CNN International & Domestic

My favourite CNN theme music and opener was CNN Today back in the mid-2000s, seen here with Kristie Lu Stout and Stan Grant in the Hong Kong newsroom. Those were the days!

A lot of CNNI's branding was really great through the late 2000s, though I still think that if CNN ever went back to doing real news, it would be a great idea to also dust off this theme:

IMO Richard Quest and Andrea Sanke were the best CNNI duo (perhaps rivaled by Michael Holmes and Bianca Nobilo on CNN Today, when Bianca was covering while Amara Walker was on maternity leave) exemplified by this classic clip from 2005 when everyone was waiting on edge (lol) for Martha Stewart's release from prison.

Another report today in Vanity Fair about Jeff Zucker. Apparently there is speculation amongst the "upper ranks" of WarnerMedia that Zucker will leave CNN in the first quarter of 2021, so really by the end of March.

While I personally don't like how under Zucker, CNN basically covered Trump 24/7, he has delivered on ratings for the network, so there's no doubt he's been successful.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/11/after-remaking-cnn-and-antagonizing-trump-jeff-zucker-eyes-the-exits

Would be interesting to see what WarnerMedia's strategy for CNN is - I haven't seen anything from them specifically addressing their strategy/plans/vision for CNN.

To CNNI’s credit, they seem to be pretty good at picking presenters to pair up. There have been some fab pairings over the years:

-Quest & Sanke (as shown above)
-Max & Monita
-Michael Holmes & Amara Walker
-Michael Holmes & Colleen McEdwards
-For the all too brief period YWT was on air, Cyril & Isa too had the making of being another great pairing

Indeed while we all very much understand why it had to happen and at the end of the day a particular studio being used is of minor importance compared to what else is happening in the world, it's a shame the pandemic hitting when it did meant the London studio had to be be so quickly abandoned and hasn't really been seen since.

I mean the YWT video below really does highlight just how much more impressive the presentation was with the big new London studio. In fact the whole clip is excellent - the studio is grand and the presentation (music/graphics/use of video) attention grabbing and classy but the news is still very much the star. It feels like how a modern news channel sound be - though in reality it's probably one of the rare occassions YWT actually aired in full and wasn't just bumped off for Wol.f


Hopefully come 2021 all the usual CNNI studios are brought back on air - some like Studio 7 (Atlanta) and Abu Dhabi are back on air but other channels seem to be able to use studios fairly as normal.

This was my favourite presentational on air look

I did love that era around the year 2000 or so. That rendition of the World News theme was top class.

My other favourite era is this one: https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=59603
My parents got Sky TV installed in about 1995 and I vividly remember my Dad watching CNN from that time onwards. The World News theme music from the mid-90s take me right back to my childhood. His favourite programme at the time was American Edition with Jonathan Mann.

Some of the clashing graphic styles are getting even worse, this just looks terrible in my view:

Yes, those CNN US graphics are a mess.
Good thing about CNN International programmes, like Amanpour and Quest Means Business, is that their graphics tend to be more minimal and neater, with not so much clutter on the screen.
On screen text and slides, such as the CNN US screenshot you posted, are supposed to aid viewers' understanding. But too much writing can end up being confusing, especially with a few different subjects being covered on the same slide.

The death clock really needs to go.

Oh, come on! that's not so much worse than this.