Peter Van Sant

(CBS News) 

Peter Van Sant first joined CBS News in 1984. He was based in Atlanta for six years, where he was a correspondent for the "CBS Evening News," covering the south, the space program, and specializing on the aviation industry. Van Sant's investigative report on the high number of medical helicopter crashes earned him his first Emmy Award in 1986.

Van Sant was next assigned to the London bureau (1989-91). He reported extensively on the collapse of the Soviet Union, for which he received a Columbia University - Alfred I. duPont Award. Van Sant also covered the first Gulf War, the reunification of Germany, famine in Africa, and a variety of other stories that took him throughout Europe and the Middle East.

He then moved to New York, where he reported for the CBS News magazines "Street Stories"(1991-93) and "America Tonight"(1994). Van Sant was next assigned to the "CBS Evening News"(1995-97), where he received an Emmy Award for his report on the economic and social collapse in Albania. Van Sant also contributed to three primetime specials, "Smithsonian Fantastic Journey," which included reports on a study of lions in Africa that scientists hoped would lead to a cure for AIDS, efforts to save cheetahs in Namibia, and the plague of brown tree snakes in Guam.

Van Sant was then named a correspondent for "Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel" (1997-98). He was the first television journalist to report on the devastating famine in North Korea, winning his third Emmy Award. His report on rape in the Balkans, resulted in an American Women in Radio and Television Award. Van Sant was also part of a CBS News undercover investigative team which found and taped an indicted war criminal in Bosnia. He won an Overseas Press Club Award for that report.

Van Sant was named a correspondent for "48 Hours" in December 1998. His hour-long report on terrorists seizing and destroying a school in Beslan, Russia, won him both his fourth Emmy Award and the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. The Beslan report also won The Golden Word Award, the most prestigious award presented in Russia.

Van Sant's report on the worldwide trafficking of human beings won a Sigma Delta Chi Award in 2005. He has also won an Overseas Press Club Award for an investigative report on the sale of human organs in Peru. He has also won three Edward R. Murrow Awards for other reports on "48 Hours." Van Sant reported on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Virginia Tech shootings. He has interviewed a host of celebrities over the years, including Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Garth Brooks, Nick Nolte, LeAnn Womack, and Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks of the country duo Brooks and Dunn.

In 2006, Van Sant was a producer/writer for the documentary, "Three Days in September," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The film, narrated by Julia Roberts, was nominated for an Emmy Award and was named one of the top documentaries of 2006 by New York magazine.

Van Sant is also co-author of the book, "Perfectly Executed," which is part of the "48 Hours Mystery" true crime book series published by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books.

Before joining CBS News, Van Sant was a reporter for WFAA-TV in Dallas (1982-84). He worked as a weekend anchor and reporter at KOOL T-V in Phoenix (1978-82) and as a reporter for KETV in Omaha (1977-78) and KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids (1976-77). Van Sant began his television broadcast journalism career in 1975 at KMVT-TV in Twin Falls, Idaho. His first broadcast news experience came at KAPY radio in Port Angeles, Washington. Van Sant has won numerous awards in local news.

He is a native of Seattle. He was graduated cum laude with a degree in communications from Washington State University in Pullman.

[AchuKinnit]

Peter,
The show you just did on Don North has several inaccuracies in it. I was there the entire time and have a lot of information on this case. My biggest concern however is the way Luiso and Nadia were portrayed as possible accomplices and may still have been involved. I saw Don give his card to Luiso. It is very common practice in Kuna Yala (San Blas) for cruisers to give cards to others to get money from Sabanitas or Colon when making the shopping trip up the ocast. I did this for Don North personally three times. Luiso and Nadia were Don's VERY BEST friends in Chichime. I am so upset that you would allow Don Winner to convince you with "body language", ( which he is not trained in), that Luiso was somehow connected to the murder. When Luiso sees this piece, I'm sure he will hiot the proverbial roof. He's from old money in the Canary Islands, and I'm sure he will want the record set straight. Nobody likes a "Mike Wallace" interviewer shoving cameras in your face. Luiso's english is not good either. It is in fact very poor.
I don't know what to say at this point except there's many other facts wrong. My wife and I extrqacted the backpacker's from Javier's boat, not DOn. Don was there asking me what to do to help. It was a miserable experience since Humberto's island was actually under a foot of water where we took the backpackers. Humberto had no food and the hut had eight hammocks in it with over a foot of water standing, no lights. We went boat to boat collecting clothing and beddign. I cooked five lbs of beef stew for them all. We took breakfast and had to get Javier to give them their backpacks. He was holding them for ransom and selling the travbel payments to another boat. I had a heated argumant with Javier and boarded the boat anyway and took their belongings. One girl needed her medications.
I could go on and on since I heard every single discussion daily on the SSB and was with both Don and Javier when they dissappeared. During the New Year's Eve party, Don was drunk and bragging about how much cash his mother had sent him this year. (It was a yearly ritual for Don's mom to send cash. At the same time, Javier is drunk running around telling everyone that the sinking of his boat was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I have so many more details, but the villifying of Lusio and Nadia just upset me and broke my heart. They were Don North's dearest friends in Chichime. Achu Kinnit (Achu Kinnit means Red Dog in the Kuna Language) I was made an honorary Sahila (chief) byt the Kuna...

[Cat-hi]

Hi Peter, I watched the story on the Sandra Franklin case and was disturbed. I know that her husbands ex and other girl friend said that he was not a violent person but was he tested for drugs in his system because if he was doing any of those drugs that he was giving out those sure could have made him more violent etc.? This would have been a good defense for her. Just wanted to put my two cents worth in. Thank you, Catherine Lapierre

[carlo_65]

Peter Van Sant,when do you say the all truth on Amanda Knox?
When do you stop covering up things?

[scottgeorge4]

Dear Mr. Van Sant,
My name is Scott George; I am Bill George's oldest son. As you may remember, he was a cameraman at KOOL-TV in Phoenix in the late 70s. Well, I was just watching 48 Hours tonight and I thought I would drop you a line. I have been watching you on CBS since you were in Atlanta. I remember you and Nancy as our neighbors across the street in Phoenix. I also remember playing basketball with you at our house in Dallas in the early 80s when you were in town one time. You may have heard that Bill passed away in 2005 only a year into retirement.

I don't really have an objective in contacting you except that you are connected to my past and I always remember you being a nice person. I remember that one time I took care of your puppy in Phoenix- I think his name was Charlie (a rambuctous shepard mix). That was when I broke into your record collection and discovered Pink Floyd and Steely Dan!

I eventually went to college, served in the Coast Guard, moved to NYC to be an artist, then moved to New Mexico to teach school, and now I am an artist living in Santa Fe. I enjoy your work and revel in the romantic notion that I am somehow connected, through my past, to you and the mystique of CBS News. I hope you may remember me and more importantly my father, who was such a kind soul and humble professional newsman who thought so highly of you. I also remember that Dennis Murphy at NBC Dateline was another of his good friends and colleagues. I hope you and your family are well. Take care. Sincerely, Scott George...