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August 11, 2008
Posted: 07:43 AM ET

We’ve just launched BackStory, our latest new feature on CNN.com, to give you a quick way to catch up on how a story has developed over time.

Now, when we want to give history, context and background to a developing story, we go back through our archives to find “milestone” events and then link those together in an interactive window.

Our BackStory on the investigation into the anthrax attacks takes us back to that first death from anthrax exposure and the spread of the scare to the U.S. Senate offices in those uneasy weeks after the 9/11 attacks. We highlight how the FBI issued a profile of their suspect and then honed in on a scientist — the wrong one — before finally saying this month that they believe they’ve solved the case.

In this and all other BackStories, readers can click through events to get a quick recap of how the story has evolved and how it has been covered on CNN. And we link to full stories of the time to give more details of what we knew then as well as to pages on key players.

So watch out for more BackStories and let us know if they’re giving you the understanding of a story you want.

Posted by: Rachel Clarke, CNN.com Senior Producer
Filed under: content • features


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Judi   August 11th, 2008 9:23 am ET

GREAT Idea, but I’m looking for the feature on your homepage and don’t see it……………. am I missing something?

Frank Wilson   August 11th, 2008 11:26 am ET

This is a great idea! I am on and off with my coverage of the news since I travel frequently, but that doesn’t change my interest level. It just means that I’m often 2 or 3 days behind a story. In fact, the whole reason that I visited CNN.com today was to catch up on the Russia/Georgia ongoings. But I need to go back to 3 or 4 days ago to understand why and how things happened before I can really understand what’s going on today. Traditional news sites, including your own with the exception of this new concept, often make that VERY diificult. I can always see related stories, but rarely do I find the “catch you up” look into a recent story. It’s kind of like starting a movie in the middle and having no way to watch the beginning. But this BackStory concept seems like the perfect solution! Keep it up!

Thanks,
Frank

Michael Gabay   August 11th, 2008 3:09 pm ET

Great to see CNN taking advantage of their online medium. Features like this can really make a site dominate over competitors. I’m really excited to start using this.

dennis moore   September 15th, 2008 1:55 am ET

A new innovation to involve people in the news world. On line participation will create more interest for people. At the same time a plus point over compettitors.
Thanks

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