CNN Reporting on ‘Famine in Africa’ : Television: Calling its coverage ‘unprecedented,’ the all-news network is broadcasting a weeklong series on the continent’s catastrophic situation.

Cable News Network is airing what it is billing as an “unprecedented weeklong series of reports” on a fast-spreading famine that is putting 30 million Africans at risk of malnutrition or death.

“Famine in Africa” will culminate with an hourlong special airing Friday at 7 a.m. and again at 7 p.m., reported by Richard Blystone, Christiane Amanpour and Gary Strieker.

For the balance of the week, CNN will broadcast live at 5, 7 and 9 a.m. and noon from Camp Teferi Ber, home to approximately 90,000 refugees in Ethiopia’s Ogaden Desert, near the Somalia border. Taped reports are scheduled for 3, 5, 7 and 11 p.m.

“Instead of waiting until (the famine) happened, which most experts estimate (will be) coming sometime this summer, we felt it was better to proceed on the story and highlight it,” said Will King, CNN senior international editor. “This is more than just another famine. It’s not as simple as that by any means. The reports take a look at why it’s an almost perennial situation: war, politics and other aspects.”

The series is costing the all-news network $300,000 and has taken nearly two months to plan.

King said he hopes the information the series provides will help prevent future famines by alerting not only the public but also world leaders. “We are providing a chance for everyone to see the situation as it as and hear from experts about what it will be,” King said. “We don’t feel like we’re saints, we feel we’re journalists doing our jobs.”

The logistics of doing that job were tougher than those CNN encountered during the Gulf War, King added.

While the Gulf War zone had its dangers, “we were still dealing with locations that had the basic necessities of life--roads, buildings, electricity, water, hotels and governments with some stability to them,” King said. “In doing what we’re doing here, there’s absolutely nothing. We’re miles away from anything--from electricity, housing, telephones. We’re housing our people in tents and communicating by satellite phones.”

Parisa Khosravi, the series’ coordinating producer, said three trucks with armed escorts were needed just to haul 2 1/2 tons of gear from Addis Ababa to the camp.