Aaron Brown was the CNN anchor known for his live coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks from Ground Zero. The 2005 opening credited him for "his compelling coverage of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 from Ground Zero," and noted his coverage of "the ongoing war on terrorism." Today's opening calls it only "the September 11 attacks," though terror survives once in the body. A reader today does not learn from the opening that Wikipedia itself once called September 11 a terrorist attack in Brown's biography.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “terror” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Aaron Brown at CNN Aaron Brown (born November 10 , 1948 in Hopkins, Minnesota ) is host of " NewsNight with Aaron Brown " on the television network CNN . Prior to working at CNN he was the anchor for ABC 's " ABC World News Now ," and also did anchoring duties at both KIRO-TV ( CBS ) and KING-TV ( NBC ) in Seattle . Brown has over twenty-five years of experience in journalism and is CNN's lead anchor during breaking news. He also hosts "CNN Presents," which is the network's documentary series, and is co-anchor during election coverage. Brown gained esteem and renown for his compelling coverage of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 from Ground Zero and areas surrounding the remains of the World Trade Center in New York City . Aaron Brown at ABC Previously, Brown was the anchor of ABC's " World News Tonight Saturday " and reported for "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings , " Nightline " and other ABC news broadcasts.1He was the founding anchor of ABC's World News Now.2Brown played a lead role in covering many news stories, including the British return of Hong Kong to the Chinese government , the Columbine High School shootings , the trial of O.J. Simpson , and Nelson Mandela 's historic election as president of South Africa . He also reported on the restoration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the head of Haiti 's government, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales , the trial of Susan Smith in Union, South Carolina , and the California earthquake in 1994 . Since then, he has covered numerous news events for CNN, including the ongoing war on terrorism , the congressional elections of 2002 , the Beltway Sniper attacks and the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster . During 2003 's Operation Iraqi Freedom , Brown anchored from the network's headquarters in Atlanta , providing viewers with the latest information from frontlines' reports as well as from Central Command in Doha, Qatar , and Washington, D.C. . He is also a alumnus of the University of Minnesota.3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16309094.
The opening as it stood in 2010 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Aaron Brown (born November 10, 1948) is an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks , his first day on air at CNN .He was a longtime reporter for ABC, the founding host of ABC's World News Now , weekend anchor of World News Tonight and the host of CNN 's flagship evening program NewsNight with Aaron Brown .He is currently the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle , the host of public radio program The Aaron Brown Show and an instructor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370988155.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Aaron Brown (born November 10, 1948) is an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks , his first day on air at CNN . He was a longtime reporter for ABC, the founding host of ABC's World News Now , weekend anchor of World News Tonight and the host of CNN 's flagship evening program NewsNight with Aaron Brown . He was the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle from 2008 to 2009.He was a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from 2007 to 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665145386.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Aaron Brown (born November 10, 1948) is an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11 attacks on CNN . He was a longtime reporter for ABC, the founding host of ABC's World News Now , weekend anchor of World News Tonight and the host of CNN 's flagship evening program NewsNight with Aaron Brown . He was the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle from 2008 to 2009. He was a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from 2007 to 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 952168510.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American journalist Aaron Brown (born November 10, 1948) is an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11 attacks on CNN . He was a longtime reporter for ABC, the founding host of ABC's World News Now , weekend anchor of World News Tonight and the host of CNN 's flagship evening program NewsNight with Aaron Brown . He was the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle from 2008 to 2009. He was a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from 2007 to 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1170611005.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American journalist (1948–2024) Aaron Brown (November 10, 1948 – December 29, 2024) was an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11 attacks for CNN . He was a longtime reporter for ABC, the founding host of ABC's World News Now , weekend anchor of World News Tonight , and the host of CNN 's flagship evening program NewsNight with Aaron Brown . He was the anchor of the PBS documentary series Wide Angle from 2008 to 2009. He was a professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from 2007 to 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1292301014. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“terror” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
terror
2
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0
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
host of " newsnight with aaron brown " on the television network cnn
Now
american broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the september 11 attacks for cnn
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
