The BLETCHLEY CIRCLE To Premiere April on PBS

--

PBS TO AIR WEEK OF SPECIAL PROGRAMMING FOCUSING ON THE NEWTOWN TRAGEDY

- In Response to the Tragic Shootings, After Newtown Programming to Appear on PBS Stations Nationwide Starting February 18 -

PASADENA, CA; JANUARY 14, 2012 --Today at the Television Critics Association meeting, PBS announced that, in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, it will broadcast a series of specials that continue the public conversation on gun laws, mental illness and school security. The After Newtown programming airs on PBS stations February 18-22 (check local listings).

These thoughtful and thought-provoking documentaries and news pieces are meant to provide context to the national conversation about gun violence in America. This special programming will kick off each night with a PBS NEWSHOUR report focusing on topics tied to the Newtown tragedy, including violence in the media, gun control policy and how cities like Aurora, Colorado are moving on after a similar tragedy. The series also includes a FRONTLINE special report, in collaboration with The Hartford Courant, profiling the Connecticut shooter and his relationship with his mother as well as a report on the battle over America's gun laws and gun culture; a NOVA documentary about violence and the brain; two independent documentaries one on the history of guns in America and the other on school security; a NEED TO KNOW report about the ripple effects of a fatal shooting incident; and an update on political action in the nation's capital surrounding gun control from WASHINGTON WEEK WITH GWEN IFILL.

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.

AFTER NEWTOWN: GUNS IN AMERICA

Tuesday, February 19, 2013, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET

Repeats Thursday, February 21, 2013, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET

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.

FRONTLINE Raising Adam Lanza

Tuesday, February 19, 2013, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET

Repeats Thursday, February 21, 2013, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET

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 centraland so far elusivequestion: 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.

NOVA Mind of a Rampage Killer

Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET

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?

THE PATH TO VIOLENCE

Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET

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

LINK:	http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/after-newtown-programming/...
	See more stories from pbs

Most recent headlines