Anderson Cooper 360 Reports Live From Haiti With Coverage Ranging From Orphans To Quarantined Patients (Plus Snowpocalypse!)

Hi everyone. Like last night, we begin this broadcast with Anderson Cooper emphatically trying to portray the importance of the story of Haiti. He concedes it's falling out of the headlines and may seem repetitive, but the story deserves to continue to be told. In essence, he's shaking us all by the shoulders, yelling, "Care, world!"

Our first piece of the night is from our anchor, and it explores the challenge of helping kids who appear to be orphaned. We follow along with workers from Heartland Alliance as they attempt to locate family members of 10-year-old Stephanie Jacques (ph). Unicef does the same for five-year-old Kenzie Charles (ph), currently being treated on the USS Comfort. By a stroke of luck or divine intervention (I'll let you choose), the little boy's parents are located nearby. At least one family is having a good day.

Sanjay Gupta then joins Anderson to talk about the 28-year-old man allegedly pulled from the rubble after a month. He seems to be doing fairly well and is even requesting chocolate. If I hadn't eaten for a month, I think I'd be asking for every food known to man. Of course, he's no doubt not going to be able to eat much for a while.

From Sanjay, we learn that the man actually heard the bulldozers coming and feared he too would be scooped out and tossed in a dump truck like trash. Our doctor also tells us that in terms of emergent cases, things are improving. But the health of Haiti overall is very much up in the air. One wonders what the follow up situation is going to be like--if there is one at all.

Next up, we have a piece from Anderson that gives us a tour of one of the tent cities that have been popping up all over Port-au-Prince, where an estimated 450,000 are now homeless. Anderson explains that initially, people just used sheets to create their living quarters. As time goes on, however, they're beginning to scavenge for materials to make the structures more permanent.

Part of our tour occurs at night, and people are quite pleased to see our anchor, who informs us there might be a bit of drinking going on. Others are cooking and selling food. Team 360 also stumbles upon a very ill woman and subsequently secures her a way to the hospital. Somewhere in another tent city, there is another deathly ill woman with no television crew there to help her. The story of Haiti goes on.

Moving on now to a Karl Penhaul piece for the latest on the saga of the American missionaries. As we learned previously, the group actually tried to take another group of children from a tent city out of Haiti on a bus, and were prevented from doing so by a police officer. Karl finds a woman who says the missionaries offered to take her son and daughter, as her husband had died in the quake and she didn't think she could care for them. Ultimately she did not put her children on the bus.

But Karl also finds a boy who was forced onto the bus by his father. He didn't even know where he was going. An attorney for the group states he was not aware of this attempt to take children. Following Karl's piece, Anderson tells us that the little boy forced on the bus had been given toys by the Americans, but once the scheme failed, they actually asked for the toys back. How very Christian of them.

For a bit of levity, I double-checked this story against the transcript, and it says the missionaries gave the boy "Toyotas." Not quite as impressive as it would have been a few weeks ago.

Transitioning to...Snowpocalypse! SnOMG! And don't forget Snowmageddon. Kinda sad that this latest storm hasn't even happened yet and we've already blown the coolest names. Anyhoo! As you might have heard, there's some snow making it's way to the Big Apple, most of the East Coast, actually.

Chad Myers informs us that some of our CNN friends will be spending the night in a hotel to ensure they're able to deliver their regularly scheduled newsiness. As for my neck of the woods, I woke up, saw snow, heard the schools were closed, and contacted my boss to say I was moving my office day to tomorrow. Then, not three hours later, almost all the snow was gone from the streets. WTF? Snow fail. Was flippin' cold though.

Candy Crowley has the "360 Bulletin" tonight and Anderson makes sure to lavish on the praise regarding her debut broadcast as anchor of State of the Union. Last week she had noted she was a little nauseous about diving in. "No vomiting?" asks Anderson. Thankfully, Candy assures us that she refrained. "I think I might have vomited my debut on 360," says our anchor. TMI, Cooper. TMI.

On now to a Sanjay Gupta piece that takes us inside a tent of patients quarantined for tuberculosis. Yes, he wears a mask. Given how closely the Haitian population is currently living, spreading of TB is a big concern that could potentially have ramifications for us all if it begins to be carried by air travelers out of the country. Scary.

After Sanjay's piece, he discusses the issue with Anderson, who interrupts his own point about sanitation to identify and remove a bug from Sanjay's shirt. Hilariously random. But I'm thankful, since it was, uh, bugging me. Our anchor's about to have PETA on his tail. I mean, if the president couldn't even get away with it...

Next up, Anderson interviews Sean Penn. That's right, I said Sean Penn. Now, normally this is when I would hit DEFCON 5 in terms of needing to snark, but Penn is kinda the real deal and has apparently been working his butt off in Haiti the whole time. He talks about how proud he is of the U.S. military.

Anderson worries about the coming rains and the soon to be nonexistent coverage. He notes the Olympics are airing soon and fears people will get involved with watching that, forgetting about Haiti. I actually didn't think people cared all that much about the Winter Olympics, but was informed by friends that I am mistaken.

Sean thinks the games should be politicized in order to put the focus on Haiti. I can't help but think of the Kashmir quake that happened in October 2005. Remember that? Almost 80,000 people died. Sanjay traveled there that December as winter began to take hold. Everyone wondered what would happen to the homeless as it became bitterly cold.

I don't know the answer to that because Sanjay's reports are the last ones I remember. After that, the story of Kashmir just...disappeared. Haiti is probably an easier story to cover in terms of logistics, but I fear that might not be enough.

Part of Anderson's conversation with Sean is below. Because I was sincere with this celebrity segment, I now feel I must mock someone. (It's like an itch I need to scratch, people!) I believe my douchebag of choice is going to be Dr. Phil. After Katrina, like a lot of celebrities, he showed up in New Orleans looking to help. And hey, if he got some publicity for his show, all the better, right?

I remember I was with my brother watching the news when it was announced Dr. Phil was on his way. With completely sincere horror, I exclaimed, "My God, haven't these people been through enough already?!" Normally it's a line I would deliver with ironic intent, but I totally meant it, which drove my brother to practically fall on the floor laughing. Ah, memories. Seriously, what a douchebag.



Anderson and Sanjay then talk about the children being airlifted out of Haiti due to illness. We also learn that Medicare is paying 110 percent to hospitals in the United States to care for Haitian children. Um, what? Ruh Roh. My initial reaction is cue the outrage of people freaking over their tax dollars being used on Haitian kids. I don't know though. This one could go either way. Will it blow up into a big political thing or will it fall off the radar? Only time will tell. Discussion is below:



Moving on to a clip of Michelle Obama discussing childhood obesity on Larry King. A good topic and all, but are we seriously not going to talk about what's going on with Larry's hair?

Candy then returns with some more headlines, which ultimately leads to she and Anderson bitching about airline pillows and blankets. Bah. Quiet you babies. I've never even been offered one. We then move on to the "shot," which is Donna Brazile and Wolf Blitzer dancing. Sorta! Backing it up a bit, Donna got her groove thing on to the joy over the Saints' recent victory. She then asked the Wolfbot to join in, and he did--in his own special way. It kinda looks like this.

Donna then joins us in a little taped interview where she sings the praises of New Orleans' recovery and deems Anderson a "favorite son." Our anchor adds to the love-fest, name dropping some of his favorite restaurants in the area. "Anderson, next time you want some good Creole gumbo, come to Chez Donna, my house, baby," says Donna. Oh my! I do believe she is flirting. You lead the poor anchor along, but won't allow him to become your boo? Oh Donna. Such a tease!

Back with Candy again, she asks Anderson if he would have accepted a request from Donna to dance. Hmm readers, based on the history of forever, what do we think? Slow dance, probably. Anything else? Yeah, not so much. Candy actually seems a bit frightened of the Wolfbot dancing, as she should be.

Anderson reminds us of weird Blitzer facts: "Wolf loves the music, you know. He was in that band when he was a kid. And he claims he was in the original band called The Monkeys. He had a band that he claims predated the actually Monkees. But I'm not sure I believe him." Unlike Micky Dolenz, our anchor is not a believer. Apparently, there is a trace of doubt in his mind. (Monkee puns! Oh, they should pay me extra for this.)

That'll do it. The show was very good tonight. Keep on truckin', 360. We'll be here.

Anderson Cooper 360 Reports Live From Haiti Following The "Hope For Haiti Now" Telethon

Hi everyone. I hope you donated during the "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon. If you missed out, there's still an opportunity to do so online. The benefit featured some pretty cool musical acts. For those wondering about Wyclef Jean's shout out to Anderson Cooper, I'm pretty sure it was just because he's high profile and was the first network reporter to make it into the country. Anderson interviewed Wyclef on 360 the night he left. There's no "beef" there. No anger.

Tonight's broadcast felt like a wrap-up of sorts. There were a lot of updates on stories our CNN friends have been following the past 10 days. For those visiting here for the first time, you can see my prior posts for more extensive recaps of those stories and accompanying video. The show began with a report from Anderson on little Monley Elize, the five-year-old boy pulled from the rubble by his uncle after almost eight days. At that time he looked near death. Now he looks amazing! That's the (very) good news. The bad news is that Monley is now an orphan. He's currently living in a tent with his uncles, but they cannot afford to continue caring for him. His future is still very much up in the air.

After his piece, Anderson talked live with Gabriella McAdoo, a registered nurse who helped treat Monley, and the little boy sat with them as well. Our anchor then interviewed George Clooney--host of tonight's telethon--via satellite. Of particular note was the discussion about keeping Haiti in the news. We've all heard this song before. Sure Haiti's on our minds now, trending on Twitter, but soon people will forget. The news cycle moves quickly, and unlike Katrina, our politicians have no constituents in Haiti. This is an election year. The suits of the networks will be tempted to move on. It will be up to the reporters who have seen the horror to keep the story alive. A big burden to bear. You can view the interview with Clooney below.



Sanjay Gupta reported from a tent city and found conditions relatively clean. There is a worry of a wave of infectious disease spreading throughout the people, but the doctor believes these concerns may be overblown. However, the heat continues to present a risk to survivors' health. Sanjay came across one adorable baby girl who was wearing a shirt that said, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" You can find a laugh in the most unlikely place.



Karl Penhaul then talked with Anderson about the mass exodus out of Port-au-Prince. Residents simply want out. He also relayed a very disturbing story about a woman who was leaving the city. Her two young children were crushed to death in the earthquake and when asked if she had time to bury them, she simply replied, "I threw them away." Karl then asked her, "Why don't you Haitians cry?" Her reply: "There's no point." We've barely scratched the surface on the trauma these people are going through. Karl and Anderson's talk is below.



As noted up top, this broadcast contained some recapping and updating of previous stories. Gary Tuchman has been covering the story of the Bresma orphans and tonight he happily gave us the good news that's occurred. When his initial report (see my prior posts) on the orphans aired, Elizabeth Dowling was watching and was delighted to see her daughter Jenna featured. After a lot of previously reported logistical maneuvering, Jenna is now home in Colorado.

A little boy named Alexander David was also one of the Bresma orphans. His parents, Jean Griffith and Ross Haskell, contacted CNN to try to find information on their son and Gary was able to find him. Again, much logistical maneuvering, but again another child ultimately ending up home in the states (Kansas this time). Ironically, these orphans' adoptions would still be pending if not for the earthquake.

As they have been most nights lately, Anderson, Sanjay, Gary, and Ivan Watson all gathered at the live shot to talk about their day's experiences. Ivan reported learning of a localized tsunami that had killed at least seven. Video of Ivan at the location is below.



Gary spent time with a 109-year-old woman and her family today. She's blind, her house was destroyed, yet she still smiles. Amazing. The men also gave us some behind-the-scenes info. According to Ivan, there really is no plan on a given day. They just drive and the stories are all around. As for at night, the CNNers are shacked up in a hotel, but Gary informed us not all of them are comfortable sleeping inside. Given the aftershock we saw on camera last night, I can't really blame them.

For the record, Anderson confirmed that he does sleep inside, but I think regular viewers already knew that. Because we're well aware he's crazy. Not that sleeping inside is crazy, but I think you know what I mean. For our light moment of the night (there always miraculously seems to be one), a quote from our anchor: "I will say when one of the aftershocks hit I put on a pair of jeans and stood in the doorway and I kind of thought to myself, is this how I would want to be found?" I'm not laughing at him, I'm laughing with him. Whenever there's tornado weather here, along with finding a flashlight, I always do a quick clothes check. Because nobody wants to be found in their stained sweatshirt and socks with the holes in them.

The broadcast basically wrapped up with Anderson introducing photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik who has been taking pictures for Getty Images. You can view some of his work here. Given the general tone of the show tonight, I assumed that the reporters we've been watching are getting ready to rotate out of Haiti. But then Anderson said they will be there all next week if they can.

The State of the Union address is coming up, so I'm not sure how that will all work. I have a feeling that Anderson (and perhaps others) will have to be pried out of the country. He stayed a month in New Orleans, as well as Israel. I want them to stay, but I also think they need a break. I guess we'll see what happens. The coverage remains stellar. Besides Jonathan Torgovnik, other shout outs tonight included photojournalist Neil Hallsworth, producer Charlie Moore, producer Mary Anne Fox, and translator Vlad Duthiers. I also know that Sanjay's producer's name is Danielle Dellorto. Kudos to all. CNN needs to name-check all their people on-the-ground. Their hard work should be acknowledged. (Update: Anderson's "Reporter's Notebook" is below.)



I hope to get another post up sometime this weekend, be it Haiti-related or not. I'm just going with the flow right now. My spiel: At this time, my main focus is distributing information, and highlighting the stellar work of the CNNers, which is causing the world to take notice of the crisis. As previously noted, I've been doing a lot of Haiti-related tweeting, and you can follow me at @newsjunkie365. I've also set up a special Twitter List of journalists and a few others on-the-ground in Haiti. And as always, check out CNN Impact to learn how to help.