1. Past Successes and Failures of CNN: Breaking News and The CNN Effect Katt, Lauracindy, Shannon, & Stephen
2. Founded in 1980 by Ted Turner First all news network in US First 24 hour news network Shown in 212 countries Shown in 100 million US Households Brief History
3. Reputation The place to turn for breaking news, 24 hours a day during times of crisis Challenger Explosion 1986 Gulf War 1991 September 11, 2001
4. The 24-Hour News Cycle and the effect Government understood connecting with the media and having a media strategy, for the first time CNN Effect is the role that non-stop coverage can have in international diplomacy Real-time updates in TV broadcast can sway public opinion and facilitate communication of government operations.
5. Who is CNN? This is an identity which they formed for themselves, but is it enough to survive? Positives: At first it was the ONLY place to turn for IMMEDIATE coverage (but now there are competitors). Negatives: Meaning of “breaking news” has changed over the years and is now a bit of a cliché/overused…not EVERYTHING is worthy of being “breaking news.”
6. Gulf War Iraq invade Kuwait (August 2, 1990): BUCHANAN: In other words, you think he'd be mixing it up with the United States militarily if he did that? Mr. ULLMAN: Well, he could be mixing up with a lot of people. I mean, don't forget, you've got- you've got Syria, with 400,000 people, on his border; you've got Iran still with a large standing army; you've got a Soviet Union who might take some sort of action; and, last and most importantly, you've go the United States, and I think that while we couldn't mount a response overnight, in two months or three months or four months, I think that we could deal with an Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia. Start of Desert Storm
7. Live, sensationalized coverage, but CNN DID live up to their reputation of being on the scene and bringing live coverage. Live Coverage Shock and Awe
8. # fail Iran Elections 2009 Did not live up to their reputation for being on the scene for important international events No breaking coverage of Iran elections
9. Gulf Oil Spill DON: CNN's David Mattingly is in Bayou La Batre, Alabama where a lot of fishermen could be facing the end of their livelihoods right now. Hello David. what tomorrow is going to hold. DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. That's exactly right. They don't know how bad this is going to be in the future. For right now, they know that their season is over their livelihoods are stopped as of this moment. Right now, we're looking at entire towns who depend on fishing for their economy, wondering New Breaking Developments Tried to question authority
11. iReport Controversial, unedited division of CNN, which really allows them to be anywhere, at anytime. This is how they have “breaking news” now, such as in Egypt, etc.
12. Ratings Decline "CNN, which is in a period of extreme transition, had yet another month of bad ratings news. The channel had its lowest prime time viewership since 2000, averaging just 486,000 total viewers, with 144,000 in the A25-54 demo."
Editor's Notes
Stephen---Talk about how this changed the news. This was revolutionary and no one knew how people would react to this.
Lc---How they built their identityChallenger—only network with live launch and explosion footageGulf War—only network with live coverage, special communication lines9/11—live breaking coverageBilled by NYT "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.” (July 23, 1995)
o Colin Powell and the military connect with the mediao Pentagon takes note of the “CNN Effect” the role live nonstop coverage can have in international diplomacyo Military, media, citizens are all influenced, at least in part, by the live connection between events and global audienceso Successful military missions now require a strong PR component/media strategyo Before CNN effect, transmissions of international diplomacy took place via wire transfer- but later had to broadcast across television, could be persuasive of public opinion
Katt---
Shannon---NOT ABOUT PRODUCTION---Basically what everyone should know about these reports is that there was very little emphasis on flashy reporting or making the audience be engaged. clearly the youtubevid shows the most rudimentary graphics, and the transcript shows the lengthy responses guests on the news programs gave. there is a ton of speculation throughout the broadcast, and the guest offers many potential outcomes of the situation (rather than steering away from speculation). also, this man discusses the possibility of the US entering combat, even though the president has said that they wont, which shows questioning authority and also preparing viewers for what might happen in the future (since we know they did end up going to war!)
In contrast, moving forward, sensationalized. They did bring live coverage—lived up to reputation, but also it was VERY sensational.
Lc—they live up to rep. ADD LINK. Individual reporters/citizen rather than neews people >>> idea of ireporter people critical for the first time.
Katt--Every development was “Breaking News.” The covered it CONSTANTLY on the scene.Prefacing the article they mentioned this: "As always, CNN has reporters and camera crews deployed across the region to bring you the live up to the minute coverage on this developing story.”Peabody Award…
Stephen’s storyIt is news to tell people about how they work…
Shannon---connect with Iran Elections—since they were criticized, they incorporated them instead. Not checked..Stephen—are these reports correct? Who is sending them? Governments may hire people to post things…?
I can explain this graph to you later today. FNC CNN 4/8/11 1377 658 4/9/11 884 511 4/10/11 715 457 4/11/11 1329 510 BECAUSE OF RATINGS DECLINE: Identity on a regular day??
