More Highlights for WRAL Documentaries

• FOCAL POINT Green Acres documentary 2006

  Focal Point: Green Acres looks at how development is affecting ordinary people and places across North Carolina. It examines development trends that may hold the key to managing growth in a way that protects important green spaces and it looks at how conservation groups are scrambling to protect land in the face of rapid growth and skyrocketing land prices.

  The program, hosted by WRAL News anchor Bill Leslie, aired Wednesday, August 9 2006.

• Searching for a Fix documentary

  “Searching for a Fix”

  Heroin is no longer a back-alley drug. It’s mainstream, in your neighborhood, and in homes just like yours. The path from prescription opioids like Oxycodone and Percocet to cheaper and more readily available heroin is a dangerous one.

  “Searching for a Fix” goes beyond the overwhelming statistics to tell intimate, personal stories of how this problem affects real people and devastates families just like yours in every corner of North Carolina. “In all of my years of documentary production, they were the most gut-wrenching and deeply personal interviews I’ve ever done. They were emotional, moving and eye-opening,” said WRAL Documentary Producer Clay Johnson.

  The program aired August 1, 2017

• WRAL Focal Point State of Minds

  Hosted by WRAL News anchor and reporter Cullen Browder, Focal Point: “State of Minds” profiles mentally ill patients, their families, providers and other people affected by mental health care reform in North Carolina. It looks at the challenges faced by patients and their families in a system that for many has become more complicated, confusing and harder to access. It investigates the controversial spending by some LME’s and the challenges faced by private companies as they try to provide mental health services in a more competitive environment that has driven some providers out of business.

  Producer and writer – Clay Johnson
  Photographer and editor – Jay Jennings
  Aired September 26, 2007

• America’s Favorite Journey: The Blue Ridge Parkway

  America’s Favorite Journey: The Blue Ridge Parkway

  The Blue Ridge Parkway is the most popular destination in our national park system, hosting about 17 million visitors a year.

  Nearly half the 469-mile route runs through North Carolina, including its highest elevations. Some of the parkway’s iconic features are in our state, including its highest peak and the Linn Cove Viaduct at Grandfather Mountain.

  Visitors to the parkway generate more than $2 billion dollars a year for mountain communities. Its biological diversity, rich history and its parks and trails make the parkway a valuable educational and recreational resource.

  Host: WRAL News anchor Bill Leslie
  Producer/writer: Clay Johnson
  Photographer/editor: Jay Jennings

  America’s Favorite Journey’ aired June 29, 2010 on WRAL-TV.

• Stories of Honor documentary

  World War II: the defining moment of the 20th century. More than 16 million soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen served in the war, and more than 400,000 lost their lives. They have become known as the Greatest Generation for their service and their sacrifice. In 2004, a national memorial was dedicated on the mall in Washington D.C. in their honor.

  The Triangle Flight of Honor is a nonprofit, volunteer organization that is flying WWII veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the memorial. While the organization serves veterans of all wars, special priority is being given to WWII veterans, because they are dying at a rate of 1,200 a day nationwide. Flights, ground transportation and personal assistance are offered free of charge to veterans who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see the memorial in their lifetime.

  WRAL News viewers raised $50,481 dollars to help fund the first flight on Oct. 7, 2010.

  “Stories of Honor” is a half-hour documentary profiling three veterans who made the flight. They are:
  Derwood Copeland, a B-17 pilot who was shot down over France and spent nearly two years in a German POW camp. Hugh Shearin, a soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and whose unit suffered many casualties. D.C. Lawson, a Marine who was wounded and nearly died in the battle of Okinawa.

  WRAL News Anchor Kelcey Carlson
  Producer/Writer Clay Johnson
  Photographer/Editor Jay Jennings