CNN Turns 30, Quietly and Without Fanfare

By Marc Schneider Posted Jun 1st 2010 01:16PM

Does anyone enjoy turning 30? For many people, the milestone brings a sense of dread and that sinking feeling that your best days may be behind you. Well, CNN turns 30 today, and it's hard to imagine they don't feel the same way.

Ted Turner's ambitious Cable News Network aired its first broadcast on June 1, 1980, with a report by co-anchors David Walker and Lois Hart. In 2000, the network threw a huge party to celebrate its 20th birthday, but this time the network is passing the day without much fanfare.

Why so low-key? With viewers craving pundits and blowhards telling them exactly what they want to hear, the straight news-minded CNN has stuck to its guns -- you know, the news -- and lost.

Nonpartisan news reporting has gone the way of the Dodo. Ratings have plunged to new lows this year, with CNN's main hosts, Larry King and Anderson Cooper, shedding nearly half their audiences, according the New York Times.

The exodus of viewers has even cost the network one of its rising stars, Campbell Brown, who announced May 18 that "not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that they can try something else."

The 24-hour news channel was a first on television, and for 16 years -- until the emergence of FOX News and MSNBC in 1996 -- it had a monopoly on the genre. In its heyday, viewers were glued to CNN for stories like the first Gulf War, major elections, the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger and, of course, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The network's ratings are bound to improve, but even if they don't, the network's founder promised its survival.

Speaking just before the network's launch, Turner promised, "We won't be signing off until the world ends. We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event ... and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God to Thee' before we sign off."

Inside the company, CNN president Jim Walton announced today that employees will be giving back with a program called Give 30 for 30. Every eligible staffer will be able to give a company-paid donation of $30 to a charity of his or her choice.

Tags: cnn

Comments

(129)

Tuesday 01 June

By tony

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happy birthday,cnn love ted and his cable network.

Saturday 05 June

By Rick Stacy

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Hey Mr. Up to Date! Turner doesn't own CNN any longer.

By Maurice Atwood

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So, the only reason CNN has declining ratings is because of the "blowhards" on the other cable news networks, primarily Fox? What a crock of bull.

The fact of the matter, Mr. Schneider, is that viewership for CNN is down due to the fact that they are a no holds barred left leaning news group that moderate and right wing people have grown tired of watching.

If CNN goes out of business and off the air I wouldn't miss them as I never watch CNN, but I will admit to being glued to CNN during the first Gulf War and Larry King was cool to watch for a few years.

The ONLY cable news channel worth watching, or any TV news source worth watching, is Fox News where the news is Fair and Balanced.

By Cleareye

Are you really Stephen Colbert?

Fair and Balanced? What a bunch of hooey.

By Youngblood

If you think Fox news is fair and balanced, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

By poughkeepsiejohn

Fox News is fair and balanced the way Jack The Ripper is a surgeon. In other words, they're not very good at it!

By B J Moore

Sir, you are absolutely right and you said it better than I could. I was thinking the exact same thing as I read the article.

By Matt McGlashen

CNN HAS THE BEST LOOK, GRAPHICS AND CONTENT. I FEEL THEY HAVE DONE A FAIR AND EVEN JOB OF COVERING THE NEWS.

FOX NEWS CHANNEL WAS THE ONE CAUGHT STAGING THE NEWS WHIPPING UP TEA PARTY ATTENDEES IN WASHINGTON DC WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO BE ON CAMERA FOR EXAMPLE.

FOX IS ONE LEANING, LEANING WAY RIGHT.

CNN IS GOOD QUALITY AND FAIR, THEY WILL WIN IN THE LONG RUN.

By stephanie

YOu got to be F*cking joking..FOX....LOL ....this just shows where our country has gone. Morons like you sir....LOL!!!!

By c.c. Turner

you are very wrong.

By Ellen

You nailed it Maurice. You will get laughed at, mocked, but in the end I know its true, you know its true, the gigantic audiences that watch Fox know its true and so does CNN

By Luis

I really wish AOL News and its staff would wake up and realize this is a center-right country and their efforts to demean those of us who truly crave honest, unbiased reporting have found Fox News to be just that. Schneider's report is biased and pathetic. He won't read this, but he should. Unfortunately, even if he did, he would remain blind, deaf, and dumb...

By Wayne Meyer

Mr. Atwood is right on point. Did the writer of the article ever watch Fox News-I am sure not!

By TP

DITTO!!!

By J.J.

I love right-wingers who use phrases like "no holds barred" to describe us non-violent liberals.
Just in case you need reminding, Mr. Atwood, it is the right that worships the gun-toting, war-mongering, and yes, the no-holds-barred "fight" mentality. We liberals prefer a live-an-let-live world, where negotiation is championed even with our so-called enemies.

Wednesday 02 June

By Linda

Mr. Atwood:

I could not have said it better. Our family kept the TV on CNN most of the day, because it was the only 24 hour news channel. My family and the majority of those with whom I worked of were sick of its liberal slant on reporting issues and immediately changed permanently to Fox News upon its debut. What a breath of fresh air. I want to hear factual reporting and representatives of on opposite sides of issues and Fox News is the only network which does it. Most all of the opinion programs, like O'Reilly, e.g., strive to have guests debate the issues and his e-mails accuse him of being liberal and conservative. Anyone wno does not believe its reporting is fair and balanced has not watched much of Fox News. Research in non patisan media organizations which scientifically measure liberal vs. fair and balanced will see that Fox is the real thing.

By yellowstonegirl

I'm sorry, but FOX is anything, but Fair and Balanced. They rally people on the right with poor reporting and scare tactics. I'm just a straight down the middle voter and I can tell you that Fox doesn't appeal to a lot of rational and intelligent people who want the facts. It is for ultra-right tea party types and not moderate Republicans. I'm not saying CNN does a great job, but I'd take them over Fox. Anyone who thinks Fox is preaching the truth is sorely mistaken. Frankly all three cable news networks are biased. However I think out of the three Anderson Cooper is the least biased and the most professional.

By aznkwonboa

LOL. Fox is made by right-wing conservatives for right-wing conservatives. They're anything but fair and balanced. O'Reilly is probably the only near-decent man on that network, but Beck? Hahahahaha, no.

Just another retard QQing about people on the other side. Nothing to see here, folks.

By vincenzo

People instinctively know when a line of bull crap is being thrown at them. Ted Turner and his flock of agenda driven, hateful and mean spirited "reporters" are their own worst enemies. For a crew professing to being so super intelligent, it's amazing that they don't see that it is they themselves who are driving their ratings lower and lower. Straight, unbiased reporting would pull them out of the mess they have created but I,m afraid that their egos obscure any rational thought process! They are the perfect example of why the liberal/progressive media is failing on a number of fronts. They'll just blame it all on those "bastards" at FOX and refuse to deal with it............

By CardinalKeith86

fox news is geared towards ignorant blowhards and high school dropouts. Thank goodness, I don't fit into this demographic. For a station that touts family values and conservative morals, there is a never ending stream of pornographic images and provocatively clad anchors speaking in uptalk. Moreover, gratuitous usage of superfluoous ice skating sound effects makes this station unwatchable.

If fox news were really "fair and balanced," then why do they find the need to keep stressing this ad infinitum and ad nauseum? After all, this should stand to reason on its own merit.

Tell me, fox viewers, what is so conservative about uptalk and pornography? For the same price, you might as well watch rachel maddow.

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