News Around CNN: Thursday Edition

Former CNN correspondent Miles O'Brien will join the SpaceflightNow.com Webcast for the next shuttle launch. The five-hour live video broadcast will cover the March 11 launch of Discovery.

TVNewser is reporting that D.L Hughley is ending his show. Insiders tell us CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" will end its run at the end of the month, and we're told the decision was Hughleys.

From CNN: "D.L. approached CNN about being permanently based in Los Angeles, where his family lives. To accommodate this, we agreed upon a new role where he will be a contributor for the network based in Los Angeles. We are eager to continue our relationship with D.L., who is a tremendous talent and a valued colleague."

Insiders tell TVNewser it would have become cost-prohibitive to produce the show in Los Angeles. The one-hour, Saturday night news/comedy show had been drawing about 200,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo in recent weeks.It's not known what will happen to the staff of "Hughley" who were made aware of the news in a meeting this afternoon. The show debuted Oct. 25, 2008.

Looks like we will be seeing Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the CNN airwaves for a while longer. Gupta opts out of surgeon general consideration You can read the full story here.

CNN will be increasing its coverage on Africa. With Nkepile Mabuse, Isha Sesay, Robyn Curnow, David McKenzie and Christian Purefoy leading the coverage.

The Daily News had a great article with Campbell Brown where Campbell talks O’Reilly, Olbermann and mold. Interesting combination I know. To read more click here.

A group of Washington State and Toronto youth have started a campaign to get Anderson Cooper to cover the plight of those in Sri Lanka. I could not agree more and I would guess Anderson would love to get out into the field and cover these stories. To read more click here.

That is it for me this week. Another huge thank you to Julie for her terrific finds ~ Sapphire

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Wolf Blitzer saw missed opportunity

Wolf Blitzer and other CNN anchors were in New Orleans last weekend for the NBA Tech Summit. While in NOLA, Blitzer took a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward, spent time in Baton Rouge with Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal and sat down with two NBA legends, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson.

Mr. Blitzer wrote a blog post this afternoon on the Political Ticker about what he calls an "historic opportunity" missed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. He writes:

It’s really pretty sad that the Commission on Presidential Debates — both its Democratic and Republican leaders — decided New Orleans wasn’t yet ready to host one of three scheduled presidential debates between the party conventions at the end of the summer and the November 4 election.

A debate there would have sent a powerful message to the people of the city and to the country that the political leadership cares and remains deeply committed to its reconstruction.

When the commission made its decision a few weeks ago, I assumed that New Orleans wasn’t yet ready for prime time. But having spent the last few days there, I can now say New Orleans is more than ready. It just did a fabulous job hosting the NBA All-Star Game and related weekend activities.

The business leaders and people of the city did a really solid job welcoming thousands of NBA owners, executives, advertisers, and fans. The hotels were first-rate. Transportation around the city — to and from the various events including the big game — was smooth.

In my opinion, the fact that New Orleans was passed over for a presidential debate sends a glaring message to all of our citizens that both parties are not willing to address our nation's greatest failure. As Mr. Blitzer points out, the city of New Orleans did a wonderful job hosting the NBA All-Star weekend. Hotels, businesses, transportation and restaurants did a superb job handling stars and fans alike. Why then can't the city entertain politicians and the press for a presidential debate? Answer: Because the largest systematic breakdown of this nation's bureaucracy would be the major spotlight of the event. And that my friends (as John McCain would say) would be a political no-no.

Click here to read Wolf Blitzer's blog post about his time spent touring the Lower Ninth Ward. ~Sheryn

(Photo credits: Blitzer photo courtesy of Caufield/WireImage; Katrina photo courtesy of Google Images)

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CNN ~ Ever Expanding Globally

We can all agree CNN is probably considered the most trusted name in news all around the world. Well CNN is continuing to grow globally. The Turner community is growing. The following are two press releases from CNN promoting their upcoming expansions.

Turner Latin America, VTR Sign Strategic Accord to Launch CNN Chile
First 24-hour, Pay TV News Network for Chilean Market to Benefit from Global Resources of CNN Worldwide

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Latin America, Inc., the division of TimeWarner, Inc. responsible for CNN’s commercial operations in Latin America, and VTR, a division of Liberty Global Inc., will partner to launch CNN Chile, the first 24-hour, pay television news network specifically programmed for the Chilean market. The channel is scheduled to debut this year on VTR and will be available to other pay television systems.

CNN Chile will be produced and presented by Chileans for Chileans and broadcast from studios in Santiago. In addition to a fully staffed local news production center, CNN Chile will have complete access to CNN Worldwide’s newsgathering resources including the support of 4,000 journalists based around the globe. Both joint-venture partners are committed to producing a news channel that is objective, independent and of the highest professional standards. CNN Chile will be operated by a locally based management team following all CNN’s globally acclaimed journalistic and editorial guidelines.

TBS Latin America and VTR are equal partners in CNN Chile, which represents the first joint-venture of its kind in Latin America for both companies.

CNN Worldwide has successful partnership channels in other parts of the world, including CNN+ in Spain ; CNN Turk in Turkey ; CNNj and CNN.com.jp, both in Japan ; and CNN-IBN in India .
“We are happy to be able to provide Chile with a 24-hour pay television news channel and add more plurality to our program offering,” said Mauricio Ramos, president of VTR GlobalCom. “There is pent-up demand for this product, and we are pleased to respond with the high quality and attractive product that CNN, the world’s news leader, can guarantee.”
“This is a significant strategic step for CNN and clearly demonstrates our commitment to Chile, where we already offer CNN en Español and CNN International,” said Juan Carlos Urdaneta, president of TBS Latin America. “Turner has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with VTR, and we consider them the ideal partner to help us launch this important new venture.”

Additional information about the channel and operating plans will follow in the coming weeks.
North American company Liberty Global Inc. owns 80% of VTR and Cristalería Chile owns the remaining 20%. VTR is the leading telecommunications company in Chile, and offers a wide range of products including broadband, cable television and telephony, reaching over a million subscribers.

CNN Announces Expanded Newsgathering Plans for Africa
Network Appoints Four New Correspondents; Bolsters Operations in Kenya , Nigeria

CNN continues its international newsgathering

expansion with the announcement todaythat the network is broadening its presence in Kenya , Nigeria and South Africa and appointing additional Africa-based correspondents.

In total, four new correspondents will be based in Africa with two in South Africa at CNN’s current Johannesburg bureau, one in Nairobi, Kenya and one in Lagos, Nigeria.

“This expansion underscores the importance of Africa to our viewers,” said Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide. “These new resources enable us to produce more content for all of CNN’s services, increasing the coverage of social, cultural, political and business news from a mix of countries and datelines. We want to ensure that our viewers have the most comprehensive, vibrant reporting on this most diverse and fascinating of continents.”

Award-winning South African reporter Nkepile Mabuse joins CNN from ETV, South Africa ’s leading independent television station. She will be based in Johannesburg. Previously, Mabuse won the CNN MultiChoice African Journalism Award and has covered a wide range of domestic and international stories including the London bombing in 2005 and the Zimbabwean elections. Also based in South Africa will be Robyn Curnow, who is returning to CNN after previously anchoring and reporting at CNN’s bureau in London. Before joining CNN in London, Curnow worked for the BBC as a reporter and producer. She started her career at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, where she was a senior correspondent and anchor reporting on stories that included Nelson Mandela’s presidency, the Mozambique floods and the land invasions in Zimbabwe. David McKenzie, who will be based in Nairobi, has reported from more than 30 countries in Africa during his career, covering stories such as the unrest in Somalia, instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. He recently filed reports for CNN on the elections in Kenya and also did a number of reports for the “CNN Heroes” initiative. CNN’s newsgathering expansion in Kenya and Nigeria includes reporter Christian Purefoy, who will be based in Lagos, and additional services provided by Vivid Features. Purefoy is not new to CNN having worked on various projects including CNN International’s Inside Africa program over the past few years. These new appointments and extended resources are all part of CNN’s on-going and major investment program in both newsgathering and editorial resources in order to generate and own more content for all of its platforms.

As for Africa specifically, CNN’s commitment to coverage of the continent has never been greater. Alongside ongoing reporting on the breaking news out of the region, CNN’s Inside Africa program is in its ninth year, and CNN’s feature and documentary output regularly showcases social, business and cultural reports from the continent. Off air, the CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards enters its 13th year with the 2008 event will take place in Accra, Ghana.

The new correspondents will join CNN’s Johannesburg bureau chief Kim Norgaard in providing viewers with regular and comprehensive reporting from the region and will complement CNN’s existing roster of talent regularly covering Africa including Femi Oke, Isha Sesay and Zain Verjee.

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