well read and just do a really good interview. Connect with the person.”

Soledad’s reporting style is strengthened by the diversity of her experience being Black in America.  Her work on the “In America” series is keeping the continued dialogue on race fueled with relevant and timely information delivered by people living the stories.  Examining the Black experience in America requires examining the good and the bad, the rich and the poor as objectively as possible and hopefully tempered with responsibility.   Understanding Soledad’s unique Black experience hasn’t defined or limited her ability to cover contemporary events and issues.  Conversely, it has expanded and guided her perspective and aspirations to be much more than the first name news icon that is known as Soledad.

http://savoynetwork.com/soledad-obrien-cover-story-2010/