Look at the pictures in this article. There are two things common in all of them: All of them are covering protests and all of them are CNN reporters.
When covering breaking news CNN reporters on the ground usually make it clear that they are from CNN: they wear the CNN jacket, their microphone bears CNN branding and they usually wear CNN caps as well.
But notice that this is no longer the case. In the face of how the media got this election terribly wrong, and that trust in the media is at its all time lowest and sinking further, CNN seems to no longer be comfortable having their reporters be visibly identifiable by protestors.
By having their reporters go unmarked into protests as if they were local news reporters (In the US, local news has a trust level and is less controversially perceived compared to the big cable news networks like CNN and Fox News), CNN is acknowledging their own role in creating the situation as it is and are hedging against potential retaliation from the protestors.
In prior protests relating to issues the media had a smaller role in creating, when protestors identified someone from CNN, they would often start chanting 'F**k CNN' live on air or even try to intimidate the reporter.
CNN this past week that the news broadcaster will do something for the first time in its over thirty years of existence: Publish a book. About what topic? The US elections, of course, appropriately titled, 'Unprecedented.'
The book will be written by Thomas Lake, who is a writer for CNN Politics. The book's forward will be written by Jake Tapper, host of CNN's State of the Union (Sundays 4pm CAT) and will feature an introduction written by historian Douglas Brinkley.
The book will features stories from the campaign trail and behind the scenes stories from CNN's large amount of campaign trail reporters and producers.
As seen above, the book has one of two possible covers depending on who wins the election (Wonder what would happen if a third party candidate won?).
The book will be released December 6th, nearly a month after election day on November 8th. (Could someone please put it in my Christmas stocking?)
CNNi (DStv 401) today announced that the channel will be adding a new American politics news show to its schedule.
The show, to be anchored by Congressional correspondent, Kate Bolduan, will be called 'State of the race' and will air daily at 8:30pm CAT on CNNi. It will broadcast from New York.
“This has already been a race like no other, and it is clear there is a lot more to come,” said Bolduan. “Every night we’re going to bring our international audiences along for the ride – offering the very latest developments from the campaign trail and giving them the inside scoop of what is really going on within the campaigns and in the minds of American vote
'State of the Race' joins the channels now growing coverage on the race to the white house, which includes the daily 'Wolf' (7pm CAT) and the weekly Political Mann (various air times).
The channel has not said what will happen to Zain Asher, who previously anchored the timeslot.
Eleni Giokos will once again be filling in for an anchor on a CNN business news show this week.
This time it will be CNNMoney with Maggie Lake (though Eleni Giokos, even though Maggie Lake's name is in the show's name). Whilst Quest Means Business' broadcast time is at the end of the US business day, CNNMoney airs at the start, so it is kind of a change of gear for Giokos since the last time anchoring.
Eleni's odd tour of CNN's US bureaux continues this week. Three weeks ago she filled in for Richard Quest on Quest Means Business and then flew down to Atlanta (where the version of CNN we receive in South Africa originates from) to meet up with the Marketplace Africa team, a show she regularly contributes to but never gets to see the people that put it together on the other side of the world.
CNNMoney with Maggie Lake airs daily at 3pm CAT on DStv 401.
CNN today, 15 February announced that it will be rolling out its commerce-centric news brand, CNNMoney, internationally.
The move comes 20 months after CNN bought out Money Magazine and Fortune's stake in the business (the business was a joint venture between the three Time Warner-owned enterprises) back in June 2014, with CNN president, Jeff Zucker, promising better synergies of the brand across all of CNN's properties, of which CNNi (DStv 401) is one.
As CNN has been cutting costs across the business, one division that has constantly been expanding is CNNMoney, which today announced further new hires in London, Dubai, New Delhi and Hong Kong.
“By uniting our portfolio of U.S. and international business reporting under the CNNMoney brand, we now offer an even more compelling product to globally-minded consumers hungry for a smart, accessible business and financial news experience – everywhere in the world,” said CNN International senior vice president and general manager Mike McCarthy in a statement.
When the CNNMoney brand was introduced on the US feed of CNN, various on air programmes and segments were rebranded. The same now applies to the international expansion:
World Business Today (4pm CAT, DStv 401) is now CNNMoney with Maggie Lake
The Business View with Nina dos Santos is now CNN Money View, which is a rather odd name.
Also, you can expect a few tweaks on Quest Means Business.
There have also been new titles allocated to various personalities:
Richard Quest, anchor of Quest Means Business (daily, 23:00 CAT) becomes the division's editor-at-large
John Deftarios is now the CNNMoney Emerging Markets Editor
Eleni Giokos is now formally the African business correspondent based in Johannesburg
Anderson Cooper, host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 (Tuesday to Saturday morning at 3am), and comedienne, Kathy Griffin, will once again ring in the new year in the US's Eastern Time Zone, live from Time Square.
Last year the show ran for the longest time in its history, kicking off at 9pm (US Eastern Time) and averaged just over 2 million viewers. Back then, they joked on air as they had no idea how they would fill all the extra time. Well these jokes were not heard by CNN's higher ups as the show will now start yet another hour earlier at 8pm US Eastern Time and run to 12:30am New Years Day (That is, 3am South African Time on Friday morning to 7:30am). The major US New Year's Eve Show, Dick Clarke's New Years Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest (that is the actual long name), also starts at 8pm US Time, but the difference is they are stacking the show with 38 musical performances whilst Cooper and Griffin will have none.
I doubt filling the time for these two is that hard though. They are real life friends and that chemistry shines through the broadcast, especially Cooper's reaction to Griffin's often too edgy jokes. The big joke last year was when Griffin dyed Cooper's hair on air without him knowing.
They will not be alone, however. Richard Quest will provide coverage from inside the crowd in Time Square, whilst Poppy Harlow will be all the way in Rio. Randi Kaye will provide coverage from Memphis and Gary Tuchman in Hershey, Pa.
Cooper and Griffin sign off from their marathon broadcast at 12:30am (7:30am here in SA) when Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon (host of CNN Tonight, Tuesday through Saturday morning at 4am) will take over the broadcast from New Orleans to usher in the New Year in the US's Central Time Zone.
CNN, the world's news leader, and MTN, the biggest cellphone network on the continent, have today announced plans to launch a new app together called "Africa View."
The app is only one part of a new, larger deal between the two organisations, which also covers sponsorships, advertising and also other digital components, to be revealed at a later date.
The ‘Africa View’ app curates CNN’s extensive Africa content, including the network’s ‘Africa View’ weekly infographic content (which airs during commericals), providing background and context to trends, figures and initiatives shaping the African continent. Furthermore, it will feature content from CNN's African shows, "Inside Africa" and "Marketplace Africa." Being a CNN app, "Africa View" will of course also feature the latest breaking news and analysis from across the continent pushed to subscribers' phones.
The content of the app is said to be 'editorially independent,' (whatever that means in this case: independent from MTN? CNN? Some other organisation) and will feature prominent advertising from MTN.
MTN has been a part of the Africa View programme since February this year, when it started sponsoring the Africa View Segments that air during Connect the World. Features of the Africa View app include:
Latest Africa news and headlines
Weekly updates of ‘Africa View’ segment content
Premium content of CNN International’s Africa features shows ‘Inside Africa’ and ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’
Customised push notifications
Ability to save favourite stories and continue reading offline (which comes in handy in some locations where coverage is patchy)
The app is initially available for Apple devices and Android devices, and can also be found in the MTN Play Store.
Back in July I said that Eleni Giokos was the biggest free agent in South African journalism following her departure from Bloomberg when it shut its Bloomberg Africa division.
Now, just a few hours ago, it was announced that Eleni Giokos will be joining CNN as a South African-based business correspondent, focussing on African financial issues. She will be working out of the Johannesburg Bureau. She will also obviously be contributing to shows like African Voices and Marketplace Africa.
Early in her career, Giokos was a reporter-anchor at CNBC Africa before joining the then eNews Channel in a role that was yet to be decided. Initially she did fill in anchoring, mainly as the prime time business anchor and reporting on financial issues before settling on the mid morning slot. Whilst at the then eNews Channel, Giokos covered stories like the World Economic Forum from Davos.
She left the renamed eNCA in October 2013 after being offered a senior position at the newly launched Bloomberg TV Africa, but was left out in the cold when earlier this year Bloomberg shut its African division as part of budget cuts. Since then she has done freelance work for South African news outlets like eNCA and 5FM before finally signing with CNN today.
Eleni is the third major eNCA almni to join CNN in the past year or so, joining the likes of Derek van Dam and Robyn Kriel who joined CNN from the South African news channel.
She joins CNN's ever expanding financial news division, which includes the highly successful cnnmoney.com brand. In addition, she joins an ever expanding African presence by CNN which includes Robyn Kriel in East Africa, David McKenzie in South Africa and Soni Methu throughout the rest of the pan African region.
To announce her signing with CNN, Giokos tweeted, "Beyond excited to announce that I've just joined @cnni," followed by retweets of congratulations throughout the day.
Mike McCarthy, Senior Vice President, Programming, at CNN International, said: “Eleni is an enormously talented and versatile broadcaster. She has interviewed world leaders, covered major breaking news stories, and presented network feature programmes. Her appointment underlines our commitment to African stories and African audiences. We’re delighted to have her here at CNN.”
Her first day on air was actually today at 17:15 with an interview with Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub on Marketplace Africa.
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On May 13th, 2013 Giokos hosted Richard Quest from CNN on her then usual slot on eNCA when Quest was in South Africa. Check out the videos below:
That evening, Giokos also appeared live on Quest Means Business, which was anchored live from CNN's Johannesburg bureau, which will be Giokos' new workplace.
CNN's East African Correspondent, Robyn Kriel, has made the list of The Mail and Guardian's now annual Young South Africans List.
Before joining CNN, she was eNCA's Chief African Correspondent (and before that, East African Bureau Chief), covering stories like the Westgate Mall attack.
She grew up in the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo and has previously worked based in Johannesburg and also at a local station in Texas before joining eNCA.
CNN's current Beijing correspondent, David McKenzie will soon be relocating to the news organisation's Johannesburg bureau.
This comes months after Robyn Curnow, along with her husband and former bureau head, Kim Norgaard, both relocated from the Johannesburg bureau to take up positions at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, GA.
Since Curnow left, various international correspondents would make their way to South Africa to cover news events to fill the void.
Now, McKenzie, who was previously based in Johannesburg before being moved elsewhere, takes up the position of Johannesburg correspondent permanently.
Today, June 1st 2015, marks exactly 35 years since the Cable News Network took to the air in 1980.
Wolf Blitzer, anchor of "Wolf" which airs daily at 7pm CAT
What started out as a vision of media tycoon, Ted Turner, has paved the way for many more news networks all around the world today.
Even CNN itself has grown to consist of a family of international channels:
There is CNNUS: The CNN seen in the United States which is currently the third most watched news channel stateside behind MSNBC and Fox News
There is HLN: WHat started as CNN2 and was meant to be a simple news channel that gave you the headlines whenever you tuned in has evolved into a news channel for the social media generation.
There is CNN International (The version seen in South Africa) which is the most watched 24 hour news channel in the world.
There is the Spanish CNN Espaniol.
There is CNN News source, which is a news wire for local stations in the US.
Then there are many local versions of the most trusted name in news all around the world: CNN Türk, CNN Chile, CNN-IBN (an Indian channel), CNN Indonesia and the recently launched CNN Phillipines.
Erin Burnett, anchor of Erin Burnett Outfront that airs weekends on CNN
What makes CNN different from other news channels is the shear amount of resources they invest into covering major breaking news stories and their philosophy of staying with a story until the end. Both of these factors have been a source of ridicule as well. When covering the US midterm elections last year the channel was ridiculed for 'over covering' the event by having more than 20 live reporters standing by to break election results as they came in, though many of these reporters were, in fact, never used. Their philosophy of staying with a news story until the end came under fire with the disappearance of flight MH370 when CNN seemed to cover the story non stop for 24 hours at a time, even when there was absolutely no news to report.
Jake Tapper, CNN's Chief Washington Correspondent and the new anchor of State of the Union, which airs on Sunday afternoons
But what is key to the success of CNN is probably the networks ability to evolve. Though CNN on television in the US is struggling in the ratings race, CNN's online properties: CNNMoney, CNNPolitics and cnn.com are all among the most popular websites in their respective categories as a result of a great deal of investment in them from an early stage already.
CNN's "Golden Boy," Anderson Cooper, who gets to fly around the world to cover major breaking news and also anchors Anderson Cooper 360, which airs at 2am Tuesday through Saturday mornings
Below is "Breaking News: 35 Years of CNN," a CNN Special Report discussing all the major news stories CNN has covered over the years:
Below is the internal memo on the celebration of 35 years of CNN by current the current president of CNN Worldwide, Jeff Zucker:
June 1, 2015 Thirty five years ago today, Ted Turner and CNN made history. It was June 1, 1980.
Ted was a maverick, filled with big dreams and unlimited ambition.
Before anyone else, he realized there was a market, and a need, for a
television network devoted to news and information, 24 hours a day. It
was brilliant and radical.
Thirty-five years later, we are still making history, every day. In a
world that changes so fast you can now get the news on your wrist, one
thing remains constant: CNN is always there.
I’ve been fortunate to read some of your memories of your time at
CNN. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning, or you joined more
recently, a couple things struck me about the stories I read. CNN is a
family. We have our ups and our downs, we have good days and bad. We
celebrate our collective successes, and mourn our common losses. We have
our share of quirky uncles and embarrassing moments. We work
tremendously hard because we know how important it is that we get it
right, every time.
The world relies on CNN, so it matters that CNN is good. We take our
work seriously, because we know we have a responsibility to maintain the
standards that Ted set 35 years ago. He founded CNN to act upon our
convictions, to be a positive force in a world where cynics abound, and
to provide information to people where it isn’t readily available. We
live up to those ambitious goals every day – whether we are covering a
story, moderating a debate, pushing an interview subject just a bit
harder, developing a new way to get our reporting to the people who want
it, or serving as the world’s most trusted news brand.
Most of what has made CNN great for 35 years was happening long
before I got here. My hope is, with the help of each of you, the next 35
years are even greater. Thank you for all you do.
Jeff
You can follow the celebrations on Twitter using the hashtag #CNN35
eNCA's excellent Chief African Correspondent, Robyn Kriel, has left South Africa's most watched news channel to take up the position of East African Correspondent at CNN.
This follows about a month after she reported for CNN on the Kenyan university massacre. At the time she reported for CNN as part of CNN's affiliation agreement with eNCA.
Robyn Kriel holds degrees in broadcast journalism and musical theatre from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Her first job in broadcast journalism was at Texas station KWTX. In 2007 she moved back to her home country of Zimbabwe and did freelance reporting for networks like CNN, ABC in the US, BBC, and M-Net's Carte Blanche, among others.
She moved to South Africa to join what was then called the eNews Channel (now eNCA) in June of 2008 and was a weekend, late night, holiday and fill in anchor. In 2010 Robyn attended Duke University as a Menell Fellow, representing eNCA. In August of 2011, she took up the position of East Africa Bureau Chief at the time the channel was expanding its coverage on African issues. In October last year when the Africa division was restructured, Robyn was given the title of Chief African correspondent, though still based in Kenya.
Below is a video from 2011 when US first lady Michell Obama paid tribute to her at the Young African Women Leaders Forum:
One could speculate that her jumping to CNN could have something to do with eNCA recently shutting down its African division, which has resulted in staff layoffs and the cancellation of the long running African news magazine show, Africa 360.
At CNN Kriel will continue to provide the excellent coverage of happenings in East Afican countries like Kenya, where the government is continuing to tackle the issue of militant group al-Shabaab, among other news.
A few of Robyn's now former colleagues and other personalities have taken to Twitter to congratulate her on the move. Here are some of them:
eNCA's Social Media Editor (and fill in anchor), Gareth Edwards tweeted:
I could not be prouder of my (now former) colleague @robynkrielCNN who has joined @cnni as a Correspondent. Talented beyond measure!!
CNN (DStv 401) has announced that Senior Washington Correspondent, Jake Tapper, will take up the position of permanent host of their Sunday politics show, State of the Union.
This follows months after long time host, Candy Crowley, unceremoniously left CNN late last year, with many inside sources claiming she was pushed out.
Since then, the Sunday show, which airs live in the afternoon here in South Africa followed by a repeat later at night, has been hosted by a rotating group of guest hosts, all of which hold positions within CNN currently.
Tapper joined CNN at the end of 2012 from the US's ABC News and has been covering news from Washington, D.C. for over 14 years. Early in 2013 he launched The Lead, a daily news show on CNN in the US that is often critically acclaimed as being the best news show on cable news.
“I am thrilled that Jake will take on this additional role at such a pivotal time in the election cycle,” CNN president Jeff Zucker
said in a statement. “He has the perfect combination of skills that
make him uniquely qualified — he’s a relentless reporter, a gifted
storyteller, and a terrific interviewer who doesn’t stop until he gets
answers. We are lucky to have him on both ‘The Lead’ [which airs on the US version of CNN] and ‘State of the
Union.'”
He is not entirely unknown to South African viewers though. Whenever there is major breaking news events from the U.S. or around the world, he would often step in as anchor, and during last year's US mid term elections he co-anchored the channel's coverage with Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer.
Jake Tapper takes over as the new host of CNN's State of the Union in June.
CNNi, DStv 401, has announced their broadcast plans for the May 7th UK Elections.
The channel's coverage on the evening will be anchored by The World Right Now's Hala Gorani and also Max Foster who will be anchoring from across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster, providing viewers with on the ground coverage on what is to be the UK's most hotly contested election in quite a few years.
The eccentric Richard Quest from Quest Means Business will fly to London and provide rolling reportage from the top of one of London's signature open top buses as it travels around the city to voter hotspots picking up a diverse group of guests en route.
Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpour will be stationed outside the House of Parliament where she will be joined by analysts who will be providing commentary throughout the night.
The Business View's Nina dos Santos will be in the comfort of the CNN London studio from which she will be doing the number crunching and touch screen analysis that is now standard with the coverage of any election.
Lastly, correspondent Phil Black will be stationed in Edinbugh providing insight as things unfold for the Scottish national Party.
[Noticeably absent from the coverage is Becky Anderson]
The coverage will go right through the night, preempting all scheduled programming including all programmes anchored by the anchors of the covergae and also shows like CNN Today with Michael Holmes and Amara Walker and also Anderson Cooper 360, which airs at 2am.
But before then, CNN will be broadcasting a special interactive debate with the contenders in the election this Friday evening, April 24th, anchored by Christiane Amanpour and Max Foster.
Conservative peer Baroness Neville Jones, Labour’s Chris Bryant, Liberal
Democrat peer Lord Steel, UKIP’s Louise Bours, and the SNP’s Humza
Yousaf will participate in the debate.
The debate will take place at the McLaren Technology Group’s new
Thought Leadership Centre, in front of a specially selected audience
designed to represent the UK electorate.
As part of the debate the studio audience will be invited to give its
take on key issues, with the results displayed in real time on the
debate floor. Topics such as immigration, Europe, the health service,
the economy, and Britain’s place in the world are up for discussion.
Gill Penlington, Director of Programming, EMEA, at CNN International
said in a statement: “There is huge interest in the UK election from an international
perspective, especially with so many issues that transcend this
country’s borders. This debate is the perfect chance to explore those
issues, as well as get a genuinely representative picture of the UK
electorate’s views on them. It should be a fascinating debate at a key
point in the campaign.”
The debate airs this Friday on CNNi (DStv 401) at 8pm.
The current Xenophobic outbreak seen across South Africa headlined today's edition on CNNi's (DStv 401) flagship programme, Amanpour (guest hosted by CNN Correspondent Fred Pleitgen ).
Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, was the first guest on the programme, and straight off the bat mentioned that South Africa welcomes immigrants from across the South African continent and that they [ SA citizens I suppose] appreciate their contribution to the country's economy and that nothing justifies the current violence. He also mentioned that the president has put together a task team to deal with the issue. He then spoke about what has been done, including who they met with, including the Zulu king and groups representing foreigners.
Fred then asked whether the fact that the government was helping those that want to leave the country do so sent a message that they not really wanted in South Africa, to which Gigaba responded that they doing this to not put these individuals in harm's way. Gigaba also mentioned that it was an 'exaggeration' that the leadership of South Africa contributed to the current situation.
The next guest was 'popular' political commentator Eusibius McKaiser [who appeared on SABC3's 3 Talk with Noleen for the final time earlier in the day] who immediately got to respond to Gigaba's comments, which he said though had a few good points, over stated the on the ground presence to deal with the issues. He then continued to paint South Africa with a very negative brush, stating that 'all' South Africans speak the language of violence and highighted that SOuth Africa has the worst inequality 'in the world,' unemployment is 40%, higher than what it actually is (both that of the active and inactive labour force). They could really have found a better guest to discuss the issue, and I will leave it at that.
Overall, the segment which lasted 14 minutes, half of the programme, did not add very much that viewers did not already know and lacked the depth local broadcasters were able to provide.
CNNi (DStv 401) has announced that they will be relaunching their CNN Newsroom block that airs on weekday mornings between 7am and 11am CAT.
This follows months of testing various anchor lineups to see what gels best and they have finally settled on a permanent anchor lineup.
From 7am to 9am African viewers can look.forward to veteran anchor John Vause, who is joined by Zain Asher, who joined CNNi a few months ago from CNN Money.
From 9am to 11am, viewers can look forward to longtime anchor Rosemary Church alongside former African-based correspondent, Errol Barnnett.
They will thankfully be abandoning the dreaded bluebscreen backgrounds and will fully adapt the look of CNN Today, which airs after midnight in the African region.
Other than that, viewers can expect the news they have become used to seeing at those times on CNNi.
CNNi, DStv 401, has added a new taped programme from Erin Burnett to the channel's weekend schedule.
The show is called Erin Burnett Outfront, the exact same name as her weekday show on the US version of CNN.
It will feature mainly in depth interviews with international news makers, most of which would just be interviews that was on her weekday show but has not yet been seen by the CNN audience outside of the US.
Because most of the interviews are just airings of interviews she did on her US shows, the topics discussed does come across as very US-centric, even though it is billed as taking on international issues.
It will also feature some exclusive interviews as well.
The earliest hints of a show on the international CNN came last year, when she renegotiated her contract with CNN, which stipulated that she would get a show on CNN International as well. At the time, most media outlets assumed that the show would be a weekday, primetime show, but that is obviously not the case now.
Erin Burnett Outfront airs at 4pm Central African Time on Saturdays, and then gets repeated at 10pm the same day and then a new episode airs on Sunday at 5pm and then gets repeated at 2:30am Monday morning again
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's Chief International Correspondent and host of the daily Amanpour (9pm CAT) as well as "Golden Boy" Anderson Cooper, who hosts Anderson Cooper 360 (3am CAT) both questioned CNN Worldwide President, Jeff Zucker, on the network's refusal to show the cover of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
They questioned Zucker infront of all CNN's staff internationally at the organisation's annual town hall special that is broadcast to all its bureaus.
Politico has more: CNN's Christiane Amanpour questioned network president Jeff Zucker in
front of CNN's global staff on Wednesday over his decision not to air
images of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, sources at the network told
POLITICO.
In a "town hall" simulcast to CNN bureaus worldwide, the chief
international correspondent informed her boss that the Quran does not
prohibit showing images of Mohammed and questioned the network's refusal
to show the most recent Charlie Hebdo magazine cover on the grounds
that it might offend Muslims. Despite conventional wisdom, many Islamic
scholars say that the Quran does not explicitly prohibit images of the
prophet Mohammed. The view that such depictions should be prohibited is
one that has evolved over time in certain strands of the religion. (More
on all that here, here and here.)
In response to an earlier question about the depiction of Mohammed,
from Anderson Cooper, Zucker had cited staff safety as a key reason for
not showing the cartoons. On air, however, CNN has attributed the
decision to a network policy "not to show potentially offensive images
of the prophet." Unfortunately for our readers, Zucker's response to Amanpour was
unmemorable, several sources said. "Basically he had no response," said
one staffer. CNN declined to comment for this piece. We've invited
Zucker to respond to Amanpour's point about the Quran, and will update
if and when we hear back.
You can read the rest of the article, which includes the rest of what was said at the townhall here.
