Cable News Network, almost always referred to by
its
initialism
CNN, is an
U.S. cable news network founded in
1980 by
Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN
was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage,
and the first all-news television network in the United States.
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.
and Los
Angeles
. CNN is owned by parent company
Time Warner, and the U.S. news network is a
division of the
Turner
Broadcasting System.
CNN is sometimes referred to as
CNN/U.S. to
distinguish the North American channel from its international
counterpart,
CNN International. As
of June 2008, CNN is available in over 93 million U.S. households.
Broadcast
coverage extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, and the U.S
broadcast is also shown in Canada
.
Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can
be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories.
In terms
of regular viewers (Nielsen
Ratings), CNN rates as the United States
' number two cable news network and has the most
unique viewers (Nielsen Cume Ratings).
History
Early history
The Cable News Network was launched at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday June
1, 1980. After an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife
team of
David Walker and
Lois Hart anchored the first newscast.
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 a
radio network. 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.
A companion network,
Headline News
(originally called CNN2) was launched on January 1, 1982 and
featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts.
Headline News broke from its original format in 2005 with the
addition of
Headline Prime.
The added
Headline Prime programs featured confrontational personalities like
radio talk-show host Glenn Beck and
former Fulton County,
Georgia
prosecutor Nancy
Grace.
Recent years
In 2004,
Jonathan Klein took
over CNN as president and has maintained the position ever since.
CNN HD was launched September 1, 2007, and was first nationally
distributed by DirecTV on September 26, 2007. The network has also
faced an increasingly competitive media environment; since CNN's
debut, more than 70 television networks have launched with 24-hour
news coverage.
Major events
Replica of the newsroom at CNN
Center.
Challenger disaster
On January 28, 1986, CNN was the only television network to have
live coverage of the launch and explosion of
Space Shuttle Challenger.
The
shuttle exploded after lift-off killing seven crew members
including Christa McAuliffe, a
high-school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire
to be the first teacher in space. Then
President
Ronald Reagan postponed his
State of the Union
Address that evening. He addressed the nation from the Oval
Office.
Baby Jessica rescue
On October
14, 1987, an 18-month-old toddler named Jessica McClure fell down a well in Midland, Texas
. CNN was quickly on the spot, and the event
helped make their name. The
New York
Times ran a retrospective article in 1995 on the impact of
live video news. "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a
moving picture is worth many times that, and a live moving picture
makes an emotional connection that goes deeper than logic and lasts
well beyond the actual event. This was before correspondents
reported live from the enemy capital while American bombs were
falling. Before Saddam Hussein held a surreal press conference with
a few of the hundreds of Americans he was holding hostage. Before
the nation watched, riveted but powerless, as Los Angeles was
looted and burned. Before O. J. Simpson took a slow ride in a white
Bronco, and before everyone close to his case had an agent and a
book contract. This was uncharted territory just a short time
ago."
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 from inside Iraq
during the
initial hours of the Coalition bombing campaign, with live reports
from the al-Rashid
Hotel
in Baghdad
by reporters
Bernard Shaw, John Holliman, and Peter Arnett.
The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Bernard Shaw
on January 16, 1991 as follows:
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
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 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 was the first network to break the 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:
Daryn Kagan and
Leon Harris were live on the air just after 9
a.m. ET as the second plane hit the World Trade Center and through
an interview with CNN correspondent
David
Ensor, reported the news that U.S. officials determined "that
this is a terrorist act." Later,
Aaron
Brown anchored through the day and night as the attacks
unfolded. Brown had just come to CNN from
ABC to be the Breaking News
anchor.
Sean Murtagh, CNN vice-president for
finance and administration, was the first network employee on the
air in New York.
Coincidentally, September 11, 2001 was
Paula
Zahn's first day as a CNN reporter. She mentioned this as a
guest clue presenter on a 2005 episode of
Jeopardy!.
2008 U.S. election
Leading up to the
2008
U.S. presidential election, CNN devoted large amounts of
coverage to politics, including hosting candidate debates during
the Democratic and Republican primary seasons. In 2007, the network
hosted the first
CNN-YouTube presidential
debates, a non-traditional format where viewers were invited to
pre-submit questions over the internet via the
YouTube video-sharing service. In 2008, CNN
partnered with
The Los Angeles
Times to host two primary debates leading up to its
coverage of
Super Tuesday. CNN's
debate and election night coverage led to its highest ratings of
the year, with January 2008 viewership averaging 1.1 million
viewers, a 41% increase over the previous year.
Programming
Current shows
On-air presentation
In December 2008, CNN introduced its new graphics package, a
comprehensive redesign replacing the existing style that had been
used since 2004. The design replaced the scrolling ticker that had
been in use since 2001. Also, since March 1, 2009, the redundant
CNN HD logo has been missing from the bottom left corner of the
screen. CNN's new graphic design is similar to its sister network,
CNN International.
Former programs
| Program |
Terms |
Description |
| Both Sides with
Jesse Jackson |
1992-2000 |
A political talk show, hosted by civil rights leader and
two-time presidential candidate Jesse
Jackson, that aired Sundays. Each program began with a short
taped report on the topic by CNN Correspondent John Bisney. The
show ran from 1992 to 2000. |
| The Capital Gang |
1988-2005 |
One of cable news' longest running programs, focusing on
discussion of the political news of the week. The original
panelists were Pat Buchanan, Al Hunt, Mark Shields,
and Robert Novak. When Buchanan left
the network to run for president, Margaret Warner, Mona
Charen, and later Margaret
Carlson and Kate O'Beirne became
regular panelists. The Capital Gang aired Saturday nights
at 7 p.m. ET from 1988 to 2005. |
| Crossfire |
1980-2005 |
A political "debate" program, anchored by hosts from left-wing
and right-wing ideologies, that aired during prime time and daytime until mid-2005. Originally
hosted by Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan, other hosts included Robert Novak, Michael Kinsley, John H. Sununu,
Bill Press, Geraldine Ferraro, Mary Matalin, Tucker
Carlson, James Carville, and
Paul Begala. Crossfire was
discontinued in 2005. |
| Evans and Novak |
|
Saturday night political interview program with Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. The name changed to Evans,
Novak, Hunt and Shields in 1998 when Al
Hunt and Mark Shields became
permanent panelists. When Evans died in 2001, the name changed to
Novak, Hunt, and Shields for its final year on CNN. |
| Next@CNN |
2002-2005 |
A scientific and technology oriented program hosted by Daniel Sieberg. Aired on weekends. Despite
its cancellation on CNN in the U.S., the show continues to air new
episodes on CNN
International. |
| Inside Politics |
|
A political program that aired from 3:30–5 p.m. ET weekdays.
Replaced by The Situation
Room in 2005. |
| Wolf Blitzer
Reports |
2001-2005 |
A daily look at the day's stories that aired live from
Washington at 5 p.m. ET. Replaced by The Situation Room in 2005. |
| NewsNight With Aaron
Brown |
2001-2005 |
A hard-news program anchored by Aaron
Brown which took an in-depth look at the main U.S. and
international stories of the day. Was axed from CNN's schedule on
November 5, 2005, leading to Brown's immediate resignation from the
network. |
| CNN Daybreak |
|
A
first look at the day's stories that aired live from New York City at 5 a.m. ET. |
| CNN Sports
Sunday |
|
Co-anchored by Bob Kurtz and Nick Charles. |
| Connie Chung
Tonight |
2002-2003 |
Hosted by Connie Chung. Cancelled
in March 2003. |
| Freeman Reports |
|
one of the original programs from 1980. Host Sonja Freeman interviewed guests and took live
telephone call-ins regarding current news events and other topics
of interest. For a brief period the program featured a live
audience in Atlanta. Freeman's former time slot is now occupied by
Larry King. |
| People Now |
|
another original program. Host Lee
Leonard interviewed celebrities and discussed entertainment
news in a one hour program live from the CNN Los Angeles bureau.
Leonard was replaced by Mike Douglas, who himself was replaced by
Bill Tush in December 1982. |
| Pinnacle with
Tom Cassidy |
unknown-2004 |
Business news and leaders |
| Computer
Connection |
|
Technological issues |
| Future Watch |
|
Technological issues |
| Your Health |
|
Health news |
| Style with Elsa
Klensch |
|
Weekly half hour on Saturday mornings featuring news on style
and fashion. |
| Talk Back Live |
1994-2003 |
A call-in talk show with a live audience hosted most recently
by Arthel Neville. |
| On the Story |
unknown-2006 |
CNN's interactive "week-in-review" series featuring an in-depth
look at the story behind some of the week's biggest stories.
Anchored by Ali Velshi. However, the show
was suspended in June 2006, later cancelled in July. |
| Burden of
Proof |
1995-2001 |
A show that discussed legal issues of the day, hosted by
Greta Van Susteren and Roger Cossack. |
| Newsstand |
1999-2001 |
Newsmagazine |
| Newshour |
|
Daily news |
| Sonya / Sonya Live In LA |
|
A weekday call-in show airing at 1PM Eastern in the late 80's
& Early 90s hosted by Dr. Sonya Friedman. |
| CNN Live Today |
2001-2006 |
Daily look at what's making news, airing live from Atlanta at
10 a.m. ET on weekdays. Anchored by Daryn
Kagan. |
| Live From... |
|
A lively look at the day's stories airing live from Atlanta at
1 p.m. ET. Anchored by Kyra
Phillips. |
| CNN Live Saturday /
CNN Live Sunday |
|
A look at what's making news on the weekends, airing live from
Atlanta. Anchored by Fredricka
Whitfield 12:00–6:00pm and Carol Lin
6:00–11:00pm. Replaced in 2006 by CNN Newsroom Weekend. |
| CNN Saturday Night /
CNN Sunday Night |
|
The network's weekend evening news program, airing at 6 p.m. ET
and 10 p.m. ET. Anchored by Carol Lin.
Replaced in 2006 by CNN Newsroom Weekend. |
| People in the
News |
unknown-2005 |
CNN's feature-format program with People Magazine profiling newsmakers from
politics, sports, business, medicine, and entertainment. The
program aired on the weekend and was first hosted by Daryn Kagan and later by Paula Zahn. |
| Diplomatic
License |
1994-2006 |
Weekly program on CNNI hosted by Richard Roth, focusing on the
United Nations. |
| Live From the Headlines |
2003 |
Was Paula Zahn's prime-time show after moving from her morning
slot, airing from 7-9 PM and later co-hosted by Anderson Cooper;
replaced by Paula Zahn Now in 2003. |
| Paula Zahn Now |
2003-2007 |
Was a look at the current issues affecting the world, with
former CBS and Fox
News anchor Paula Zahn. Last
broadcast was on August 2, 2007. |
| CNN Tonight |
2001 |
Anchored by Bill Hemmer (10pm ET)
and Catherine Callaway (1am
ET/10pm PT). Brought back in late 2009 to replace Lou Dobbs
Tonight as a placeholder until new programming debuts in
2010. |
| First Evening News |
2001 |
Bill Hemmer anchors half-hour news
show at 6pm(in June) or 7pm(in July to Sept 10) |
| The Spin Room |
2001 |
Tucker Carlson and Bill Press host political talk show (aired at
10.30pm ET) |
| Greenfield at
Large |
2001-2002 |
Anchored by Jeff Greenfield in
New York (aired at 10.30pm ET weeknights) |
| CNN NewsSite |
2001 |
Anchored by Joie Chen from Atlanta
(aired at 4pm ET weekdays: integrated the news and internet) |
| The Point with
Greta Van Susteren |
2001-2002 |
Primetime news and interviews. Canceled when Susteren moved to
Fox News. |
| Ballot Bowl |
2008 |
Election 2008 news |
| Lou Dobbs
Tonight |
1980 - 2009 |
Anchored by Lou Dobbs, the program
originally aired as Moneyline before re-launching as
Lou Dobbs Tonight in 2003 |
Staff
Anderson Cooper, anchor of
AC
360
Richard Quest, London-based
correspondent
Political contributors
Political analysts
CNN HD
American Morning on CNN HD with the 2004-2008 graphics
package.
Graphical weather forecasts were added to the sides in 2009
but removed a few months later.
CNN HD is a
1080i high definition simulcast of CNN
that launched in September 2007.
All regular shows based out of CNN's
New York
City
studios at Time Warner Center such as American
Morning, Lou Dobbs
Tonight, Campbell Brown: No Bias, No
Bull, Anderson Cooper
360, Fareed Zakaria
GPS, State of the Union with John
King and Your Money are
in HD (as well as special events, see section below). In
early September 2009,
Larry King
Live and
The Situation
Room began airing in HD, making its entire evening and
primetime lineup in HD. In mid-October 2009,
CNN Newsroom began airing in HD as well,
making its full schedule all in HD.
Stylized
pillarboxes (outlines of the letters "HD" in a large font,
configured sideways, and usually in red with a red background, but
sometimes in blue with a blue background) are used for normal
programs that are not available in HD, as well as remotely shot
video that's only available in SD, even during shows that are in
HD.
Formerly during
American Morning, CNN HD viewers saw
weather forecasts in graphic form on the sides of the screen
(American cities on the right, and cities outside of the U.S. on
the left). This feature was removed in November 2009.
The documentary
Planet in
Peril was CNN's first documentary program produced in HD,
followed by
Black in
America (Its sequel
Black in America 2 also aired
in HD). Its spinoff
Latino in
America was also in HD. CNN HD also used to display a CNN
HD logo (the normal CNN logo with the letters HD in a different,
gray colored font next to it) on the bottom left corner of the
screen. It was last used on February 28, 2009.
Special events
All special events are aired in full HD. During primary and caucus
nights, America Votes 2008 was produced in complete HD with Wolf
Blitzer anchoring from CNN's main New York studio which was renamed
the CNN Election Center. During this time, CNN HD viewers got
additional information on the side of their TV screens such as poll
numbers, charts and graphs. This also happened for the
2008 Democratic National
Convention, the
2008 Republican National
Convention, the
2008 United
States Presidential Debates, the
2008 United States
Vice Presidential Debate and the
2008 Election Day
coverage on November 4, all of which were also shot in HD. The
2009 United
States Presidential Inauguration Day coverage on January 20 was
also shot in full HD. President
Barack
Obama's first prime-time press conference on February 9, 2009
was also aired in full HD, as well as his address to a joint
session of Congress on February 24, and his second prime-time press
conference on March 24, and his
address to a joint session of Congress on September 9,
2009.
The CNN Election Express bus, used for
HD broadcasts.
CNN's political coverage in HD was given mobility by the
introduction of the CNN Election Express bus in October 2007. The
Election Express vehicle, capable of five simultaneous HD feeds,
was used for the network's CNN-YouTube presidential debates and for
presidential candidate interviews.
Coverage
Initial carriage of CNN HD on cable and satellite systems was
limited.
DirecTV was the first provider to
carry it, adding it mid-September 2007. By June 2008,
Comcast,
Time Warner
Cable,
Cox Communications,
AT&T U-verse,
Rogers Cable,
Midcontinent Communications,
Bright House Networks, and
Dish Network launched carriage of CNN
HD.
Verizon is currently in the process of
adding CNN HD to its
FiOS service on a
market by market basis.
Online
New CNN website, unveiled October 24,
2009
CNN debuted its news website
CNN.com (initially an experiment known as
CNN
Interactive) on August 30, 1995. The site attracted growing
interest over its first decade and is now one of the most popular
news websites in the world. The widespread 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.
In
April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place
among online global news sites in unique users in the U.S., after
msnbc.com and
Yahoo! News,
according to Nielsen/NetRatings; with an increase of 11% over the
previous year.
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 2005. 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.
As of early 2008, CNN maintains a free live broadcast. 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 the network's coverage on the
2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that
they took preventative measures after news broke of the impending
attack.
The company was honored at the 2008
Technology &
Engineering Emmy Awards for development and implementation of
an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and
store-and-forward digital newsgathering system.
On October 24, 2009 CNN launched a new version of their CNN.com
website, revamping it adding a new "sign up" option where users may
create their own user name, a new "CNN Pulse" (beta) feature along
with a new red color theme.
Specialized channels
Post Production editing offices in
Atlanta.
Former channels
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. Money and SI are both
properties of Time Warner, along with CNN.
Bureaus
CNN bureau locations
CNN Center studios.
- Note: Boldface indicates that they are
CNN's original bureaus, meaning they have been in operation since
the network's founding.
United States
|
|
Worldwide
|
- Abu
Dhabi
 , United Arab Emirates (Middle East regional headquarters)
- Baghdad, Iraq
- Bangkok
 , Thailand
- Beijing, China
- Beirut
 , Lebanon
- Berlin
 , Germany
- Bogotá
 , Colombia
- Cairo
 , Egypt
- Dubai
 , United Arab
Emirates
- Havana
 , Cuba
- Hong Kong
 (Asia/Pacific regional
headquarters)
- Islamabad
 , Pakistan
- Istanbul
 , Turkey
- Jakarta
 , Indonesia
- Jerusalem
 , Israel
|
- Johannesburg
 , South
Africa
- Lagos
 , Nigeria
- London
 , United
Kingdom (European regional
headquarters)
- Madrid
 , Spain
- Mexico City
 , Mexico
- Moscow
 , Russia
- Nairobi
 , Kenya
- New
Delhi
 , India
- Paris
 , France
- Rome
 , Italy
- Rio de Janeiro
 , Brazil
- Santiago of Chile
 , Chile
- São Paulo
 , Brazil
- Seoul
 , South Korea
- Sydney
 , Australia
- Tokyo
 , Japan
|
Controversy
In a
joint study by the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and
Public Policy at Harvard University
and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the
authors found disparate treatment by the three major cable networks
of Republican and Democratic candidates during the earliest five
months of presidential primaries in 2007: “The CNN programming
studied tended to cast a negative light on Republican candidates—by
a margin of three-to-one. Four-in-ten stories (41%) were
clearly negative while just 14% were positive and 46% were neutral.
The network provided negative coverage of all three main candidates
with McCain fairing the worst (63% negative) and Romney fairing a
little better than the others only because a majority of his
coverage was neutral. It’s not that Democrats, other than Obama,
fared well on CNN either. Nearly half of the Illinois Senator’s
stories were positive (46%), vs. just 8% that were negative. But
both Clinton and Edwards ended up with more negative than positive
coverage overall. So while coverage for Democrats overall was a bit
more positive than negative, that was almost all due to extremely
favorable coverage for Obama.”
CNN has been accused of perpetrating
media
bias for allegedly promoting both a conservative and a liberal
agenda based on previous incidents.
Media Matters for America has
documented several hundred separate instances of what it sees as
conservative editorializing during CNN broadcasts.
Accuracy in Media and the
Media Research Center have claimed
that CNN's reporting contains liberal editorializing within news
stories.
CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations, and its
international channel,
CNN
International is the leading international new channel in terms
of viewer reach. Unlike the BBC and its 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. In
2002,
Honest Reporting spearheaded
a campaign to expose CNN for pro-Palestinian bias, citing public
remarks in which
Ted Turner equated
Palestinian suicide bombing with Israeli military strikes.
Chicago Sun-Times. 5 June
2007. 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.
A Chinese website,
anti-cnn.com, 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".
Pictures used by CNN are allegedly edited to have completely
different meanings from the original ones. In addition, the network
was accused of largely ignoring pro-China voices during the Olympic
Torch Relay in San Francisco.
On April
24, 2008 beautician Liang Shubing and teacher Li Lilan sued
commentator Jack Cafferty and CNN $1.3
billion damages ($1 per person in China), in New York
, for "violating the dignity and reputation of the
Chinese people". This was in response to an incident during
CNN's "The Situation Room" on April 9, where Cafferty stated his
opinion that "[the USA] continue to import their junk with the lead
paint on them and the poisoned pet food" despite his view that
"[the Chinese leaders were] basically the same bunch of goons and
thugs they've been for the last 50 years". Further, amid China's
Foreign Ministry demand for an apology, 14 lawyers filed a similar
suit in
Beijing.
On November 11, 2009, longtime CNN anchor
Lou
Dobbs resigned on air. He didn't explain why in his exit speech
but it has been reported that he was bothered by a memo that
ordered anchors to stop allowing
Obama birthers
airtime.
Popular culture
- 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". During the run of the series Lois and Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman, "LNN" was used to stand
for the Luthor News Network. 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, the
in-game news station is called "EANN", with the EA standing for the
video game company's name, Electronic
Arts. In The
Flintstones Movie, a news reporter is seen reporting for a
news network called BC. The movie
Batman Forever shows a
newscast on "GNN" (presumably standing for Gotham News Network).
The logo is very similar to the "CNN" logo. GNN also appears on the
Nolan series of Batman films, and in the movie Vantage
Point where its reporter is caught in the middle of an attack
on the President in Spain. 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, derived from his name.
Finally, the movie The Dark
Knight had its own version of CNN called "GCN". In the
DVD, episodes of Gotham Tonight of the GCN network are
found explaining events before the movie.
- 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 and Will & Grace, where Jones himself
says that it was his last good piece of work. The line was also
referred as a sub-parody in the 2002 film Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, during the
ending of another sub-parody based on a scene from Disney's
The Lion King, where Jones
himself is noted have voiced one of the main characters.
- 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 Chaser's work
was shown on CNN in July 2007 after their APEC
2007 stunt for their show The Chaser's War on
Everything created considerable controversy.
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