"We're pressed, but we're not going to be destroyed by Al-Qaeda. Only we can do that," says Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. The longtime journalist, screenwriter, playwright, and New Yorker staff writer has been combining his reporting with theater and film for some time now, and his most recent project, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, premieres on HBO September 11. This documentary, made with former GRITtv guest Alex Gibney, traces his journey in researching the terrorist group.

Wright joins Laura in studio for a conversation about his process from journalism to theater and screenwriting (including The Siege, with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis), objectivity in reporting, the U.S.'s rising Islamophobia and his newest project, a one-man show about his experiences reporting in Gaza.

Jamie Moffatt's Return to El Salvador, narrated by Martin Sheen, looks back at the harrowing wars of the 1980s in that country, and their ongoing legacy. Salvadorans have elected their first progressive leader in over a century, but the shadow of the 80s still looms large.  Moffatt speaks with survivors, ex-guerrillas, religious leaders, activists and veterans, as they tell their stories of what happened, and how they got to where they are now.

The film is currently on a 70 city tour around the country; for more information, check their website.

Finally, Nicholas Jahr fills us in on why Naomi Campbell was testifying in the trial of Liberian former president Charles Taylor--and why the media should've been paying better attention.