48 Hours: Return to Crack Street - 1989 Dan Rather Report

From drug busts anchored by Dan Rather to portraits of hollow-eyed crack heads describing their descent into addiction, CBS News is offering a three-hour examination of the effects of crack in this country on “48 Hours: Return to Crack Street,” at 8 tonight (Channels 2 and 8).

In contrast to a traditional documentary, in which a lone film maker might spend months with the topic, “48 Hours” has dispensed numerous correspondents and crews around New York City to cover crack like an electronic SWAT team. Racing against a self-imposed clock, they will report on a variety of crack-related stories as they happen over a 48-hour period.

“Return to Crack Street” is the sequel to “48 Hours on Crack Street,” a controversial documentary that explored crack two years ago, when this cheap, highly addictive form of cocaine was a relatively new phenomenon. In 1987, the original “Crack Street” launched a weekly CBS News series, “48 Hours,” that has used the two-day format to cover a variety of stories, from Detroit police to lottery fever.