On-air presentation

On January 10, 2011, CNN introduced its most recent graphics package, in conjunction with the network-wide switch to a 16:9 letterbox format from 4:3. Both of CNN's standard-definition and high-definition feeds now carry the same 16:9 format; however, video footage broadcast in standard-definition on either feed is not pillarboxed, leaving black bars on the right and left sides of the screen as well as the top and bottom of the screen. World Business Today and World One, which both began to be simulcast from CNN International on January 17, 2011, are however both broadcast in the 4:3 picture format on the CNN SD feed.

Former programs

Staff

Political contributors

Political analysts

High definition

Starting late 2010, the domestic version CNN/U.S., is available in high definition to viewers in Japan under the name CNN HD. If this is a one-off case or the beginning of an international roll-out of CNN HD with more countries to come is unclear.

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

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 channel's CNN-YouTube presidential debates and for presidential candidate interviews.

Coverage

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. 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 broadcast 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 channel'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 news gathering (DNG) system. The first use of what would later win CNN this award was in April 2001 when CNN correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver covered, and were detained, 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. This DNG workflow is used today by the network to receive material world wide using an Apple MacBook Pro, various prosumer and professional digital cameras, software from Streambox Inc., and BGAN terminals from Hughes Network Systems.

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. However, most of the news archived on the website has been deleted.

CNN also has a channel in the popular video-sharing site YouTube, but its videos can only be viewed in the United States, a source of criticism among YouTube users worldwide.

In April 2010, CNN announced via Twitter its upcoming food blog called "Eatocracy," in which it will "cover all news related to food – from recalls to health issues to culture."

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.

Specialized channels

Former channels

Experiments

Bureaus

United States

Worldwide

Controversy

CNN has been accused of perpetrating media bias for allegedly promoting both a conservative and a liberal agenda based on previous incidents. 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. June 5, 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. Others have echoed that criticism, especially in light of CNN's drop in the ratings.

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 channel 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.

In June 2009, musician M.I.A. stated she did an hour-long interview with CNN condemning the mass bombing and Tamil civilian fatalities at the hands of Government forces in Sri Lanka in 16 weeks the same year, "and they cut it down to one minute and made it about my single “Paper Planes.” When I went to the Grammys, I saw the same reporter from CNN, and I was like, “Why did you do that?” And she said, “Because you used the G-word.” "Genocide. I guess you’re not allowed to say that on CNN," raising questions concerning CNN's coverage and commitment to free speech.

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.

On July 7, 2010, Octavia Nasr, senior Middle East editor and a CNN journalist for 20 years, was fired after she expressed on her Twitter account admiration for a liberal-minded Muslim cleric who had recently died, casting doubts on the company's commitment to freedom of speech.

On October 1, 2010, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was fired after remarks he made during an interview with comedian Pete Dominick at a radio show the previous day about prejudices he faced during his television career, at CNN and jokes about him by comedian Jon Stewart. Calling him a "bigot" before retracting this and describing him instead as "prejudiced" and "uninformed", the interviewer invoked Stewart's faith as an example of how Stewart was "a minority as much as you are". Sanchez stated his view that Jewish people were not an oppressed minority in America, and his view that "everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart" before stating "And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart."

References

External links

Category:24-hour television news channels in the United States Category:English-language television stations in the United States Category:Companies based in Atlanta, Georgia Category:Time Warner subsidiaries Category:Digital only radio stations Category:DuPont-Columbia Award recipients Category:Peabody Award winners Category:Sirius Satellite Radio channels Category:Television channels and stations established in 1980 Category:1980 establishments in the United States Category:XM Satellite Radio channels Category:Multilingual news services Category:Video on demand services