CNN

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For other uses, see CNN (disambiguation).
Cable News Network
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerTime Warner
Key peopleReese Schonfeld
Jim Walton (Pres., CNN Worldwide)
Jonathan Klein (Pres., CNN/US)
History
FounderTed Turner
Links
Websitewww.cnn.com

Cable News Network, commonly referred to by its initialism CNN, is a major news cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner.[1][2] The network is now owned by Time Warner; the news network is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System. CNN introduced the idea of 24-hour television news coverage, celebrating its 25th anniversary on June 1, 2005.

In terms of cumulative (Cume) Nielsen ratings or "unique viewers", CNN rates as America's number one cable news source.[3] While the news network has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily broadcasts from its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta, the Time Warner Center in New York City, and studios in Washington, D.C. As of December 2004, the network is available in 88.2 million U.S. households and more than 890,000 American hotel rooms.[citation needed] The U.S version of their broadcast is also shown in Canada. Globally, CNN airs through CNN International and has combined branded networks and services that are available to more than 1.5 billion people in over 212 countries and territories.[citation needed]

History

The Central News Network was launched at 5:00 p.m. EST on June 1 1980. After an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the first newscast.[4] Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite television networks, several web sites, specialized closed-circuit networks (such as CNN Airport Network), and two radio networks. The network has 36 bureaus (10 domestic, 26 international), more than 900 affiliated local stations, and several regional and foreign-language networks around the world. The network's success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for the Time Warner conglomerate's eventual acquisition of Turner Broadcasting.

Despite its domestic standing, CNN remains a distant second in international news coverage, reaching just over half of the audience of the older BBC News. Unlike the BBC's network of reporters and bureaus, CNN International makes extensive use of affiliated reporters that are local to, and often directly affected by, the events they are reporting. The effect is a more immediate, less detached style of on-the-ground coverage. This has done little to stem criticism, largely from Middle Eastern nations, that CNN International reports news from a pro-American perspective. This is a marked contrast to domestic criticisms that often portray CNN as having a "liberal" or "anti-American" bias.

A companion network, Headline News (originally called CNN2) was launched in 1982 and featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts. Headline News broke from its original format in 2006 with the addition of Headline Prime. Current programs feature confrontational personalities like radio talk-show host Glenn Beck and former Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor Nancy Grace.

CNN HD was launched September 1, 2007, and was first nationally distributed by DirecTV on September 26, 2007.

The Gulf War

The first Persian Gulf War in 1991 was a watershed event for CNN that catapulted the network past the "big three" American networks for the first time in its history, largely due to an unprecedented, historical scoop: CNN was the only news outlet with the ability to communicate outside Iraq during the initial hours of the American bombing campaign, with live reports from the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad by reporters Bernard Shaw, John Holliman, and Peter Arnett.

The Gulf War experience brought CNN some much sought-after legitimacy and made household names of previously obscure (and infamously low-paid) reporters. Many of these reporters now comprise CNN's "old guard." Bernard Shaw became CNN's chief anchor until his retirement in 2001. Others include then-Pentagon correspondent Wolf Blitzer (now host of The Situation Room and Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer) and international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Amanpour's presence in Iraq was caricatured by actress Nora Dunn as the ruthless reporter "Adriana Cruz" in the film Three Kings (1999). Time Warner later produced a television movie, Live from Baghdad, about the network's coverage of the first Gulf War, which aired on HBO.

The CNN effect

Coverage of the first Gulf War and other crises of the early 1990s (particularly the infamous Black Hawk Down Battle of Mogadishu) led officials at the Pentagon to coin the term "the CNN effect" to describe the perceived impact of real time, 24-hour news coverage on the decision-making processes of the American government.

September 11

CNN breaking the news about the September 11, 2001 attacks

CNN was the first network to have broken news of the September 11 attacks. Anchor Carol Lin was on the air to deliver the first public report of the event. She broke into a commercial at 8:49 a.m. ET and said:

This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

Sean Murtagh, CNN vice-president for finance & administration, was the first network employee on the air in New York.[5]

Experiments

CNN launched two specialty news channels for the American market which would later close amid competitive pressure: CNNSI shut down in 2002, and CNNfn shut down after nine years on the air in December 2004. CNN and Sports Illustrated's partnership continues today online at CNNSI.com. CNNfn's former website now redirects to money.cnn.com, a product of CNN's strategic partnership with Money magazine.

Online

CNN debuted its news website CNN.com (then known as CNN Interactive) on August 30 1995. Initially an experiment, interest in CNN.com grew steadily over its first decade and today CNN.com is now one of the most popular news websites in the world. The wide-spread growth of blogs, social media and user-generated content have influenced the site, and blogs in particular have focused CNN's previously scattershot online offerings, most noticeably in the development and launch of CNN Pipeline in late 2005.

CNN Pipeline was the name of a paid subscription service, its corresponding website, and a content delivery client that provided streams of live video from up to four sources (or "pipes"), on-demand access to CNN stories and reports, and optional pop-up "news alerts" to computer users. The installable client was available to users of PCs running Microsoft Windows. There was also a browser-based "web client" that did not require installation. In July 2007 the service was discontinued and replaced with a free streaming service.

The now-defunct topical news-program Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics was the first CNN program to feature a round-up of blogs in 2004.[citation needed] Blog coverage was expanded when Inside Politics was folded into The Situation Room. In 2006, CNN launched CNN Exchange and CNN iReport, initiatives designed to further introduce and centralize the impact of everything from blogging to citizen journalism within the CNN brand. CNN iReport which features user-submitted photos and video, has achieved considerable traction, with increasingly professional-looking reports filed by amateur journalists, many still in high school or college. The iReport gained more prominence when observers of the Virginia Tech Shootings sent-in first hand photos of what was going during the shootings.[citation needed]

As of early 2008, CNN maintains a free live broadcast [6]. CNN International is broadcasted live, as part of the RealNetworks SuperPass subscription outside US. CNN also offers several RSS feeds and podcasts.

On April 18, 2008, CNN.com was targeted by Chinese hackers in retaliation for their coverage on the 2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that they took preventative measures after being targeted. [7]

CNN in popular culture

See also: Groland and CNNNN
  • CNN has been parodied many times. Many movies outside of the Turner Broadcasting Network also mention CNN in their storylines. Several television shows (i.e. Seven Days, JAG, and NCIS) use a parody of CNN known as ZNN. In the movie Mr Bones appears a news network with the name "CCN", its logo being in the same font as CNN's. In the video game Desert Strike, CNN is parodied by calling its in-game news station EANN, with the EA standing for the video game company's name, Electronic Arts. The movie Batman Forever shows a newscast on "GNN" (presumably standing for Gotham News Network). The logo is very similar to the "CNN" logo. Other parodies, or references include Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour's American campaign, featuring updates on missions with a correspondent from BNN, the rapper Eminem included a similar alteration in his song "Without Me", where, dressed up as Osama Bin Laden he was reported on by ENN, obviously due to his name being Eminem.
  • CNN's most famous station ID is a five-second musical jingle with James Earl Jones' simple but classic line, "This is CNN." Jones' voice can still be heard today in updated station IDs. The line has also been referenced in other programming, including The Simpsons.
  • Australian satirist group The Chaser produced 12 half-hour episodes of CNNNN, a show that parodied the logo and slogan, with taglines such as "We report, You believe". The show ended after CNN threatened to sue. The Chaser was shown on CNN in July 2007 after their APEC 2007 stunt on their show The Chaser's War on Everything created considerable controversy.
  • The news team, in the 2008 film Vantage Point that is covering the anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca, Spain is called "GNN" for Global News Network, parodying CNN.

Current shows

Former shows

Specialized channels

Post Production editing offices in Atlanta.

Anchors

Present Anchors

Past Anchors

Bureaus

CNN bureau locations
The CNN Center in Atlanta.
Note: Boldface indicates that they are CNN's original bureaus, meaning they have been in operation since the network's founding.

United States

Worldwide

Criticism and controversies

Main article: CNN controversies

CNN has been accused of media bias for allegedly promoting both a conservative and a liberal agenda based on previous incidents, although the primary criticism has been that CNN has a liberal bias. Critics, such as Accuracy in Media and MRC, have claimed that CNN's reporting contains liberal editorializing within news stories.[14][15]

CNN.com was accused by Chinese bloggers of bending the truth of the 2008 unrest in Tibet by distorting or manipulating facts. Specifically, the bloggers alleged that CNN.com deliberately cropped a photograph to remove images of Tibetan protesters throwing stones at Chinese trucks. In response to the allegation, CNN.com noted that "there could be no confusion regarding what [the photo] was showing, not least because it was captioned: ´Tibetans throw stones at army vehicles on a street in the capital Lhasa.´"[16] A Chinese website, anti-cnn.com,[17] has accused CNN and western media in general of biased reporting against China, with the catch-phrase "Don't be so CNN" catching on in the Chinese mainstream as jokingly meaning "Don't be so biased". [18]

It has been derided as the "Clinton News Network" during the 1990s for its perceived favorable bias towards the Clinton Administration.[citation needed]. Some critics [citation needed] allege that the network has been "promoting" Barack Obama during the 2008 race for presidency.

The network has also been accused of being slanted toward U.S. interests when reporting on world conflicts and wars.[specify][19] Critics such as LA Weekly say it is part of an alleged pro-war news media.[citation needed] CNN denies any bias.

Several prominent former CNN personalities have come to criticize certain aspects of the news network. Aaron Brown has said that CNN has committed "huge mistakes" and frames CNN as an "organization that is trying to figure out if it can be all things to all people." However, he also praised CNN's journalistic superiority, saying, "[...] CNN's a better journalism organization." [20] Bernard Shaw has expressed that he is "very very disappointed with the way the news management" has handled his favorite network. He criticised the effects of Fox News' "commentary [and] personal analysis" on the news reporting of CNN, saying that "CNN continues to ape many of the on-air mannerisms of the Fox News Network, and I don't like that."[21]As said by Ted Turner, founder of CNN, “There really isn’t much of a point getting some Tom, Dick or Harry off the streets to report on when we can snag a big name whom everyone identifies with. After all, it’s all part of the business.” However, in April 2008, Turner criticized the direction CNN has taken. [22]

In November of 2007, CNN aired Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling, a one-hour investigative report. The report included footage from an interview with pro wrestler John Cena regarding steroids. According to World Wrestling Entertainment and Cena, CNN edited Cena's responses to make it seem as if he did not deny using steroids, while leaving room open for doubt that he did. His answer to the CNN interviewer's initial query of "Have you ever taken steroids?" was, "Absolutely not." Instead, CNN edited in a more detailed answer Cena had provided several minutes later during the same interview. Cena and the WWE demanded an apology from CNN. In response to their complaint, CNN issued this statement: "CNN felt that Mr. Cena's statement in the interview: "My answer to that question 'have you ever used steroids' is -- the only thing I can say -- I can't tell you that I haven't, but you'll never be able to prove that I have" was a more expansive and complete answer -- and that's why we used it in the first run of the program. And we stand by that decision. But, we added the other quote on the Sunday replay where Mr. Cena first denied using steroids. We did this because of his complaint and the attention it received so that viewers could see how he said it both times." [23][24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Reese Schonfeld Bio. (January 29, 2001) MeAndTed.com. Accessed 2007-06-18.
  2. ^ Charles Bierbauer, CNN senior Washington correspondent, discusses his 19-year career at CNN. (May 8, 2000). CNN.com. Accessed 2007-06-18.
  3. ^ "The State of the News Media 2007 : Audience". Project for Excellence in Journalism. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  4. ^ American Television News: The Media Marketplace and the Public Interest by Steve Michael Barkin, M.E. Sharpe, 2003
  5. ^ CNN.com (September 11, 2001) Available at archive.org. Accessed 2007-06-18.
  6. ^ "CNN live streaming website".
  7. ^ "CNN website targeted", http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/18/cnn.websites/, CNN April 18, 2008
  8. ^ mediabistro.com: TVNewser
  9. ^ Turner Pressroom
  10. ^ Turner Pressroom
  11. ^ Show Pages - CNN Presents [insert topic name] - CNN.com
  12. ^ Rev. Jesse Jackson. (October 2001). RainbowPush.org. Accessed 2007-06-18.
  13. ^ mediabistro.com: TVNewser
  14. ^ CNN and the Liberal Propaganda Machine
  15. ^ Media Research Center CyberAlert - 02/17/1999 - slant of CNN’s Tuesday night town meeting
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ [2]
  18. ^ [3] The most popular sentence in China: "Don't be so CNN!"
  19. ^ CNN Exposed, cnnEXPOSED.com
  20. ^ Aaron Brown Talks About... "CNN's Struggle" & The Competition From Fox. TVNEWSER. 6 July 2007.
  21. ^ Retired anchor Shaw laments effects of Fox on his beloved CNN. Chicago Sun-Times. 5 June 2007.
  22. ^ http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/news/stories/2008/04/03/turner_0404.html
  23. ^ WWE: Inside WWE > Cena: Steroids? Absolutely not
  24. ^ WWE: Inside WWE > News > CNN to WWE: No Apology

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CNN.
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