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CNN
For other uses, see CNN (disambiguation).
Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner.12 Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage,3 and the first all-news television network in the United States.4 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.5 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.6 Broadcast coverage extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms,6 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.7 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).8
HistoryEarly history
Main article: History of CNN: 1980-2003
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.9 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, CNN2, was launched on January 1, 1982 and featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts. A year later, it changed its name to "CNN Headline News", and eventually it was simply called "Headline News". (In 2005, Headline News would break from its original format with the addition of Headline Prime, a prime-time programming block that features news commentary; and in 2008 the channel changed its name again, to "HLN".) Recent yearsIn 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.3 Major events
Challenger disasterOn 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 rescueOn 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."10 The Gulf WarThe 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:11
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 effectCoverage 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.12 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."13 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.14 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. On June 3rd and June 5th, CNN teamed up with Saint Anselm College to sponsor the New Hampshire Republican and Democratic Debates15. Later 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.16 In 2008, CNN partnered with The Los Angeles Times to host two primary debates leading up to its coverage of Super Tuesday.17 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.17 ProgrammingCurrent shows
On-air presentationIn December 2008, CNN introduced its new graphics package, a comprehensive redesign replacing the existing style that had been used since 2004.19 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
StaffMain article: List of CNN anchors
Political contributors
Political analysts
High Definition
CNN HD is a 1080i high definition simulcast of CNN that launched in September 2007.22 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 eventsAll 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. 
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.23 CoverageInitial carriage of CNN HD on cable and satellite systems was limited. DirecTV was the first provider to carry it, adding it mid-September 2007.22 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.2425 Verizon is currently in the process of adding CNN HD to its FiOS service on a market by market basis.2627 Online
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.28 
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 2005.29 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.30 As of early 2008, CNN maintains a free live broadcast.31 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.3233 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.34 Specialized channels
Former channels
ExperimentsCNN 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
United States
ControversyMain article: CNN controversies
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.” 37 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.38 Accuracy in Media and the Media Research Center have claimed that CNN's reporting contains liberal editorializing within news stories.3940 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.4142 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.43 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.44 A Chinese website, anti-cnn.com,45 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.4647 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.48 Popular culture
See alsoReferences
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