Royal Wedding Details

CNN To Provide Global, Multi-Platform Coverage of the
Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

Piers Morgan, Anderson Cooper, Richard Quest, Kiran Chetry, joined by Cat Deeley, Will Host CNN Coverage

Live from London, CNN will globally televise the biggest royal wedding event since Charles married Diana – from the ceremonial to the personal, from what is happening at Westminster Abbey to the reactions of those around the world.

On the day of the wedding, Friday, April 29, beginning at 4 a.m. ET, CNN’s special live program will be anchored by Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Anderson Cooper, Kiran Chetry and special contributor Cat Deeley, noted British broadcaster and fashion expert, across CNN/U.S. and CNN International. CNN will live stream various angles of the day’s events on CNN.com, including views from inside the Abbey as well as the parade, via the CNN Apps for iPhone and iPod touch, iPad and Android tablet.

Leading up to the big day, Piers Morgan and Anderson Cooper will anchor their nightly programs from London. CNN will also broadcast a documentary on Catherine Middleton anchored by Soledad O’Brien, as well as weekly special reports from Richard Quest, among others.

Highlights of CNN’s Royal Wedding coverage include:
• Premiering Saturday, April 2 at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET: Richard Quest will anchor four half hour specials throughout the month of April. A Royal Wedding will air Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET on CNN/U.S. and CNN International.
• Sunday, April 24 at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET: CNN/U.S. will premiere The Women Who Would be Queen, a look at the life of Catherine Middleton, the woman who will someday become Queen of the United Kingdom. Featured in the documentary are Jules Knight, close friend of the couple from the origins of their fairytale romance during their university days at St. Andrews, and Arthur Edwards, longtime royal photographer, who has chronicled the princes' entire lives during his 30-year career at England’s The Sun newspaper. Edwards has captured the princes’ childhoods, how they’ve coped with the tragic loss of their mother, and their transition into manhood. The documentary also explores the ways in which the future King and Queen have honored the life and legacy of Diana, Princess of Wales. CNN Presents: The Women Who Would be Queen is reported by anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien. The documentary will debut on CNN International on Saturday, April 23 at 8 p.m. ET and replay on CNN/U.S. on Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m., 11 p.m., and 2 a.m. ET.
• Monday, April 25 – Friday, April 29: Piers Morgan will broadcast his nightly show Piers Morgan Tonight at 9 p.m. ET from London with a mix of topical guests and newsmakers on both CNN/U.S. and CNN International.
• Monday, April 25 – Friday, April 29: Kiran Chetry will co-anchor American Morning 6-9 a.m. ET live from London for CNN/U.S.
• Wednesday, April 27 – Friday, April 29: Anderson Cooper will anchor Anderson Cooper 360, also live from London, at 10 p.m. ET on CNN/U.S. and CNN International.

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Saturday's Scoop

The Black in America 2 site on CNN.com is now up and running. Later this month the site will be updated with some interactive features but for now the highlight is two panels hosted by Soledad O'Brien.

The first panel covers health and healthcare in the black community and includes the following panelists: former CBS anchor Rene Syler, Kimberly Rivers who created and was featured in the HBO Oscar nominated film Trouble The Water, and Charlie Wilson, musician and lead singer of "Gap Band".

The second panel addresses the issues of incarceration, mentoring and education. Panelists include BET political and social commentator Jeff Johnson, former vice president of morning programming at CNN, Kim Bondy, former professional basketball player and entrepreneur Danny Griffin, and comedian and president of Zeta Phi Beta, Sheryl Underwood.

Videos of both panels can be found on the Black in America 2 site at www.cnn.com/blackinamerica

The special will air on July 22nd and July 23rd at 8PM.

A belated congratulations to Brooke Anderson and her husband Jim on the birth of their first child, Kate Victoria, on 5/5. The baby was born at 6:40 am weighing 8lbs 1 oz. Click here for the full article with more baby pictures.

Twitter

There have been a lot of pictures posted via twitter this past week. Here are a few from @sanjaygupta and @edhenrycnn.

Ed Henry and CNN Chief White House Producer Tim McCaughan

Ed Henry

Sanjay Gupta and one of his daughters

Congratulations!!

And finally congratulations to CNN and Larry King Live who recently celebrated their 29th and 24th anniversaries respectively.

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CNN and the Oscars

CNN Worldwide today announced its sweeping coverage of the Academy Awards, featuring live specials on CNN and HLN, and special coverage on CNN.com including live blogging from behind the scenes.

Leading up to the Oscars telecast on Sunday, February 22, CNN will air “Hollywood’s Gold Rush” from 7-8p.m. (ET) live with HLN Showbiz Tonight’s A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson. This one-hour special will feature red-carpet interviews with the arriving nominees and presenters, a preview of what to expect during the Oscars telecast, and iReports from fans onsite at the Oscars. Kareen Wynter will report on Oscar fashions from the CNN studio in Los Angeles with guest analyst Kate Betts (Editor, TIME Style & Design), and will feature viewers’ comments about red-carpet arrivals. In addition, Slumdog Millionaire actor Anil Kapoor will present Oscar trivia questions throughout the special.

A special edition of HLN’s Showbiz Tonight (live at 11 pm ET on HLN) will be the only entertainment news show reporting live from the Oscars. Hosted by Hammer and Anderson, the program will feature all the breaking Oscar updates, the most provocative surprises and controversies of the evening, red carpet one-on-ones with the biggest stars in attendance, and the best and worst of celeb fashions.

Online at www.CNN.com/Oscars, users will find a special section – which includes photo galleries, Oscar trivia and other interactive features – dedicated entirely to this year’s Academy Awards. The Marquee Blog will showcase live blogging through the evening, providing users exclusive access to the red carpet and the backstage press room. Users can also visit the site on Oscar night to stay on top of the winners. Immediately following the Awards, CNN.com will feature InStyle.com’s special coverage of the most stylish stars of the evening.

CNN Radio correspondent Jim Roope will provide live coverage from the Oscars for CNN Radio and its affiliates nationwide.

CNN en Español will also offer special Oscar coverage with a Pre-Oscar special of “Ojo Crítico,” airing Friday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. (ET), and on Sunday will be live from the red carpet along with sister network TNT in an event co-hosted by anchor Ana Maria Montero starting at 7:30 pm (ET).

Keeping with the Oscar theme, Oscar nominee Dolly Parton will be a guest on Larry King Live on Friday February 20th as well as Tyler Perry.

That is it for me this week I will see you all again next Thursday ~ Sapphire

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Odds and Ends

Yes, it seems to have been Ali Velshi week at CNN, and I have a mixture of serious and fun for you today. We'll start with the heavy stuff and then lighten up as we go along. (Hint: Ali's clips would be near the end...)

There was an incredibly strange story this week about a mayor of a small town in Maryland whose front door was kicked down, his dogs shot dead, and he and his mother-in-law tied up... by the police. This is the original story CNN did on it for Newsroom on Thursday, along with an interview with the mayor himself:

The city of Buffalo, New York re-named a street in honor of the late Tim Russert this week:

Tuesday, Miles O'Brien was on vacation, but "phoned one in" to cover the story of a chemical found on Mars that throws doubt on the chances for finding any signs of life there:

Brooke Anderson reports on a new documentary about the highwire walk done by Philippe Petit between the Twin Towers back in 1974. It was astonishing then; now it is also incredibly moving to recall an impossible feat that can never be repeated:

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We've all posted something about Ali Velshi's beard since he showed up with it Wednesday, but I wanted to share the reactions from the morning Newsroom anchors. Heidi Collins, are you crushing on Ali?

Well, of course it couldn't last... and Heidi's crush is short-lived:

On Issue #1 Friday, they did a story about the thriving Bollywood film industry. It's a great piece (my favorite Bollywood movie is Bride and Prejudice -- yes, a remake of Austen -- starring Aishwarya Rai, the actress featured here, and Lost's Naveen Andrews) and as a special bonus, at the end of this clip Ali Velshi dances! 

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Reza Sayah reported from Tehran about the nuke talks; Wilf Dinnick from Jerusalem on the Hamas/Fatah skirmishes; Nic Robertson was back in London to discuss events in Pakistan; Rick Sanchez hosted Your $$$$; Susan Roesgen co-hosted Newsroom (as she also would Sunday); John King hosted This Week in Politics.

MONDAY: Rob Marciano sat in for John Roberts all week; Randi Kaye was in for Kyra Phillips all week; Tom Foreman was back in DC; Anderson Cooper was back in NY.

TUESDAY: Miles O'Brien (above) was on vacation in Lakemont, Georgia, but... well, you saw his report!

WEDNESDAY: Candy Crowley was in Elkhart, Indiana with the Obama campaign; Jamie McIntyre was at Guantanamo Bay to report on the Hamdan verdict; Arwa Damon was in Baghdad, but filed a report about a refugee camp north of the city; Dan Rivers reported from Bangkok on President Bush's pre-Olympics address critical of China (both those reports will be posted Monday).

THURSDAY: Sanjay Gupta was in Los Angeles to tape his interview with Matthew McConaughey.

FRIDAY: Susan Roesgen was in Sherman, Texas to report on the bus crash there; Jamie McIntyre was back in DC; Wolf Blitzer was in for Larry King.

That's all for today... I'll see you again Monday!

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and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Daryn Kagan Visits CNN and Sunday Funnies

On April 11th Larry King ended his program by promoting former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan's new book "What's Possible"

This Friday during the afternoon edition of NewsRoom, Don Lemon was joined by Daryn Kagan to discuss her book and website.

I thought I would start our week with a couple of videos I had been collecting and just have not had a chance to post.

The first video is from April 13th. Betty Nguyen and TJ Holmes were speaking with Larry Smith about the weekends Master tournament. At the end of the segment, TJ wondered how Larry was ending up covering the great stories. The weekend before Larry was covering the Final 4 and Larry was then in Augusta, Georgia covering the Masters. TJ teased Larry about the hardships of the covering the story.

On April 26th Betty and TJ were going over the pros and cons of having a horse. TJ comes to the realization it is not as easy as it seems.

On April 16th Kyra and Wolf were discussing what would be coming up in The Situation Room. Kyra was in Washington covering the Pope's visit to the United States. Wolf sent a few gifts to a visiting Kyra. I am sure many of the CNN staff would love to visit Wolf at the Washington bureau after hearing about this.

On Monday's American Morning after Brooke Anderson's piece on the new OMFG ad campaign for "Gossip Girl" John and Kyra discuss the good old days.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Politcs From Chris Rock....And More

This weekend on CNN News Room, Becky Anderson spoke with Chris Rock in London. Chris spoke about the upcoming US election, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as well as the one person who is off limits to him in his comedy act (which is too bad because there is just so much he could use with Oprah).

To read the entire interview, click here (scroll towards the bottom)

Ballot Bowl '08 continued this weekend with Jim Acosta and Mary Snow leading the way. Jim was in Nevada, Mary was in Michigan, Susan Candiotti was in Florida.

Jim Acosta & Mary Snow

Susan Candiotti

This upcoming Tuesday night Lou Dobbs will be having a special called Independence Day: Awakening the American Spirit". The show will air at 8PM EST.

Tonight Larry King Live aired special coverage of the Golden Globe Awards. CNN's Brooke Anderson was one of the presenters.

Larry had a panel including A.J. Hammer, Kareen Wynter, Debbie Matenopoulos, Melissa Rivers, Brooke Anderson, Danya Devlin.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

CNN Heroes

Over the last few weeks we have talked a lot about the global broadcast of CNN Heroes. After a year in the making, over 7000 nominee's from 93 countries and over 250,000 votes casted for viewer's choice, CNN All Star Tribute finally aired. Tonight I am going to let the pictures do the talking since pictures are worth a thousand words.

Headline News entertainment show, Showbiz tonight had a countdown to the Heroes broadcast. Anchors A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson shared some stories the were not able to make the actual broadcast. A.J and Brooke also spoke with some of the celebrities attending the event as well as some of the evening's honorees. There was also a quick behind the scenes with host Anderson Cooper.

Congratulations to all the nominees, honorees and everyone at CNN who brought us this uplifting night of television. We are so looking forward to next's years Heroes!!!!

Bernard Shaw Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Bernard Shaw. The National Association of Black Journalists honored the former CNN anchor with their Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual convention in Las Vegas.

This honor is awarded to a black print, broadcast or photojournalist with a minimum of 15 years in the industry. Nominees in the category may be living or deceased and must have or still be making an extraordinary contribution to the enrichment, understanding or advancement of black life and culture.

Below are a few photographs from CNN’s reception honoring NABJ’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Bernard Shaw. There were several current CNN journalists on hand to help him celebrate.

Bernard Shaw
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

L to R) Don Lemon (CNN anchor), Alphonso Van Marsh (International video correspondent), Suzanne Malveaux (White House correspondent), Bernard Shaw, Roland Martin (CNN Contributor) and Chris Lawrence (CNN correspondent)
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

Jim Walton (President, CNN Worldwide), Bernard Shaw, Jon Klein (President, CNN/U.S.), Johnita Due (Senior Counsel and Chair of CNN Diversity Council), and NABJ President Bryan Monroe
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

Suzanne Malveaux & Bernard Shaw
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

Don Lemon & Bernard Shaw
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

Chris Lawrence & Bernard Shaw
Photo Credit: Justin Larose/CNN

MyUrbanReport.com (via Blip.tv) has uploaded the video from Shaw's acceptance speech:

Click To Play

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Have you seen the latest CNN All Access podcast? This week's podcast Gary Tuchman provides us with a behind the scenes look at how they are covering the mine collapse in Utah.

The podcast is available on iTunes, from CNN's website: http://www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/, or from this direct link.

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Happy Birthday to Brooke Anderson, correspondent for Showbiz Tonight on Headline News. Tomorrow, August 15th is her birthday.