CNN — the acronym of Cable News Network— first went on air on 1 June 1980 at 6pm Eastern Standard Time (EST). While other TV channels showed a summary of the news in short segments during the day, CNN was the first 24-hour news channel in the world, continuously updating viewers as events unfolded. The brainchild of businessman Ted Turner, in the early years CNN lost so much money that it was nicknamed the “Chicken Noodle Network” and its journalists were denied access to the White House. Nevertheless, Turner remained optimistic and in 1985 CNN International was launched.
BOOM
In 1986, CNN was the only station to film live coverage of the NASA space shuttle Challenger, which took off and then dramatically exploded, killing all seven of its crew. By chance, a promotional video was being made in the CNN newsroom. Viewers saw in real time the shocked yet professional reactions of its staff.
A REAL LIFE THRILLER
This introduced what came to be called ‘the CNN effect’; the transformation of mediated digestible news into raw, unpredictable popular experience. In 1987, when eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a well in Midland, Texas, CNN brought around-the-clock coverage of the 56-hour rescue effort to audiences worldwide. During the Gulf War in 1991, it was the only news outlet communicating from inside Baghdad as the Americans began their bombing campaign.
LARRY KING LIVE
CNN grew to be one of the largest news organisations, reaching a hundred million homes in the US and 265 million abroad. Reporters and anchors became household names; for twenty-five years, CNN’s Larry King dominated the primetime talk show scene with interviews of celebrities, politicians and prominent business people.
RIVALS
By the mid 90s, CNN had competition: 24-hour news stations Fox and MSNBC became national rivals, while BBC World News and Al Jazeera covered international stories. The internet and smartphones radically accelerated the sourcing and delivery of news; by the mid-2000s non-professionals were posting vast quantities of newsworthy newsworthy footage and commentary on social media sites, especially Twitter.
SATURATED
Today, young people are turning off traditional news sources. CNN finds it difficult to attract viewers, while Fox has won the war when it comes to an older American audience. Many of us complain of the confusing and sometimes contradictory information overload, but the truth is that, thanks to the CNN effect, we consume, communicate and even create news with more voracity than ever before.