Reelz Announces Interactive Website for JFK: THE SMOKING GUN

ReelzChannel today announced the launch of an interactive companion website for JFK: The Smoking Gun accessible through www.reelz.com and directly at www.jfkthesmokinggun.com which provides a visually organized connection to the facts and evidence behind the two-hour documentary. The companion website includes an interactive crime scene map, detailed information on the experts behind the documentary as well as ballistics and medical evidence complete with dozens of photos and video clips from the documentary. The website also provides key pieces of evidence from the work of ballistics expert Howard Donahue who spent 25 years studying the assassination using evidence available at the time and from the four-and-a-half-year investigation completed by veteran police detective Colin McLaren whose book "JFK: The Smoking Gun" inspired the documentary.

Visitors can also join the discussion via Twitter and Facebook and participate in the site's unique opinion poll. The poll allows visitors to quickly register their opinion on whether they agree with the conclusions from the facts and evidence in JFK: The Smoking Gun. Included on the site is a channel finder tool where visitors simply type in their zip code to find REELZ in their area on their cable or satellite system. The website can also be viewed on tablet devices and was produced with the participation of the Bell New Media Fund.

"JFK: The Smoking Gun is a groundbreaking documentary and we're excited to offer this incredible online experience to go deep inside the facts and evidence," said Stan E. Hubbard, CEO of ReelzChannel. "The thorough investigations supporting JFK: The Smoking Gun took 30 years and visitors to the website have the opportunity to review key pieces of evidence from those investigations and then decide whether they agree with the conclusions in the documentary."

After reading Bonar Menninger's "Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK" which details the 25 years of painstaking work done by ballistics expert Howard Donahue, McLaren committed himself to digging even deeper in the case with the discipline of his crime scene investigation experience. McLaren's investigation marks the first and only time a qualified homicide detective has carefully analyzed the complete catalog of evidence, testimony and witness statements surrounding the JFK assassination using modern techniques and the most recently released information. Using state-of-the-art investigative tools and research methodologies, McLaren answers what is perhaps the most asked question of the last 50 years - who killed JFK? For those interested in going deeper into the books behind the story, "JFK: The Smoking Gun" and "Mortal Error: The Shot that Killed JFK", both books are available to buy through links featured at www.reelz.com/smokinggun.

Features on the companion website include:

Howard Donahue

The late American gunsmith, marksman and ballistics expert Howard Donahue spent 25 years investigating the JFK assassination. Donahue's background in ballistics and his encyclopedic knowledge of firearms and projectiles were essential to his understanding of the shooting. Visitors to the companion website can examine eight key pieces of evidence Donahue discovered during his investigation.

Colin McLaren

Veteran police detective Colin McLaren ("JFK: The Smoking Gun") served in Australia's most elite crime squads solving Australia's most horrendous crimes of the 1980s and 1990s. Part of the 14,000 strong Victoria Police department, he investigated, charged and jailed many underworld figures during those 20 years. He served on four nationally important homicide and organized crime task forces - the most of any serving detective sergeant of his time. The companion website features the 15 supporting facts from McLaren's investigation that bolster Donahue's conclusion as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with McLaren who in his own words describes what intrigued him most about taking on the JFK assassination cold case.

Other Experts

Learn more about the other experts behind JFK: The Smoking Gun including author Bonar Menninger ("Mortal Error: The Shot that Killed JFK"), Howard Donahue and his daughter Colleen Donahue. In addition to biographies, watch exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with Menninger and Colleen Donahue.

Crime Scene

Browse a map of Dealey Plaza with 19 interactive points of reference including details on the direction of wind SPEED and motorcade as well as locations for key witnesses accompanied by specifics on their sworn testimony as to what they saw and smelled after shots rang out.

Forensic Evidence

Examine the facts and evidence behind the trajectories of the bullets that hit JFK using information from Howard Donahue's investigation. Visitors also have access to highly detailed images from "Mortal Error: The Shot that Killed JFK" and the Warren Commission as well as a video clip from JFK: The Smoking Gun demonstrating the trajectory of Lee Harvey Oswald's first shot as detailed in the Warren Commission.

Discover the key differences in bullet performance between the full-metal jacket bullets fired by Oswald's Mannlicher Carcano rifle and the hollow point frangible bullets designed to explode upon impact fired from an AR-15 assault rifle and why these differences are crucial to understanding the shocking findings in JFK's autopsy report. Go behind the scenes with McLaren and JFK: The Smoking Gun director Malcolm McDonald and watch both bullet types tested in a Revealing ammunition demonstration.

In addition to the JFK: The Smoking Gun interactive website, REELZ takes viewers deeper into the evidence and conclusions presented in the documentary with JFK: Inside the Evidence premiering Monday, November 4 at 10pm ET/ 7pm PT. Hosted by nationally renowned journalist Bill Kurtis (A&E Investigative Reports, Cold Case Files, American Justice), JFK: Inside the Evidence closely examines and scrutinizes the key elements of JFK: The Smoking Gun and Kurtis challenges the men behind the documentary including Colin McLaren ("JFK: The Smoking Gun") and Bonar Menninger ("Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK").

The November 4th special includes an in-depth interview with U.S. District Judge John Tunheim who chaired the Assassination Records Review Board during the Clinton administration that was required by The JFK Act and resulted in finding, verifying and releasing more than five million documents that were previously set to be released up to 100 years after the assassination.

Kurtis will interview outside experts in each of the key areas of evidence presented in the documentary. JFK: Inside the Evidence examines the ballistics evidence which points to two separate guns including the critically important trajectories of each bullet that hit President Kennedy and the importance and accuracy of eyewitness testimony regarding the smell of gun-powder at street level in Dealey Plaza. Kurtis and guests also discuss what happened inside Parkland Memorial Hospital from the details of what really happened during JFK's treatment to the illegal removal of the body from Texas, on to the hastily conducted autopsy back in Washington, D.C. and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of what is potentially the most powerful piece of evidence - President Kennedy's brain.

About ReelzChannel - Hollywood Happens Here(TM)

ReelzChannel is an independent cable and satellite network devoted to delivering entertaining and fresh programming that explores, uncovers and lives inside the magic of Hollywood wherever it happens. The network is also home to ambitious television events, miniseries and series featuring big stories and big stars as seen with the Emmy(R)-winning The Kennedys and Ken Follett's World Without End. And, building directly on The Kennedys, JFK: The Smoking Gun promises to solve the assassination of JFK when it premieres on Sunday, November 3, 2013. REELZ is also co-developing a miniseries based on J. Randy Taraborrelli's highly acclaimed book, After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family from 1968 to the Present, with Muse Entertainment. With movie and entertainment experts, including Leonard Maltin, Richard Roeper and Sam Rubin, viewers get trusted insight and recommendations for movies wherever they're playing, whether in theaters or at home throughout the day, every day.

ReelzChannel reaches 67 million homes on DIRECTV channel 238, Dish Network channel 299, Verizon FiOS TV channel 233, AT&T U-verse channels 799/1799HD and cable systems nationwide. Find ReelzChannel in your area by entering your zip code at www.reelz.com/watch. Owned by Hubbard Media Group, ReelzChannel is headquartered in Albuquerque, NM with national ad sales based out of New York City with offices in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles and an entertainment bureau in Los Angeles.

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