Changes: CNN

Revision as of 19:54, 8 November 2019

CNN is a news YouTube channel and cable news providers which provide news about politics and current events across the United States and around the world. Most of the videos are short segments from the news that talk about a topic or story such as protest or a response to political leaders. CNN has a liberal bias and some have question the accuracy of the news channel recently including No Bullshit, and the thumbnails are watermarked with CNN. Some videos have pundits who come to CNN and discuss a topic with the news reporters which provides commentary to the news channel which is like an interview. The most popular videos on the channel are small segments that are funny or shocking such as Obama forgetting to salute, cannibalism sects, and cop confrontation.

CNN is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System, which is a subsidiary of Warner Media, and there are other CNN affiliated channels on YouTube. Their main rival from the right is Fox News, and a portion of people do not like CNN as well as Fox News.

Subscriber Milestones

These are based on Socialbalde, and these may vary by a couple days.

1 million subscribers: unknown
2 million subscribers: May 12, 2017
3 million subscribers: February 26, 2018
4 million subscribers: June 29, 2018
5 million subscribers: October 14, 2018
6 million subscribers: February 14, 2019
7 million subscribers: June 24, 2019

History

Early History

The Cable News Network was 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. Burt Reinhardt, the executive vice president of CNN at its launch, hired most of the channel's first 200 employees, including the network's first news anchor, Bernard Shaw.

Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite television providers, several websites, and specialized closed-circuit channels (such as CNN Airport). The company has 42 bureaus (11 domestic, 31 international), more than 900 affiliated local stations (which also receive news and features content via the video newswire service CNN Newsource), and several regional and foreign-language networks around the world. The channel's success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for conglomerate Time Warner's eventual acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System in 1996.

A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1, 1982 and featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts. The channel, which later became known as CNN Headline News and is now known as simply HLN, eventually focused on live news coverage supplemented by personality-based programs during the evening and primetime hours.

Major Events

Gulf War

The first Persian Gulf War in 1991 was a watershed event for CNN that catapulted the channel 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. Operation Desert Storm as captured live on a CNN night vision camera with reporters narrating. The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Shaw on January 16, 1991, as follows:

This is Bernie Shaw. Something is happening outside. ... Peter Arnett, join me here. Let's describe to our viewers what we're seeing... The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated. ... We're seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky.

Unable to immediately broadcast live pictures from Baghdad, CNN's coverage of the initial hours of the Gulf War had the dramatic feel of a radio broadcast – and was compared to legendary CBS news anchor Edward R. Murrow's gripping live radio reports of the German bombing of London during World War II. Despite the lack of live pictures, CNN's coverage was carried by television stations and networks around the world, resulting in CNN being watched by over a billion viewers worldwide.

The Gulf War experience brought CNN some much sought-after legitimacy and made household names of prev

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iously obscure reporters. Shaw, known for his live-from-Bagdhad reporting during the Gulf War, 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 ruthless reporter Adriana Cruz in the 1999 film Three Kings. Time Warner–owned sister network HBO later produced a television movie, Live from Baghdad, about CNN's coverage of the first Gulf War.

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 Attacks

CNN was the first cable news channel to break the news of the September 11 attacks. Anchor Carol

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Lin was on the air to deliver the first public report of the event. She broke into a commercial at 8:49 a.m. Eastern Time that morning and said:

This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

Sean Murtagh, CNN vice president of finance and administration, was the first network employee on the air. He called into CNN Center from his office at CNN's New York City bureau and reported that a commercial jet had hit the Trade Center.

Daryn Kagan and Leon Harris were live on the air just after 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time as the second plane hit the North Tower of 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 and Judy Woodruff anchored through the day and night as the attacks unfolded, winning an Edward R. Murrow award for the network. Brown had just joined CNN from ABC to serve as the breaking news anchor. CNN has made archival files of much of the day's broadcast available in five segments, plus an overview.

2008 US Election

Leading up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, CNN devoted large amounts of its coverage to politics, i

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ncluding hosting candidate debates during the Democratic and Republican primary seasons. On June 3 and 5, CNN teamed up with Saint Anselm College to sponsor the New Hampshire Republican and Democratic Debates. Later in 2007, the channel 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.

2016 US Election

Driven by live coverage of the year's US presidential election, 2016 was CNN's most-watched year in its history. Throughout the campaign, the network aired unedited coverage of many of the Trump campaign rallies. Aides for Republican candidates Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Ted Cruz accused CNN President Jeff Zucker of undermining their candidates during the Republican primaries. After the election, Zucker acknowledged that it was a mistake to air so many of the campaign rallies. CNN also drew criticism during the election for hiring former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was still being paid by and was effectively working on behalf of the campaign.

Trump Presidency, AT&T Ownership

The presidency of Donald Trump has led to many prominent controversies involving CNN. The network was

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accused by critics of giving disproportionate amounts of coverage to Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. CNN president Jeff Zucker defended CNN against the criticism, commenting that out of the Republican candidates, Trump was the most willing to give on-air interviews. Trump commented upon the allegations during his speech at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), jokingly referring to CNN as the "Clinton News Network".

In January 2017, CNN reported that Trump had been briefed on a classified dossier which detailed compromising personal and financial information allegedly obtained by the Russian government. While CNN did not publish the dossier, Trump criticized the network during a press conference the following day, and refused to take a question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta, claiming that the network was "fake news". On June 26, 2017, CNN investigative journalists Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris voluntarily resigned after the network retracted an online article which incorrectly connected Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci to a $10 billion Russian investment fund. The network apologized to Scaramucci and admitted that the online story did not meet their editorial standards.[42] Zucker responded by stressing that the network needs to "play error-free ball" when it comes to any future stories about Trump.

In July 2017, Trump posted a video on Twitter of himself tackling Vince McMahon on the ground during WrestleMania 23, edited to replace McMahon's face with the CNN logo. The clip was considered to be a further expression of his opinions regarding the network's quality of coverage. Several media columnists and Democratic politicians condemned the retweeted video, concerned that its substance—given the tone of some of Trump's criticism of mainstream media outlets for what he deems as unfavorable coverage of him and his presidency—could encourage some of his extreme right-wing supporters to commit violence against journalists from outlets outside of the conservative media spectrum. Later that month, a group of Democratic United States Senators, led by Amy Klobuchar, issued a request for information over allegations that the Trump administration was planning to use CNN as "leverage for political gain" in the process of clearing the proposed acquisition of its parent company Time Warner by AT&T—a purchase which was first announced in October 2016. The Daily Caller reported that, in particular, the administration was seeking the removal of Jeff Zucker as CNN president. Although Trump had promised to block the acquisition entirely during his presidential campaign, Trump's transition team later stated that the government planned to evaluate the deal without prejudice.

Following the announcement of the acquisition, AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson stated that the company was "committed to continuing the editorial independence of CNN". In August 2017, Deadline Hollywood reported that AT&T had considered spinning off CNN and its stake in TMZ post-acquisition.[52] In October 2017, Stephenson downplayed the possibility that the ongoing tensions between Trump and CNN could affect the deal, stating that he "[didn't] know what the relevance of CNN is in terms of an antitrust review", and that AT&T did not plan to make managerial changes to Time Warner properties that were operating well, such as CNN. Later that month, CNN launched a new promotional campaign, "Facts First", in an effort to combat negative perceptions over the quality of its reporting. Using an apple to demonstrate metaphors for fake news and "alternative facts" (in particular, suggesting that one could persistently opine that the apple was actually a banana), the ads publicize a commitment to prioritizing accurate, fact-based reporting before presenting opinions on a particular story. The ad became the subject of parodies, including one by The Daily Caller (which reversed the ad, and amended the slogan with "unless we are reporting on Trump"), and Stephen Colbert (which closed with the line "Now orange you ready to impeach?"), and was criticized by conservative publishers, Republican politicians, and on social media.

On November 6, 2017, Stephenson met with Makan Delrahim, assistant Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, to discuss antitrust and concentration of media ownership concerns surrounding the acquisition, and possible options for satisfying them. Two days later, major media outlets publicly reported that the Justice Department had recommended that either the entire Turner Broadcasting System unit, or DirecTV, be divested as a condition of the merger. The Financial Times went further, stating that it had specifically demanded the divestment of CNN. Stephenson denied these reports, stating that he never offered to, nor had any intentions to sell CNN. CNN's media correspondent Brian Stelter noted that media outlets were interpreting the alleged recommendations as being either a genuine concern for AT&T's scale following the merger, or a retaliatory measure by the Trump administration against CNN.

At the DealBook conference in New York City the next day, Stephenson denied that the Department had demanded the divestment of CNN at all (stating that he had "never been told that the price of getting the deal done was selling CNN"), and that the company aimed to "get to a negotiated settlement". However, he stated that if they were unable to do so, AT&T was "prepared to litigate". In a statement to CNBC, a Department of Justice official backed Stephenson, denying that there were any specific demands to divest CNN during the discussion, and considering the claims to be "shocking" and an attempt to politicize the situation. The official added that the Department had officially recommended either abandoning the deal entirely, or divesting DirecTV or Turner, but that it was open to other options for quelling antitrust concerns. The same day, the watchdog group Protect Democracy sued the Department of Justice to seek information on whether the Trump administration had "improperly interfered with the Department's review of the merger between AT&T and Time Warner, or has acted in that matter based on the President's personal dislike of CNN's protected speech." The group had issued a Freedom of Information Act request for these details, but the Department had not responded. On November 20, 2017, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit over the acquisition.

The proposed merger was affirmed on June 12, 2018, after District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in favor of AT&T in the lawsuit. The merger closed two days later, with the company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T under the renamed parent company WarnerMedia. Under a proposed reorganization announced in March 2019 (which will involve the dissolution of Turner Broadcasting), AT&T stated that CNN would be moved into a new "WarnerMedia News & Sports" division led by Jeff Zucker, adding Turner Sports and the AT&T SportsNet regional sports networks to his oversight.

On May 6, 2019, CNN launched a new studio at 30 Hudson Yards, as part of the migration of WarnerMedia's operations to the facility from the former Time Warner Center. In late May 2019, CNN International announced it was reducing its programming and staff based in London to reduce costs, with CNNI losing $10 million per year.

This page was created by Johncocek3 on June 24, 2019.

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