Documentaries By Soledad O'Brien Shown on Indian Television

GRB Entertainment offers alternative programming worldwide and that includes a slate of new titles to debut at MIPCOM offered as English language programming in India.

The package includes CNN documentaries from Soledad O’Brien and her Starfish Media production company.

In Babies Behind Bars, follow the lives of female inmates in a remarkable program allowing them to raise their babies while they serve times.


Black & Blue tells the shocking real-life stories of young black men facing persistent racial profiling and police brutality.

In Black In America and Latino in America, both multi-documentary collections, Soledad O’Brien explores interpretations of race and cultural identity for people living in the United States.

Soledad O’Brien Hosts "I Am Latino in America"

Soledad O’Brien Hosts "I Am Latino in America"

June 6      6:30 pm - 7:00 pm Free 

At www.elmuseo.org

Soledad O’Brien hosts "I Am Latino in America" presented by Northwestern Mutual is an exclusive invitation only event to a national conversation that is driven by the facts including the most current statistical data and delves into critical issues for “real talk” that impacts Latino communities today.

This event promises to be a powerful evening that is both educational and entertaining. It is an opportunity to amplify the power of the Latino voice. The tour brings together panel discussions featuring award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien as she breaks-down topical subjects with influential leaders, experts, celebrities, business professionals, and academics.

Guest Panelist:
Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York City Council Speaker
José Calderón, President, Hispanic Federation
Lily Eskelsen García, President, NEA
Willie Colón, Entertainer, Producer, & Community Advocate
Anna Maria Chávez, GEO, Girl Scouts of the USA

Special Performances by:
J.W. Cortes, Actor & NY MTA Police Officer
Denice Frohman, Award-Winning Poet
Vladimir Caamaño, Comedian

http://www.elmuseo.org/event/i-am-latino-in-america/

"I Am Latino in America" New York

The Latino Vote

Soledad with Dr. Adrian Pantoja, Senior Analyst, Latino Decisions, and Professor of Political Studies and Chicano Studies at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA (Chicago - Feb. 2016 via Facebook)

Discussing the strong growth among Hispanics eligible to vote, in particular U.S-born youth.

"I Am Latino in America" 2016 Chicago

Soledad with Sandra Torres

The "I Am Latino in America" 2016 tour brought Soledad O'Brien to Chicago at the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) National Conference - Latino Talent Showcase on February 20, 2016.

Follow the "I am Latino in America" Tour

Share your Fan Posts for the "I am Latino in America" national touron MOSH.

The best post each week until the end of February will win some great prizes - like a signed copy of Soledad's book The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities.

I am Latino in America National Tour with Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien is on the “I am Latino in America” national tour which stops in Chicago for a candid conversation with influencers, celebrities, national and local advocates, business leaders and academics. Topics will include the Latino influence on the nation’s economy, education, wealth, media and the 2016 election.

The United States Hispanic Leadership Institute unites thousands of college students and national and local community leaders. The ‪#‎IAmLatinoInAmerica‬ tour will kick off the Conference. It is sponsor ed by Northwestern Mutual.

EVENT: Thursday, February 18, 2016, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Hotel, 301 East North Water Street.

Your RSVP secures a seat for the live panel discussion and entertainment.

Latino In America Tour Trailer 2015-16

Latino In America Tour Trailer 2015-16

I Am Latino in America

Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien is starting her I am Latino in America tour of conversations to amplify the Latino voice on critical community issues.

The tour kicks off Sept. 28 at Florida International University, with plans to roll out in five more cities and additional tours are planned for the spring and summer 2016, with more than 15 cities expected to host the live event.

Follow online
https://instagram.com/iamlatinoinamerica/
https://twitter.com/iamlatinoinam
https://www.facebook.com/LatinoinAmerica/

via Facebook
"at the Hispanic Heritage Awards with the talented @iambeckyg #HHA15 #iamlatinoinamerica"

Mornings Are Being Revamped at CNN

Less than a month into his presidency of CNN Worldwide, Jeff Zucker announced a revamping of the network’s management and programming. That includes reshuffling the morning lineup.

Zucker, Soledad O'Briens's former boss at NBC, is given credit for for making NBC’s Today show the most watched TV news show in his time there.

He announced at the end of January that Chris Cuomo, co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20, would be teaming up with CNN evening anchor Erin Burnett to take over the morning slot that Soledad had occupied hosting Starting Point.

Starting Point, and CNN generally, has had ratings issues. CNN’s 6 a.m.–to–9 a.m. slot (Starting Point and Early Start) drew about 220,000 viewers in January as compared to MSNBC’s Morning Joe with 446,000 viewers and Fox & Friends led the cable morning with 1.2 million viewers. In 2012 Starting Point averaged only 234,000 viewers. Of course, the morning shows on CBS, ABC and NBC had millions more than any of those programs.

The announcement received additional buzz online because it was noted that the program's small audience was also “too ethnic, based on the high concentration of minority viewers.”

The morning changes doesn't mean Soledad will be leaving the network. CNN told Politico that "Soledad is very important to the network, and we're discussing various options with her.”

It may be that Soledad will return to the long form documentaries that she was hosting before Starting Point such as the popular "In America" series. Those documentaries included multiple installments of "Black in America" as well as special on being gay, Latino and Muslim in America.

In a time when reaching out to minorities has become a hot button issue for the GOP, many commentators see it as ironic that the idea that the program attracted a stronger minority audience became a negative.

Others have said that it was more the small audience that was the issue and that the fact that it was predominately comprised of minorities was secondary.


At this time, there are no immediate plans for what Soledad will be doing next.

Soledad on Race on HuffPost Latino Voices

From an interview with Cristina Costantini on the huffingtonpost.com

Soledad O’Brien believes America has changed radically in terms of race during her lifetime and she's devoted her most recent project to documenting that change.

O'Brien’s daughter reacted to Obama’s election as President with great concern. But, only because as a six-year old at the time, she simply couldn’t fathom the idea that Obama was the first black person to hold his position. This, O’Brien says, was a great indication to her that the racial climate she grew up in was a thing of the past.

“She said, ‘But the FIRST?’, like I was completely lying to her and had misleading her for months…‘Well, how many girls have been President?” And I said, “No girls. There have been no girl presidents.' She couldn’t believe it,” O'Brien said in an interview with HuffPost LatinoVoices.

O’Brien defines herself as “a bi-racial black girl from Long Island” that is ethnically Latina. Her father is Australian and her mother is Afro-Cuban. O'Brien's ethnic and racial background have always been important to her. She even refused to change her name when a local news station told her that “Soul-Dad” was too hard to pronounce. Instead, O’Brien changed jobs. She eventually went on to be a CNN news anchor and is now the host of “In America”, a documentary series on the same network.

Latino in America Interview With Soledad O'Brien

At a September 2011 screening of "Latino in America 2 In Her Corner"
at Rice University in Houston, Maque Garcia interviews Soledad O'Brien.

Latino in America on CNN Tonight

In Her Corner on CNN September 25

"In Her Corner: Latino in America 2" airs on CNN on Sunday, September 25.

In this documentary, we see women compete in the last male-only Olympic sport, boxing.  Soledad O'Brien follows one Olympic hopeful.

Tweet Soledad O'Brien About Battle for Blair Mountain Documentary

Do you tweet? Soledad O'Brien will be answering questions about her latest CNN documentary, Battle For Blair Mountain, on Twitter from 9-10pm ET on August 7th and August 11th.

It's about the fight over mountaintop coal removal. Miners say the "MTR" projects provide much needed jobs. The environmentalists say the cost of MTR -- to the environment, the people and the future -- is just too high. What do you think? 

Soledad is at  http://twitter.com/#!/Soledad_OBrien. Mark your tweets or just follow the conversation using the hashtags  #Battleforblair  #mtr  #coal

Battle for Blair Mountain: Working in America airs Sunday, August 14 at 8:00pm ET and PT on CNN/U.S.

Sharples, West Virginia – population: around 100 people – is ground zero in the fight over an issue of importance to every American who has ever plugged in a computer, watched a television or taken a hot shower. Around 50 percent of electrical power in the United States is produced by coal. Across the nation, a schism that separates pro-coal and pro-environment movements over mountaintop removal, a destructive yet highly effective form of strip mining, is deepening.

CNN documents the intense struggle over mountaintop removal with anchor and Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien examining the fight over Spruce One, one of the largest mountaintop removal sites ever proposed in the U.S.

Coal vs. Environment – Soledad O’Brien's Battle for Blair Mountain

This CNN documentary shows the intense struggle over mountaintop removal. Battle for Blair Mountain: Working in America, debuts on Sunday, August 14 at 8:00pm ET and PT, with a replay on Saturday, August 20.

Anchor and Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien examines the fight over Spruce One, one of the largest mountaintop removal sites ever proposed in the U.S. When O’Brien’s team first arrived in Sharples, W.V., nearly everyone in Appalachia was waiting to see if the Environmental Protection Agency was going to allow Spruce One’s permit to proceed, citing Clean Water Act violations.

When O’Brien’s team first arrived in Sharples, W.V., nearly everyone in Appalachia was waiting to see if the Environmental Protection Agency was going to allow Spruce One’s permit to proceed, citing Clean Water Act violations.

Several groups were invested in the fight: coal miners who wanted to keep the jobs they’ve had for decades, the green activists who oppose all coal mining and a coalition of people who would like to see mountaintop removal replaced by less damaging mining practices. Influential people such as EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Senator Joseph Manchin (D-WV) and Robert Kennedy, Jr. had plenty to say about the outcome, too. O’Brien and her team tell the story from all sides.

 Additional reporting on the mountaintop removal debate and video excerpts from The Battle for Blair Mountain: Working in America can be found at cnn.com/inamerica.

CNN Student News is producing an Educator and Parent Guide for the documentary, which will include discussion questions and a learning activity. The guide will be available on CNNStudentNews.com prior to the debut of the documentary as a companion viewing aid and teaching tool.

Latest Installment of Black in America Being Prepared

One of several behind the scenes photos of Soledad O’Brien as she visits the NewMe House -
part of her work on the upcoming Black in America 4 for this fall.
via http://www.blackweb20.com

Soledad O'Brien's CNN "In America" Focuses on Undercovered Issues

"Of all the large news organizations that are struggling for footing in the digital media reality, CNN has invested in covering people of color in the U.S. at a time where the Black presence on cable and network news outlets is limited to the occasional on-air talent. It’s not just about the color, we want to focus on issues that simply have been under-covered,” says CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien.

O'Brien leads a CNN unit called “In America,” that produces documentaries like Black in America and Latino in America.

“I think that if our unit can be successful, and I mean critical success, rating success and with viewers. I think that if you do well, audiences will look and say, ‘Gee, I didn’t really think about it before.'"

Read full interview: Soledad O'Brien Makes CNN Pay Attention to US in the U.S. from TheLoop21.com

March To Save Blair Mountain

The new CNN documentary "March on Blair Mountain" ends in song and celebration at the top of the mountain. Organizers erect a homemade monument to commemorate the original battle for Blair and congratulate the crowd for their long journey.

In a final act of protest, about 100 marchers break off from the larger group as part of a planned act of civil disobedience. They climb over a gate that blocks a dirt road running along the ridge line. They attempt to walk out to the edge of a mountaintop removal site that has already encroached on the historic battlefield. State police officers pursue the protesters but only arrest one person for trespassing and littering on coal company property.

March organizer Chuck Keeney sums up the march as a success for raising awareness, but wants to do more to make sure there is no mountaintop mining of Blair.

"If you can't save this mountain," he said, "you can't save any mountain."

CNN's "Latino in America: In Her Corner"

"Latino in America: In Her Corner" is a documentary that will hopefully bring more light on woman’s boxing and the struggles they go through in a male dominated sport.

In CNN's upcoming "Latino in America: In Her Corner", we follow boxer Marlen Esparza. She is 106 pounds of muscle, and hits so quickly and so hard that she has to spar with guys. She is drop-dead gorgeous and oozes charm but has been fixated on boxing since she was 12 – shunning friends, boyfriends, a social life and even TV to make time to box. There are just 5 phone numbers in her cell phone – her mother and father, two siblings and her coach.

She was smart enough to get full scholarships to top colleges, even though she comes from a blue-collar neighborhood with a below average school. But she postponed college because Marlen and her working class Mexican-American family dream she will one day represent the US in the Olympics, giving their Latino community a hero that could push aside negative stereotypes.

Standing in Marlen’s way are the competitors who share her Olympic aspirations, a mirror of the kind of girls who box in this country – blue collar, women of color who struggle in what is traditionally a man’s sport. There is Cristina Cruz, a Puerto Rican from Hell’s Kitchen whose boyfriend trains her at the famous NY gym Gleasons. She is sexy and a magnetic party girl. She says that boxing saved her from the life of crime her parents followed.

Marlen and Cristina are fierce opponents and broad cultural contrasts in the Latino community. The Olympics has allowed every female sport except traditionally male boxing. But finally, Marlen’s time as come. The Olympics has decided to allow female boxing in the 2012 games, throwing down the last barrier to women. She is in top form, a 5-time national champion who is just 21. She has an opportunity to give her community something they crave – a hero. But only if she wins.