CNN International & Domestic

The full memo by Jeff Zucker has been published on Adweek, and includes this lovely line:

"We will phase back in very slowly, with emphasis in the beginning on roles that are directly related to keeping the CNN US network on the air"

Returning CNN International to what it was is clearly not high on their priority list!

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/jeff-zucker-we-will-not-be-returning-to-the-office-in-any-significant-way-any-time-soon/438100/

September would mean some CNNI shows would be off the air for what, 6 months? Hopefully they’re doing some real internal planning to find weak spots in their scheduling to fix. Maybe Early Start won’t return but Romans will get an early morning business bulletin. Maybe CNN will move back to Studio 7 for the weekends. Maybe CNN will keep the expanded weekend simulcasts of CNNI. Maybe Sanjay Gupta, MD makes a return. Or maybe nothing will change and we’ll go back to complaining about the same issues in no time.

For some CNNI shows, that wouldn't be too different to how it normally feels.

I do wonder if they'll try and amend the schedule a bit at some stage as otherwise they've presumably got some presenters who would have had daily shows not doing much apart from the odd live or two for the next several months. Some like Max Foster and Becky Anderson have other positions (Royal Correspondent for Max and I think Becky has a Managing Editor title at the Abu Dhabi bureau) but then that's not true for others e.g. Cyril,Isa,Bianca.




I think she has some rivalry in that regard. Cyril Vanier has posted a photo on his Instagram and fair to say his WFH set-up is better than most (since he's posted to his Instagram I assume it doesn't break any of the rules here).Seems as if his home is an actual chateau or looks very like one.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-60slshqbe/

Not sure how to post images from Instagram so if someone is able to that’d be much welcomed

^^^Yeah but he said on one of his Insta live chats that it's not his home and that he's staying at wife's friends in France or something like that.

And then come September, US Elections will be approaching and simulcasts for that will be taking over the CNNI schedule regularly.


Hopefully CNNI will be able to get some more content out soon though. The Amanpour repeat instead of CNN Newsroom at 6amUK is personally my biggest annoyance. However when the situation in New York hopefully gets better and the NY Governor's press conferences aren't needed to be carried live everyday, maybe Connect The World could go back to 2 hours? Or bring back Hala Gorani Tonight?

As far as Bianca goes, she is regularly reporting at the moment.

The weak point for me on weekdays is that 4pm-7pm UKT US Newsroom simulcast.
Moving Hala's show back to its normal time and putting Becky's show back to its usual 3-5 airing time would make the international blocks feel a bit more substantive for me. At the moment there's a lot of coverage in the European morning then after that the only International stuff are the business shows, Amanpour and a shortened CTW.

I could make a point about the weekends but even before the coronavirus you knew if you weren't watching during the US overnight hours, your chances of getting an international news bulletin were remote. And to give CNN credit we do seem to have more actual news bulletins (albeit they're from Domestic so very U.S-focussed) than normal and less of the endless Inside Africa et al repeats. Though that has meant even from my limited viewing I could practically quote the Bill Weir advert by heart now.

I'm not familiar with lockdown rules in Abu Dhabi/the UAE but I'm surprised they don't use Becky more often and make her take over from Hala.

Also, I'm a bit pleasantly surprised that CNN (combined) manages to have 20+ hours of live coverage considering opportunities for ad revenues are few nowadays. How much more does it cost to produce a live show over one meant for a re-run?

Here in Abu Dhabi, there’s a daily lockdown from 8pm to 6am. Only essential workers (as defined by the government) can work during the normal working day from 6am to 8pm. Beyond that, everyone must be home from 8pm to 6am.

I don't think I've seen Becky on air ever since the whole crisis started.

I remember when the whole Iran crisis kicked off at the start of this year (doesn't that feel a long time ago now) seemed to coincide too with the Middle East team all being away.

Please God, no! Can't watch Becky...

Amara Walker is on C


LOL! Agree with you. She's fabulous, but a bit much for the current situation.