E:60ESPN

Ninth season of award-winning E:60 debuts Tuesday

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In 2007, ESPN launched the prime time newsmagazine program E:60. Seven years later, and after much evolution, the program begins its ninth season Tuesday, Sept. 2 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

On one hand, executive producer Andy Tennant can’t believe it’s been seven years since the program started. In that time, E:60 has been honored with six national Sports Emmy awards, including three of the last four awarded in journalism, and nine nominations in the journalism category alone. Its report last season on human rights abuses in Qatar was among the most lauded stories ESPN has ever produced. But beyond the many awards and plaudits E:60 has received, Tennant also is proud of how the show has grown.

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“The original conceit for E:60 was to serve sports fans with a consistent, vast array of shorter form content, featuring five, six or seven stories per show,” Tennant said. “Here we are seven years later and we’ve basically turned that philosophy upside down.

E:60 has become the ultimate destination for storytelling in sports,” he said. “And that’s a testament to the team of producers, editors and correspondents on the show, who span the globe to find thought-provoking issues and important personal stories that need to be told, compelling stories that transcend the fields of play. Those stories take time to tell, and we’ve been giving them that time, and that attention, often running only three stories a week.”

The E:60 brand has also expanded. In addition to the seasonal weekly newsmagazine, E:60 now produces specials profiling some of the biggest stars in sports (the first, on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, aired in 2010). There also is E:60 Presents, which debuted last fall. The shows are hour-long treatments of stories that originally appeared on the newsmagazine.

The first show of the new season features controversial Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh. Some of the stories airing later this season include a special report on the Ferguson, Mo., high school football team; an all-access profile of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton; and E:60 Presents on Morganna the Kissing Bandit.

E:60 continues to distinguish itself with its powerful storytelling and commitment to journalism,” Tennant said, “and this season promises to be our best yet.”

Video produced by Tonya Malinowski

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