As of December 2023, CNN had 68,974,000 television households as subscribers in the US According to Nielsen,[8] down from 80 million in March 2021.[9] In June 2021, CNN ranked third in viewership among cable news networks, behind Fox News and MSNBC, averaging 580,000 viewers throughout the day, down 49% from a year earlier, amid sharp declines in viewers across all cable news networks.[10] While CNN ranked 14th among all basic cable networks in 2019,[11][12] then jumped to 7th during a major surge for the three largest cable news networks (completing a rankings streak of Fox News at number 5 and MSNBC at number 6 for that year),[13] it settled back to number 11 in 2021[14] and had further declined to number 21 in 2022.[15]
Globally, CNN programming has aired through CNN International, seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories.[16] Since May 2019, however, the US domestic version has absorbed international news coverage in order to reduce programming costs. The American version, sometimes referred to as CNN (US), is also available in Canada, and some islands in the Caribbean. CNN also licenses its brand and content to other channels, such as CNN-News18 in India. In Japan it broadcasts CNNj which started in 2003, with simultaneous translation in Japanese.[17]
The Cable News Network launched at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on June 1, 1980. After an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the channel's first newscast.[18]Burt Reinhardt, the executive vice president of CNN, hired most of the channel's first 200 employees, including the network's first news anchor, Bernard Shaw.[19]
Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to several cable and satellite television providers, websites, and specialized closed-circuit channels (such as CNN Airport). The company has 42 bureaus (12 domestic, 31 international),[20] more than 900 affiliated local stations (which also receive news and features content via the video newswire service CNN Newsource),[21] and several regional and foreign-language networks around the world.[22] The channel's success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for conglomerate Time Warner's (later WarnerMedia which merged with Discovery Inc. forming Warner Bros. Discovery) eventual acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System in 1996.[23][24]
CNN's current weekday schedule consists mostly of rolling news programming during daytime hours, followed by in-depth news and information programs during the evening and primetime hours. The network's morning programming consists of Early Start, an early-morning news program now hosted by Kasie Hunt at 5–6 a.m. ET. This is followed by CNN This Morning, the network's morning show, hosted by Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly, at 6–9 a.m. ET.[25] Since April 2023, CNN News Central has served as the network's rolling news block on weekdays, with its morning edition from 9 a.m. to noon ET anchored by John Berman, Kate Bolduan, and Sara Sidner, and its afternoon edition from 1–4 p.m. ET anchored by Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez.[26][27] In the noon hour is Inside Politics, hosted by Dana Bash.[28]
For the 2014–15 season, after canceling Piers Morgan Tonight (which, itself, replaced the long-running Larry King Live), CNN experimented with running factual and reality-style programming during the 9:00 p.m. ET hour, such as John Walsh's The Hunt, This Is Life with Lisa Ling, and Mike Rowe's Somebody's Gotta Do It. Then-president Jeff Zucker explained that this new lineup was intended to shift CNN away from a reliance on pundit-oriented programs, and attract younger demographics to the network. Zucker stated that the 9:00 p.m. hour could be pre-empted during major news events for expanded coverage. These changes coincided with the introduction of a new imaging campaign for the network, featuring the slogan "Go there".[37][38][39] In May 2014, CNN premiered The Sixties, a documentary miniseries produced by Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman which chronicled the United States in the 1960s. Owing to its success, CNN commissioned follow-ups focusing on other decades.[40][41][42][43]Anderson Cooper 360° was expanded to run two hours long, from 8 pm to 10 pm.[44]
By 2019, CNN had produced at least 35 original series. Alongside the Hanks/Goetzman franchise (including the 2018 spin-off 1968), CNN has aired other documentary miniseries relating to news and U.S. policies, such as The Bush Years, and American Dynasties: The Kennedys—which saw the highest ratings of any CNN original series premiere to-date, with 1.7 million viewers. Parts Unknown concluded after the 2018 suicide of its host Anthony Bourdain; CNN announced several new miniseries and docuseries for 2019, including American Style (a miniseries produced by the digital media company Vox Media),[45]The Redemption Project with Van Jones, Chasing Life with Sanjay Gupta, Tricky Dick (a miniseries chronicling Richard Nixon), The Movies (a spin-off of the Hanks/Goetzman decades miniseries), and Once in a Great City: Detroit 1962–64.[46][47]
With the takeover of CNN by Chris Licht and Warner Bros. Discovery, it was announced in October 2022 that CNN would cut back on acquisitions and commissions from third-parties as a cost-cutting measure, but Licht stressed that "longform content remains an important pillar of our programming", while the network announced a slate for 2023 that would include commissions such as Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor?, United States of Scandal, and The 2010s.[48][49]
On-air presentation
CNN began broadcasting in the high-definition1080i resolution format in September 2007.[50] This format is now standard for CNN and is available on all major cable and satellite providers.
The CNN Election Express bus, used for broadcasts
CNN's political coverage in HD was first 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 channel's CNN-YouTube presidential debates and for presidential candidate interviews.[51]
In December 2008, CNN introduced a comprehensive redesign of its on-air appearance, which replaced an existing style that had been used since 2004. On-air graphics took a rounded, flat look in a predominantly black, white, and red color scheme, and the introduction of a new box next to the CNN logo for displaying show logos and segment-specific graphics, rather than as a large banner above the lower third. The redesign also replaced the scrolling ticker with a static "flipper", which could either display a feed of news headlines (both manually inserted and taken from the RSS feeds of CNN.com), or "topical" details related to a story.[52][53]
CNN's next major redesign was introduced on January 10, 2011, replacing the dark, flat appearance of the 2008 look with a glossier, blue-and-white color scheme, moving the secondary logo box to the opposite end of the screen, and framing its graphics for the 16:9 aspect ratio (which is downscaled to a letterboxed format for standard definition feeds).[53] On February 18, 2013, following Jeff Zucker's arrival as head of the network, the "flipper" was dropped and reverted to a scrolling ticker.[54]
On August 11, 2014, CNN introduced a new graphics package, dropping the glossy appearance for a flat, rectangular scheme incorporating red, white, and black colors, and the Gotham typeface. The ticker alternated between general headlines and financial news from CNN Business, and the secondary logo box was replaced with a smaller box below the CNN bug, which displayed either the title, hashtag, or Twitter handle for the show being aired or its anchor.[55] In April 2016, CNN began to introduce a new corporate typeface, known as "CNN Sans", across all of its platforms. Inspired by Helvetica Neue and commissioned after consultations with Troika Design Group, the font family consists of 30 different versions with varying weights and widths to facilitate use across print, television, and digital mediums.[56] CNN International would also adopt these graphics, but with the CNN logo bug having a white on red color scheme to differentiate it from the domestic network.[57]
In August 2016, CNN announced the launch of CNN Aerial Imagery and Reporting (CNN AIR), a drone-based news collecting operation to integrate aerial imagery and reporting across all CNN branches and platforms, along with Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner entities.[58]
On June 1, 2023, CNN refreshed its graphics to mark the 43rd anniversary of its launch, using gradients and rounded corners, thinner fonts, and a modified layout that moved the show title to a secondary tab on the lower third next to the segment title, and replaced the ticker with a static "flipper" for the first time since 2013, among other changes.[57] Amid poor internal reception to the redesign and the firing of Chris Licht as head of CNN, elements of the prior graphics began to be reinstated later that month, including the bolder typography previously used for lower third headlines.[59][60] Further changes were made on August 14, 2023, with the return of the scrolling ticker and the show title box to make it closer resemble the 2014–23 graphics, but maintaining most of the other visual changes.[61]
On June 27, 2024, CNN hosted the first presidential debate for former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. CNN claimed that more people watched the CNN Presidential Debate than any other CNN program in history.[62]
On July 27, 2012, CNN president Jim Walton announced he was resigning after 30 years at the network. Walton remained with CNN until the end of that year.[63] In January 2013, former NBCUniversal President Jeff Zucker replaced Walton.[64]
In February 2022, Zucker was asked to resign by Jason Kilar, the chief executive of CNN's owner WarnerMedia, after Zucker's relationship with one of his lieutenants was discovered during the investigation into former CNN primetime host Chris Cuomo's efforts to control potentially damaging reporting regarding his brother Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York.[66][67] Kilar announced that the interim co-heads would be executive vice presidents Michael Bass, Amy Entelis, and Ken Jautz.[1] On February 26, 2022, it was announced that Chris Licht—known for his work at MSNBC and CBS—would be the next president of CNN; he was planned to be instated after the spin off and merger of WarnerMedia into Discovery Inc.[68] Licht started his tenure in May 2022, and his tenure ended in June 2023.[69][70]
In August 2023, it announced Mark Thompson, formerly of The New York Times, as its next CEO. In one of his first major moves, he kept the executive team under Chris Licht - the Quad composed of David Leavy, chief operating officer, and three executive vice presidents (Virginia Moseley for editorial, Amy Entelis for talent, and Eric Sherling for programming) - in place, but expanded their responsibilities. Moseley became the network's first executive editor and would have both national and international news. Adding their ranks, Thompson made Alex MacCallum, who worked with Thompson at The New York Times, executive vice president of digital products. In highlighting these moves, Thompson emphasized existing staff would need to get used to change. [71][72]
In July 2024, CNN announced that it was cutting one hundred jobs, or about 3% of its total workforce. The company also announced that it was consolidating three newsrooms into one, namely, its U.S. news gathering, international news gathering and digital news gathering operations.[73] CNN's global workforce, in July 2024, included roughly 3,500 people.[74]
Other platforms
Website
CNN launched its website, CNN.com (initially known as CNN Interactive), on August 30, 1995.[75] 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.[citation needed]
In April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place among online global news sites in unique users in the U.S., according to Nielsen/NetRatings; with an increase of 11% over the previous year.[76]
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. The service was discontinued in July 2007, and was replaced with a free streaming service.[77]
On April 18, 2008, CNN.com was targeted by Chinese hackers in retaliation for the channel's coverage on the 2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that they took preventive measures after news broke of the impending attack.[78][79]
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 news gathering (DNG) system.[80] The first use of what would later win CNN this award was in April 2001 when CNN correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver[81] covered, and was detained,[82] for the release of the U.S. Navy crew of a damaged electronic surveillance plane after the Hainan Island incident. The technology consisted of a videophone produced by 7E Communications Ltd of London, UK.[83] This DNG workflow is used today by the network to receive material worldwide using an AppleMacBook Pro, various prosumer and professional digital cameras, software from Streambox Inc., and BGAN terminals from Hughes Network Systems.[citation needed]
On October 24, 2009, CNN launched a new version of the CNN.com website; the revamped site included the addition of a new "sign up" option, in which users can create their own username and profile, and a new "CNN Pulse" (beta) feature, along with a new red color theme.[84] However, most of the news stories archived on the website were deleted.
Blogs
The topical news program Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics was the first CNN program to feature a round-up of blogs in 2005.[85] Blog coverage was expanded when Inside Politics was folded into The Situation Room (Inside Politics later returned to CNN in 2014, this time hosted by the network's chief national correspondent John King.[citation needed]). 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 on during the shootings.[86]
In April 2010, CNN announced via Twitter that it would launch a food blog called "Eatocracy", which will "cover all news related to food – from recalls to health issues to culture".[87] CNN had an internet relay chat (IRC) network at chat.cnn.com. CNN placed a live chat with Benjamin Netanyahu on the network in 1998.[88]
CNNHealth consists of expert doctors answering viewers' questions online at CNN's "The Chart" blog website. Contributors include Sanjay Gupta (Chief Medical Correspondent), Charles Raison (Mental Health Expert), Otis Brawley (Conditions Expert), Melina Jampolis (Diet and Fitness Expert), Jennifer Shu (Living Well Expert), and Elizabeth Cohen (Senior Medical Correspondent).[89]
Other digital offerings
In early 2008, CNN began maintaining a live streaming broadcast available to cable and satellite subscribers who receive CNN at home (a precursor to the TV Everywhere services that would become popularized by cable and satellite providers beginning with Time Warner's incorporation of the medium).[90] CNN International is broadcast live, as part of the RealNetworks SuperPass subscription service outside the U.S. CNN also offers several RSS feeds and podcasts.
CNN also has multiple channels in the popular video-sharing site YouTube, but those videos can only be viewed in the United States, a source of criticism among YouTube users worldwide.[citation needed] In 2014, CNN launched a radio version of their television programming on TuneIn Radio.[91] The network also hosts CNN-10, a daily 10-minute video show visible at the CNN website or YouTube. It replaced the long-running show CNN Student News which had been aired since 1989.[92] It is aimed at a global audience of students, teachers, and adults, and was hosted by Carl Azuz.[93] In fall of 2022, Carl Azuz was replaced by Coy Wire as the host of CNN 10,[94] after leaving CNN due to a "personal decision" according to a CNN spokesperson in a newsletter published on September 18, 2022.[95]
CNN Newsource offices at the CNN Center in Atlanta
CNN Newsource is a subscription-based affiliation video service that provides CNN content to television station affiliates with CNN, including terrestrial stations and international stations. Newsource allows affiliates to download videos from CNN, as well as from other affiliates who upload their video to Newsource.
CNN's digital storefront, which sells branded merchandise, household goods, and software, is operated by StackCommerce via partnership.
In 2021, CNN Digital had an average of 144 million unique visitors in the United States according to Comscore, making it the most viewed digital news outlet, ahead of The New York Times, NBC News, Fox News, The Washington Post.[100]
On November 28, 2016, CNN announced the acquisition of Beme for a reported $25 million.[101] On November 29, 2016, Matt Hackett, co-founder of Beme, announced via an email to its users that the Beme app would be shutting down on January 31, 2017.[102] Since the shutdown of the app, it was announced that CNN intended to use the current talent behind Beme to work on a separate start-up endeavor. Beme's current team will retain full creative control of the new project, which was slated to be released in the summer of 2017.[103] Beme have also brought on other internet stars such as the host of Vsauce 3, Jake Roper, as head of production, who features prominently in Beme co-founder Casey Neistat's vlogs.[104]Beme News has since begun uploading news related video on YouTube.[105]
In October 2012, CNN formed a film division called CNN Films to distribute and produce made-for-TV and feature documentaries. Its first acquisition was a documentary entitled Girl Rising, a documentary narrated by Meryl Streep that focused on the struggles of girls' education.[106]
Radio
In July 2014, Cumulus Media announced that it would end its partnership with ABC News Radio, and enter into a new partnership with CNN to syndicate national and international news content for its stations through Westwood One beginning in 2015, including access to a wire service, and digital content for its station websites. The service was unbranded, allowing individual stations to integrate the content with their news brands.[107] On July 9, 2020, citing "extraordinary circumstances in the current marketplace" and a need to prioritize the company's resources, Westwood One announced that the service would be discontinued on August 30.[108]
CNN/US HD – launched for American viewers in late 2010,[113] and is distributed by Japan Cable Television (JCTV) to several different multi-channel TV providers, such as J:COM, SKY PerfecTV!, iTSCOM and the JCTVWiFi service.[114]
CNN Prima News – a Czech news channel. (that launched on May 3, 2020, licensed to Prima Group)
CNN Checkout Channel (out-of-home place-based custom channel for grocery stores that started in 1991 and shuttered in 1993)
CNN-D (a German news programming block that aired through CNN International's TV signal in Germany between 1997 and 2003.)
CNN Italia[117] (an Italian news website launched in partnership with the publishing company Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso, and after with the financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, it launched on November 15, 1999[118][119] and closed on September 12, 2003)
Great Big Story – launched in 2015 for younger viewers, shut down in September 2020[122] after gaining nearly six million followers on both Facebook and YouTube.[123]
Bureaus
CNN bureau locationsThe CNN Center in AtlantaCNN in New York CityCNN in Los AngelesCNN Center studios
CNN operates bureaus in the following cities as of February 2023[update]:[124]
CNN has been involved in various controversies, criticisms, and allegations since its inception in 1980. The channel is known for its dramatic live coverage of breaking news, some of which has drawn criticism as overly sensationalistic.
CNN claims to be "The Most Trusted Name in News",[126] but its efforts to be nonpartisan have led to accusations of false balance.[132] One study measured airtime of guests on major news networks between 2010 and 2021 and compared that to the guests' campaign donations. It found guests on CNN to have a liberal bias (a "campaign finance score" of −9.7, where 0 is equal airtime, compared to −14.1 for MSNBC and 49.8 for Fox News), which became more pronounced during the Trump administration. The same study found that some popular primetime news shows on CNN, such as Anderson Cooper 360 or CNN Tonight, are more left-leaning than popular MSNBC shows such as The Rachel Maddow Show or The 11th Hour with Brian Williams.[133][134]
When Chris Licht took over the network in 2022, he expressed an intention to have more Republicans on the air and cut down on opinion-related content.[133]
After being fired in December 2021, former host Chris Cuomo was reported to be seeking $125 million in damages, alleging a breach of agreement.[137] In April 2023, host Don Lemon announced that he had been fired.[138]
2018: CNN won a network-record six News and Documentary Emmy Awards of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage, Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Newscast, Outstanding Live Interview, Outstanding Hard News Feature Story in a Newscast, Outstanding News Special, Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report.[146]
2020: CNN's Ed Lavandera was awarded a Peabody Award for "The Hidden Workforce: Undocumented in America",[148] and CNN Films was awarded a Peabody for the documentary "Apollo 11".[148]
^"Cable News: Fact Sheet". Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. June 15, 2016. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
^"CNN Newsource". CNN Newsource. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
^Dickson, Glen (December 15, 2008). "CNN Gets New Graphic Look". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
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