The CNN: Breaking News

Al giorno d'oggi, è difficile immaginare un evento anche di minore importanza che non venga ripreso in video e condiviso all'istante. In gran parte, questo appetito per le breaking news è responsabilità della CNN.

USAx2
Molly Malcolm

Speaker (American accent)

Aggiornato il giorno

Breaking News: The CNN

Ascolta questo articolo

Stampare

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.  

The Art of Yorkshire: Northern England

Places

The Art of Yorkshire: Northern England

Abbiamo visitato il famoso parco di sculture dello Yorkshire, nella contea più grande dell'Inghilterra. Questo vero e proprio museo all'aperto unisce opere di artisti locali, come Barbara Hepworth, ad altre figure di spicco dell'arte mondiale.

Julian Earwaker

Short Story: Miss Winterleigh

Fiction

Short Story: Miss Winterleigh

Questo racconto breve è ambientato nella romantica Venezia della metà del secolo scorso. Il narratore rivela la triste storia di Miss Winterleigh e mostra come si possano fare favori a chi non c'è più.

James Schofield

More in Explore

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Anne Boleyn: A Radical Reformer
Wikimedia Commons

People

Anne Boleyn: A Radical Reformer

Il 19 maggio 1536, Anna Bolena, seconda moglie di Enrico VIII, fu decapitata a Londra. La sua eredità ha segnato la storia dell'Inghilterra.

Julian Earwaker