There's Lots Happening This Week

I want to encourage everyone to tune in tonight for Soledad O'Brien's 'Escape From JonesTown'. It will premier at 9PM and repeat at midnight and reair Saturday and Sunday at 8 PM. The special takes a look back at the story of Jim Jones, a phony faith healer, who moved his Indiana church, in the mid-'70s, to Guyana, South America. Jones led his followers to their death after having a visiting congressman, Rep. Leo Ryan, and four others killed. Soledad tells the story of the last hours of Jonestown -- and the few who did survive. Here's a brief clip.

Heidi Collins interviewed President George W. Bush from the deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid on Veterans’ Day. It was the President's first one-on-one interview since the election. I, like the majority of Americans, am not a Bush supporter but I did think that Heidi brought out a very likable, genuine person during their discussion. The interview appeared on several CNN programs on the 11th and 12th. Here is the segment that aired on Tuesday's AC360.





The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed its slate of nominees for both business and financial reporting and promotional announcements recently. CNN Worldwide picked up four Emmy Award nominations this week in several different categories.

• CNN earned a nomination in “Outstanding Documentary on a Business Topic” for a 'Busted! Mortgage Meltdown' and SUI report CNN did in conjunction with Fortune magazine.
• In the category of “New Approaches to Business & Financial Reporting,” CNNMoney.com was cited for its weekly “Biz Green”.
• In the category of Promotional Announcements for News & Documentary, CNN earned two nominations. “Outstanding Promotional Announcement-Episodic” - Planet in Peril and God’s Warriors

The awards will be presented on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Rainbow Room in New York City.



Don't forget to cast your votes for the CNN Hero. Voting ends one week from today, Thursday November 20th.





I always enjoy a good laugh and this week it comes from the founder of CNN, Ted Turner. Mr. Turner doesn't appear to be much of a Lou Dobbs fan, take a look.

The next day Ted Turner stopped by CNN NY and did a sit down interview with Dobbs to promote his new book "Call Me Ted". The conversation was interesting, to say the least, and I could have listened to them jab for hours. Dobbs got in a few digs and aired the Letterman piece to get an explanation from Ted.

That's it for another week for me. ~Phebe

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

Howling Success

Rob Marciano filled in last week for John Roberts on American Morning. On Monday, Heidi Collins was showing off a medal that her team won during a CNN charity golf tournament that Marciano missed.

The Louisiana SPCA is celebrating their 120th anniversary this year. In honor of their "Howling Success" they're holding The Great CATsby: A Roaring 20’s tribute. Among their “20 reasons why you should celebrate the Roaring 20's with the Louisiana SPCA” was none other than CNN’s Rob Marciano who is one of their Celebrity Chairs for the event.

The celebration will take place on Saturday, November 15th at The Dorothy Dorsett Brown Louisiana SPCA campus. More information can be found at the Louisiana SPCA website.

Has CNN been emailing you recently? CNN posted an alert on their Behind The Scenes CNN.com blog about fake CNN emails that have been floating around cyberspace.

Earlier this week, a spam message purporting to be from CNN began circulating the Internet. We decided to blog about this to alert those of you who hadn’t yet received it to be on the lookout for it; and also to assure those of you who did receive it that the message was NOT, in fact, from CNN.

As you may know, spammers often disguise or forge the source of their e-mail to give recipients the impression that the message derived from another system, especially one tied to a recognizable brand. In this instance, the spammer chose to use the CNN brand.

The message, claiming to contain CNN’s Top 10 news stories and videos of the day, is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN. If you have received it, we suggest that you delete it from your mailbox. Further, we recommend you delete any e-mail message from your mailbox that you believe may be illegitimate.

Thanks to all of you out there who alerted us to the existence of this spam purporting to be from CNN.

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

Heidi Collins Public Service Announcement

In today's post:

• Heidi Collins PSA
• Richard Quest
• Birthday News

Heidi Collins PSA

Did you know that Heidi Collins was named the Official Spokesperson for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness?

This is an excerpt from a November 2006 press release from Celiac.com:

Heidi’s journey with celiac disease began shortly after she finished graduate school and began her first television job as an anchor at a station in Wichita Falls, Texas. About one year after she started this job, she learned she was pregnant, news that thrilled both Heidi and her husband Matt. The couple kept the secret for quite some time, but finally six months into the pregnancy, Heidi announced on air that she would be having a baby. Sadly, just a few weeks after announcing her pregnancy, Heidi lost the baby. She received very little explanation from her doctors about why the tragic loss had occurred other than from fetal demise.

...

However, Heidi continued to deal with stomach pains, severe headaches and anemia. The constant health issues grew nearly intolerable as she moved to CNN’s New York office. She continued visiting doctors until finally after 15 years of one health problem after another, her general practitioner diagnosed her with celiac disease. With one simple blood test, Heidi had found a diagnosis that would allow her to work toward a cure for her chronic medical conditions and an answer as to why her pregnancy had failed.

“Through being the spokesperson for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, I hope to significantly reduce the time it takes for people with celiac disease to be accurately diagnosed and empower people to reclaim their health and restore their lives,” Collins said. “It is through the power of my personal story and my ongoing struggle with celiac disease that I hope to encourage people to get tested and make a positive change in their lives.”

Collins has also done a Celiac Disease Public Service Announcement:

(Posted to YouTube by Vanessa41283)
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Richard Quest

Richard Quest spoke at a Qatar Airways gala held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall - Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on June 28, 2007.

Excerpts from a Qatar Airlines Press Release:

Qatar Airways rounded off its New York launch celebrations on Thursday night with a star-studded gala dinner in the country’s financial capital.

Celebrities from across the New York social, business and entertainment scene joined Qatar Airways at the launch party, held in The Allen Room – a spectacular venue at the city’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, just off Broadway.

Richard Quest and wife
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)(Correction: This photo was mislabeled by Getty Images. As we surmissed, in comments, it is actually Kiran Chetry and Richard Quest. Lots of thanks for the confirmation from CNN's excellent PR department.)

Master of ceremonies for the event was actress Andie MacDowell. She introduced the stellar line-up for the evening, including CNN International TV presenter and host of “CNN Business Traveller,” Richard Quest, together with host of the night, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Office Akbar Al Baker, who spoke of his pride in finally bringing Qatar Airways and its Five Star service to New York.

Quest, who logs in excess of 300,000 air miles each year, spoke lovingly of the way travel has changed, with more and more people able to traverse the globe.

He said: “The addition of Qatar Airways’ award-winning service to the United States means that we – the travellers and frequent flyers – all win.”

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Birthday News

Happy Birthday, tomorrow (July 3rd), to CNN Newroom's prime-time weekend anchor, Rick Sanchez!

A Pair of Kings & More

In today's post:

• Interview With Former Secretary of State James Baker
• Securing Our Future: From Farm to Fuel
• Shrek
• Happy Birthday

Interview With Former Secretary of State James Baker

For those of you who live in the KET viewing area, John King's interview with James Baker III is being rebroadcast.




From KET's website:


Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III is the subject of the latest Kentucky Author Forum Presents program. He discussed his memoir Work Hard, Study ... and Keep Out of Politics! with John King, chief national correspondent for CNN, in a conversation taped on April 24 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville.


Baker has served in senior government positions under three United States p residents. He served as the nation's 61st secretary of state, from January 1989 through August 1992, under President George H. W. Bush, traveling to 90 foreign countries as the U.S. confronted the challenges and opportunities of the post-Cold War era.

The program will air on Sunday, July 1 at 10:00/9:00 pm CT on KET2 and Friday, July 6 at 2:00/1:00 am CT on KET1.

The original KET Press Release is available here.

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Securing Our Future: From Farm to Fuel

KET is also airing a program developed by South Carolina's ETV that was moderated by John King.

Excerpts of ETV's original press release:

ETV Explores South Carolina's Alternative Fuel Options
CNN's John King Hosts "Securing Our Future: From Farm to Fuel"

Columbia, SC...Americans consume more than four billion barrels of imported fuel each year, creating an economic, environmental, and national security albatross that impedes our battle for independence from overseas fuel producers. Meanwhile, South Carolina is making considerable strides in the effort to curb the demand for foreign fuel.

Moderated by CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, this hour-long forum examines the potential of home-grown, American-made fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, as well as South Carolina’s role in helping to lessen America’s dependence on imported oil.

Securing Our Future: From Farm to Fuel is scheduled to air Monday, Jul 30 at 4:00 am on KET1.

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Shrek

You may be wondering what Shrek has to do with CNN. For those of you who have watched the most recent Shrek movies, you may or may not have realized that Larry King had voiced one of the characters. He's been the voice of Doris in Shrek 2 and in the recently released Shrek the Third.

USA Weekend Magazine published a 2007 Summer movie preview that included little know facts about each of the movies. Among the movies previewed was Shrek the Third:

Of all the performers in the film, CNN talk-show host Larry King stood out by being most prompt. Says co-director Chris Miller: "If Larry's start time for a recording session was 11:30 a.m., he would show up at 11 and be out of there by 11:10. The news waits for no one."



Shrek the Third is in theatre's now.

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Happy Birthday


Birthday Greetings to Rob Marciano! Marciano was subbing for John Roberts today on American Morning when Heidi Collins broke the news that today (June 25th) was his birthday.

Happy Birthday!