Tuesday, June 1, 2010
WE WILL COVER THE END OF THE WORLD, LIVE: With a 25-person staff, CNN first went on the air 30 years ago today with Ted Turner's words in the tagline. Over that 30 years, CNN has, along with the rest of the news business, transformed from the original "2 people behind a desk" format to the technological wonderland of holograms and magic screens that they'll bust out on election night, has spawned at least a couple of clones and become a political and pop cultural institution. Without getting overtly political, talk to and (if you can) link the video--though it's not newsworthy, I'll have to go with Rick Sanchez getting tasered.
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I had no idea about the anniversary, but was just thinking not an hour ago how sad it is that CNN has become such a joke. Shame on them.
ReplyDeleteBut, to accept the hypo: I think that, for me (as for many people, I suspect), the paradigmatic CNN moment was the beginning of the first Gulf War, and the coverage over the following days. Who was that doofus guy who would never leave when the anchors were ordering him to get the hell out of wherever he was when the scuds were coming?
ReplyDeleteThe Scud Stud Arthur Kent, I think.
ReplyDeleteTwo more "moments": The Roger Cossack/pre-crazy Greta Van Susteren coverage of the OJ trial and the Bill Press/Tucker Carlson coverage of the Bush/Gore post-election showdown (not because it was good but because it seemed to define the period, and highlighted what a strange circus we'd entered into).
ReplyDeleteAaron Brown. 9/11/01. Anderson Cooper, Katrina. Definitely everything about Gulf War I.
ReplyDeleteFirst gulf war. Larry King and the Ross Perot / Al Gore NAFTA debate. Jon Stewart and "stop hurting America."
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, CNN International is still decent.
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ReplyDelete<p>Hard to disagree with any of the moments above (although wasn't Arthur Kent on NBC?). Although it's the oldest of the moments mentioned so far, I vividly remember watching the Gulf War I coverage as bombing began -- I was in college and was riveted to the screen, initially for reasons that I won't go into because of the no-politics rule, but also because the coverage was, well, riveting. Most memorable in that context: Bernie Shaw reporting via phone from under his desk in Baghdad as shelling commenced, all of the night vision scenes of the flak and the shelling, and the press conferences when military spokespeople would show video of the bombs hitting their targets.
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</p><p>And thinking of Bernie Shaw also makes me think of his question to Mike Dukakis during the 1988 presidential debates - a lot of ink has been spilled on whether Dukakis's answer to Shaw's question (whether despite his opposition to the death penalty, he'd favor imposing it on someone who had raped and murdered his wife Kitty), was one of the final nails in his campaign's coffin.
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</p><p>Oh, and also the Bork confirmation hearings (1987?) and the Thomas confirmation hearings (also 1991). Jon Stewart skewering Tucker Carlson and Crossfire while ON Crossfire (2004), which led to the cancellation of Crossfire a short time later.
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What CNN proved was what we journalists have known for a while: In a 24-hour day, about 18 of those hours are pretty boring. News tends to crumble a lot more than it breaks, and those iconic moments (the space shuttle exploding, the Twin Towers being attacked) tend to be iconic in part because they happen so infrequently.
ReplyDeleteFilling a newspaper every day with news is unbelievably tough, and filling a 24/7 TV broadcast is even worse. So, for me, what CNN did was completely change the definition of "news." News used to be what was happening. With the birth of CNN, news became what people were saying about what was happening, and predicting what was going to happen. We're not watching news; we're watching meta-news.
It's like the difference between watching a football game and watching the "NFL Today." Except sports fans know that what matters most is who wins, and not who Terry Bradshaw thinks is going to win.
Adam C--I was in college also. Stayed up late watching, woke up early to watch when I couldn't sleep. Sometime around 6 in the morning after that first night, Arnett and Holliman are still reporting, with the grainy night-vision video, and this happens:
ReplyDeleteShaw (sounding bleary and slurred): What are you guys still doing awake?
Holliman: We're live, Bernie.
Shaw: (pauses, clears throat): As you see, the skies are still bright over Baghdad...
And Bradshaw has far less impact on the actual outcome of the event than the CNN talkers (and their brethren).
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of someone else -- "Charles Jayco" maybe?
ReplyDeleteAnother CNN "moment": Gore and Perot debating NAFTA on Larry King. At least two of those three names (Gore, Perot, King) are now punchlines, but back then this was a climactic duel between two views of globalization.
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble figuring out which of those three isn't the punchline...
ReplyDelete(with two of the three going through headline causing marital strife at the moment, I guess I'd have to go with Perot being the non-comedian fodder)
Also, CNN demonstrates the principle that 'the first mover advantage' has a relatively short shelf life, especially in media.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that sports shows don't effect W-L, I do think the proliferation of sports radio, sports TV, and blogs have greatly changed how long coaches are given to succeed, and how success is measured relative to other teams.
ReplyDeleteIn that regard, sports media has changed the landscape of sports, just as news about what is, and what should be considered, news (meta-news) has changed politics, entertainment, and public policy.
Oops -- just saw that Benner hit this one well before I did. Sorry, Benner.
ReplyDeleteI was intentionally vague, as I suspect mileage may vary on that question.
ReplyDeleteI see that as validation, not toe-stepping.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, what does it mean that the debate was between who was then a center-left person and a right-wing populist? No labor; no environmentalists; no dissidents from Canada or Mexico. CNN complicit in the Clinton admin's marginalization of everyone to their left? Still, must watch.
Makes me think of Tami on Friday Night Lights listening to the local sports radio show, with callers and the host saying terrible things about her, and she just pulls over after a while and yells at the radio and then puts her head down, looking defeated.
ReplyDeleteAnd my son yells at the TV at the sports radio people, "It's just high school football!"