Time Inc.

As part of a larger commitment to the anti-bullying efforts across various Time Warner divisions, CNN, PEOPLE Magazine and Cartoon Network will team up for a special multi-platform report on the bullying epidemic facing young people in America.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who has covered numerous stories about the rise of bullying, will recognize October’s Bullying Prevention Month by presenting a one-hour special town hall on Anderson Cooper 360°. The town hall, titled  Bullying: No Escape; an AC 360 Special Report with PEOPLE Magazine and Cartoon Network, will air Friday, October 8th  at 10pm ET on CNN.  

The town hall participants will include author and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, and Rosalind Wiseman, author of the best-selling book “Queen Bees and Wannabees”, which inspired the movie “Mean Girls”.  American Idol finalist Crystal Bowersox will share how being bullied fueled her creative passion and how she plans to protect her son from experiencing what she did. Also, families struggling with this painful and important issue will discuss how bullying has become so prevalent and what parents and children can do to stop it.  Cartoon Network Bullying Prevention Board members Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and Dr. Susan Limber of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University, also will participate with the AC 360 town hall to discuss the latest understandings and response options for bystanders, who represent 75-85% of students in schools considered witnesses to bullying. Cooper will explore who bears the responsibility to stopping bullying.

PEOPLE Magazine has dedicated significant coverage to the bullying epidemic over the last several years.  The magazine will run a bullying package in the October 18 issue which hits newsstands on October 8.  This special editorial section will feature interviews with residents of South Hadley, MA, Phoebe Prince’s hometown, confessions of a former bully, stories from students who were tormented in school and much more.

Cartoon Network recently announced its long-term commitment to a multi-platform bullying prevention initiative Stop Bullying: Speak Up, scheduled to launch on Monday, Oct. 4 in coordination with National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.   In partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Anti-Defamation League, The U.S. Dept. of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and the U.S. Dept. of HHS’s Health Resource Service Administration’s “Stop Bullying Now” campaign, on-air PSAs will direct young viewers and parents to visit CartoonNetwork.com for key online resources developed in coordination with the network’s recently established Bullying Prevention Advisory Board.

Across the CNN Platforms, programming can also be seen on CNN’s American Morning in a special series, “Back to School=Back to the Bullies”, and on a special section of CNN.com (www.CNN.com/Bullying <http://www.cnn.com/Bullying> ), iReport, HLN and CNN Student News.

“Anderson Cooper and his team have dedicated time and resources to bring this problem the attention it deserves for several years,” said Jim Walton, President, CNN Worldwide. “We are pleased to be able to join with cartoon Network and PEOPLE Magazine to continue to raise awareness of this issue through our various platforms and networks.”

“After the unprecedented reader response to our Phoebe Prince coverage, we realized that the bullying epidemic has affected most of our 45 million weekly readers in some way,” said Larry Hackett, Managing Editor, PEOPLE. “We were thrilled that our partners at CNN and Cartoon Network agreed to join us in shining a light on this important issue and offering help and resources to our audience.”

“Through more than a year’s work with bullying prevention experts, we learned there are proven tactics that kids as bystanders can use to interrupt and possibly put an end to a bullying situation,” said Stuart Snyder, president and chief operation officer of Cartoon Network.  “Our goal, which I know is shared by our CNN and PEOPLE Magazine partners, is to help spread awareness of many resources kids, parents and educators can turn to should they find themselves caught in a bullying situation.”

Leading up to the town hall, Anderson Cooper 360° , in conjunction with PEOPLE Magazine will air a week-long series on bullying, beginning Monday, October 4th at 10 pm ET. The reports will include interviews with Debbie Witsell, the mother of Hope Witsell who killed herself after becoming the victim of sexting bullying. The reporting will look into the world cyber-bullying, how deadly comments on the web can be for some children.  Dr Sanjay Gupta will explore the different techniques used to increase empathy to stop bullying amongst kids. The series will also update the latest in the Phoebe Prince case, another teen suicide as a result of bullying. Also, families struggling with this painful and important issue will discuss how bullying has become so prevalent and what parents and children can do to stop it.  

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