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CNN's Anderson Cooper at work in risky environment on 'Planet in Peril'

By Cristina Kinon
Daily News Staff Writer

Thursday, December 11th 2008, 4:00 AM


Anderson Cooper gets out of the newsroom for CNN's 'Planet in Peril' documentary.
The election was exciting, but CNN's Anderson Cooper likes to exercise his reporting muscles in other areas, too.

"Planet in Peril," premiering on CNN Thursday night at 9, is a two-hour documentary in which Cooper, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and National Geographic Channel host Lisa Ling examine effects of the Earth's rapidly growing population. Among other subjects, the trio investigates the spread of disease, oil and poverty in Nigeria, shark fishing and shark dive tours, African elephants and mountain gorillas. It is the second "Planet in Peril" special.

"I love the political coverage this year, I found it incredibly exciting, but it's always nice to change things up," Cooper told the Daily News. "You don't get the opportunity to go into the mountains in the Congo, then off to Rwanda every day, so it's something that I really jumped at."

Cooper considers traveling to the front lines of these conflicts an essential part of the job. Often, he says, news outlets report about the climate crisis or overpopulation but don't send correspondents to see the actual life-and-death situations.

Cooper also believes he's there to simply report the facts.

"I don't feel that it's appropriate for me to tell people what to think about something or what to do about it," he said.

"What we try to do is show what is actually happening and what is true and what is not, and let the viewers make up their own mind about what the best next step is."

Despite putting himself in dangerous situations, Cooper says that he rarely second-guesses his reporting choices, even when coming face to face with a childhood fear.

"Diving without a cage with great white sharks was extraordinary," said Cooper. "Sharks have always scared me, ever since seeing 'Jaws' as a little kid, so to actually go and see them up close and look into their eyes - it was a remarkable thing to see them in their natural habitat."

Recently, NBC's "Today" show started airing an environmental segment entitled "Ends of the Earth," which, much like "Planet in Peril," is aimed at bringing environmental issues to light. Cooper says he doesn't mind the competition because it's all for the good of the Earth in the end.

"I'm all for as many people as possible doing this kind of reporting," Cooper says. "There's so much happening around the world in terms of global environmental issues that we'll definitely be doing it next year."