30 Years ago Today CNN Launched…
…on June 1, 1980 and this was the first broadcast…
It’s kinda surprising that CNN hasn’t done something to note this occasion but I haven’t seen a thing about this. A retrospective…reminiscing…something. Perhaps all the negative press the network has been getting recently thwarted any planned on-air event. Maybe one is still coming, but usually we get some sort of advanced notice. And we haven’t. But maybe we should. Given the recent discussion regarding the network, such an endeavor would serve as a reminder as to what this network has done, what it has meant, and what it still means…
Inside Cable News 
May 31, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Wow. I don’t remember any of those people. Bet we didn’t have cable that year.
May 31, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Depressing. Like ”What if there was a 30th anniversary and no one cared?”
June 1, 2010 at 1:43 am
Fareed Zakaria mentioned it at the end of his show.
June 1, 2010 at 8:51 am
CNN did a 20-year retrospect in 2000. They did it over two nights, two hours per night (http://www.youtube.com/user/misterspiffy2009).
As much as CNN would probably like to celebrate a 30th Anniversary, to put all the effort into a special that would be consistent with their 20th, they may not have time for this past decade. If we list the events they would have to cover:
-2000 Election and its aftermath
-9/11 and its aftermath
-Afghanistan and Iraq
-Execution of Saddam
-Terrorist Attacks
-Tsnuamis
-2004 Election
-Hillary, Barack, John and the 2008 Election
…not to mention all the other periphery pieces.
The issue today is that CNN is losing viewers to other news networks that have a decidedly opinionated news format. Everyone wants to have their opinion heard and they gravitate to a news channel which is slanted to their opinions. Objectivity is becoming increasingly difficult when it comes to competing in the cable universe when you take that into account. And as viewers of either Fox News or MSNBC know, both channels have consistently berated each other, CNN, and even their competitor’s viewers — all in the name of ratings.
June 1, 2010 at 8:55 am
misterspiffy… your list of events reads like Billy Joel lyrics…
June 1, 2010 at 9:35 am
We didn’t start the fire…
June 1, 2010 at 10:43 am
Gauging by the looks of the first broadcast anchors and set, CNN hasn’t changed a bit.
June 1, 2010 at 12:37 pm
It’s the end of the world as we know it..
June 1, 2010 at 12:54 pm
That’s REM…
June 1, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Jeremiah was a bullfrog..
June 1, 2010 at 12:56 pm
That’s REM…
You are correct sir. It’s got the same “recitation of events” thing, so I threw it in.
Al’s comment was pretty funny. He’s right.
June 1, 2010 at 12:59 pm
But, there’s no ‘magic wall’, no Rick Sanchez tweets. It’s so totally different..
June 1, 2010 at 1:08 pm
@laura… and because of that, it’s unusually watchable. CNN’s heyday was late 80’s through the early 90’s and the Gulf War. That was truly epic and groundbreaking television.