Cable News Network

The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. It is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, owned by Time Warner. CNN introduced the idea of 24-hour television news coverage, and celebrated its 25th anniversary on June 1, 2005.

In terms of cumulative (Cume) Nielsen ratings, CNN rates as America's #1 cable news network. CNN broadcasts primarily from its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta, and from studios in New York City and Washington, DC. As of December 2004, it is available in 88.2 million U.S. households and more than 890,000 American hotel rooms. The U.S version of CNN is also shown in Canada. Globally, the network 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.

History

Since CNN's launch on June 1 1980, the network has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite television networks (such as CNN Headline News), 12 web sites, two private place-based networks (such as CNN Airport Network), and two radio networks. The network has 42 bureaus around the world and more than 900 affiliates worldwide. CNN has launched many regional and foreign-language networks around the world. CNN debuted its news website CNN.com (then referred to as CNN Interactive) on August 30 1995.

A television movie, Live from Baghdad, was later made about the network's coverage of the first gulf war. Coverage of this and other conflicts and crises of the early 1990s (including, perhaps most famously, the Battle of Mogadishu) led to the coining of the term "the CNN effect", which testified to the perceived impact its pioneering real time, 24 hour news coverage had in influencing the decision-making processes of the American government.

CNN is still, however, second in world rankings when it comes to international news coverage, getting just over half of the audience the BBC does, perhaps due to its relative youth compared to the oldest largest news and broadcasting institution in the world. The BBC differs from CNN International which uses local reporters in many of its news-gathering centers, although they cover stories from an international (some would still say U.S.) perspective.

On September 11 2001, CNN was the first network to break news of what would prove to be the September 11 attacks. Anchor Carol Lin was on the air at that time. Sean Murtagh, CNN vice-president for finance & administration, was the first network employee to get on the air.

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.

Jim Walton is the president of CNN Worldwide. The current President of CNN/U.S. is Jonathan Klein. He was appointed in November 2004.

In 2006, reacting to the wide-spread growth of social media and user-generated content, 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.

Bureaus

CNN News Bureaus, as listed on the CNN site, accessed July 2006. ██ countries with a CNN bureau ██ US states with a CNN bureau

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

United States

• Atlanta (Headquarters), Georgia
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Chicago, Illinois
• Dallas, Texas
• Los Angeles, California
• Miami, Florida
• New Orleans, Louisana
• New York City
• San Francisco California
• Seattle, Washington
• Washington, D.C.

Worldwide

Amman, Jordan (small bureau) Athens, Greece (small bureau) Baghdad, Iraq Bangkok, Thailand Berlin, Germany Beijing, China Beirut, Lebanon Bogotá, Colombia (small bureau) Brussels, Belgium (small bureau) Buenos Aires, Argentina Cairo, Egypt Dubai, United Arab Emirates Frankfurt, Germany (small bureau) Havana, Cuba Hong Kong, China (Asian regional headquarters) Islamabad, Pakistan

Istanbul, Turkey Jakarta, Indonesia Jerusalem, Israel Johannesburg, South Africa Lagos, Nigeria London, United Kingdom (European regional headquarters) Madrid, Spain Manila, Philippines (small bureau) Mexico City, Mexico Moscow, Russia Nairobi, Kenya (small bureau) New Delhi, India Rome, Italy Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (small bureau) São Paulo, Brazil (small bureau) Seoul, South Korea Tokyo, Japan

Controversies and allegations of bias

CNN has not been immune from criticism in its production of news programming. These are controversies and allegations of bias that have been directed at CNN (these refer to both the domestic version of CNN and CNN International):

Accusations of bias

CNN has come under criticism by conservatives claiming that CNN has liberal bias. Critics, such as Accuracy in Media and MRC, have claimed that CNN's reporting contains liberal editorializing within news stories, and have jokingly referred to CNN as the "Clinton News Network," the "Communist News Network," "Chicken Noodle News," or "Clearly Not Neutral".

Some liberal observers have claimed that CNN has a conservative bias. For example, media watchdog Media Matters has documented several hundred separate instances of what it sees as conservative editorializing during CNN broadcasts.

CNN had also been criticized for excessively pushing 'human interest' stories and avoiding depictions of the violent images of events during the Iraq war; the result of all this being an alleged 'propagandistic' presentation of news. Some critics have claimed that this constitutes a systematic bias in favour of the war. It is also under fire for showing too much entertainment stories and as the founder Ted Turner said "the perverted of the day".

Leniency towards George W. Bush administration

Amongst the criticisms levied against CNN, as well as the other major US news channels, is the charge that CNN took a lenient approach to the Bush administration, particularly after the terrorists attacks of September 11th 2001. At the 2002 Newsworld Asia conference held in Singapore, Rena Golden, the executive vice-president and general manager of CNN International, was quoted as saying: "Anyone who claims the US media didn’t censor itself is kidding you. It wasn’t a matter of government pressure but a reluctance to criticize anything in a war that was obviously supported by the vast majority of the people. And this isn’t just a CNN issue — every journalist who was in any way involved in 9/11 is partly responsible."

Critics take particularly strong exception to the handling of the Bush administrations rhetoric leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. CNN’s own veteran reporter Christiane Amanpour characterized the behavior of the news media as "self-muzzling" and as "cheerleaders for the Bush war drive against Iraq". CNN coverage of the Iraq war has been criticized by international journalists for much the same reason. An editorial in the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung compared CNN war coverage to "live coverage of the Super Bowl", and the Qatar based Al Jazeera has long criticized CNN for selectively portraying US soldiers as heroes. It should be noted that the bulk of the criticism is directed towards the version of CNN broadcasted within the United States; CNN International is considered more 'sober'.

CNN's Iraq war coverage has been repeatedly criticized as pro-US, and several online news sources have been highly critical of an alleged pro-war slant.[1][2]

Temporary ban from Iran for mistranslation

In January 2006, CNN was banned in Iran as an expression of condemnation when CNN mistranslated a live broadcast of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. In the translation, CNN quoted Ahmedinejad as saying "the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right." According to a release from the Iranian government, the president said "Iran has the right to nuclear energy." and went on to say "a nation that has civilization does not need nuclear weapons and our nation does not need them." The ban was lifted a day later after CNN issued an official apology for the mistranslation.

Alleged propaganda outlet for Insurgents

In October 2006, Press Secretary Tony Snow accused CNN of "propagandizing" the American public. Insurgents located in Iraq had filmed some of their attacks on American soldiers. CNN obtained the tapes from the insurgents and rebroadcast them in America weeks before national elections were to occur. Snow said during a press conference, "your network has shown pictures of snipers hitting Americans, which was used as a propaganda tool, so the fact is that — it shows real sophistication on the part of these guys, because it creates the impression that Americans are sitting ducks, and that these guys are capable, when, in fact, while you have a capable enemy, they're dying in much greater numbers and suffering much greater damage." As a result of CNN's news reports, Representative Duncan Hunter asked The Pentagon to remove embedded CNN reporters, claiming that "C-N-N has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier."

Opinion Research Corporation

On January 12th, 2007, Opinion Research Corporation announced a "formal polling partnership" with CNN. Since ORC's parent company, InfoUSA, is controlled by Vinod Gupta, a noted donor to, fundraiser for, and supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, critics have questioned the reliability of opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election regarding Hillary Clinton's likely 2008 presidential run.

CNN's Place in Society

Despite numerous criticisms, Ted Turner's network is considered the western standard in international news and a pioneer in its genre. CNN was the first 24 hour news network to reach prominence. It utilized the increasingly ubiquitous medium of cable television to reach more people with more news than ever previously thought possible. The presence of a national news network gives the ability to reach people across the country with one voice. Also, the 24 hour medium lets people receive up to date current events any time of day rather than having to wait for the evening news, as was formerly the case during the reign of network news broadcasts.

CNN has inspired other such 24 hour news networks as al Jazeera and the BBC. The presence of these followers suggests that 24 hour news networks are viable and useful the world over.

External links

• Official Site (U.S. Edition)
• CNN International
• New Georgia Encyclopedia: CNN
• CNN Mashup
• Pipe 1
• Pipe 2
• Pipe 3
• Pipe 4
• Alternet
• CNN Exposed
• Media Matters
• CNN's Pakistan bias
• Sulekha Press Release on CNN 'pro-Pakistan bias'
• Jon Stewart on CNN on ifilm.com.

Credits

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