CNN International's Kristie Lu Stout

I recently came across this article about a CNN anchor that many of our US readers may have never seen before. Kristie Lu Stout is an anchor and correspondent on CNN International. Below is an article from the Stanford Alumni Association Magazine.

SPOTLIGHT: Kristie Lu Stout, '96, MA '97:
The Frequent Flyers' Friend

by THERESA JOHNSTON, '83

She's a familiar morning face in more than 200 million hotel rooms and households across 200 countries. Recently she was named "best news presenter" at the Asian Television Awards. But when Kristie Lu Stout leaves her CNN Today anchor desk in Hong Kong for trips back to the United States, few of her fellow Americans—other than frequent business travelers—ever recognize her. "I'm sort of in this weird alternative dimension," Stout says with a laugh. "CNN International is not shown widely in the United States. There are a few million U.S. households that have it, but [our core market] really is a vast audience of global nomads."

Stout also serves as a CNN International technology correspondent, and on a recent trip to Stanford she was taping a panel discussion with five tech entrepreneurs about the future of online gaming and other virtual worlds. "What does your avatar look like?" she asked the first panelist, referring to his online gaming persona. "Why would real-world social norms apply to a virtual space?"

Stout, a yoga enthusiast and a former model, says she wasn't particularly interested in technology when she was growing up in Saratoga, Calif. That changed when she became a Stanford freshman. "When you have people living next to you in the same dorm who are electrical engineering majors or playing online games like The Sims or Doom or Warcraft, you just become technology-curious." Stout earned her bachelor's in social psychology and a master's in media studies, and then interned at Wired magazine. She moved to Beijing, where she helped launch the China-based search engine Sohu.com and wrote a technology column for the South China Morning Post—all while taking advanced courses in Mandarin, her mother's native tongue.

CNN International first noticed Stout in 1999, while she was being interviewed at the network's Asian regional headquarters in Hong Kong for a segment about the Internet in China. Producers asked if she would be interested in developing a new English-language technology program called Spark.

Now she hosts CNN Today each weekday morning, with co-anchor Hugh Riminton, plus Global Office, a half-hour monthly show that covers innovations in business and technology. "She's a pretty valuable asset, that's for sure," says Global Office producer Tom Hayes. "Probably the best-prepared presenter I've worked with."

Stout's daily schedule is demanding, even by Hong Kong standards. Waking at 4, she parts with her husband, attorney Seung Chong, and catches a 10-minute cab ride to the CNN studios. From 5 to 7 a.m. she prepares for interviews and works with producers on a rundown of the morning's biggest stories. CNN Today runs live from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Then she's off to editorial meetings, tapings and teleconferences that may last into the early evening.

Yet despite the long hours and frequent jet lag, Stout insists there's no place she'd rather be. "Outside of a war zone, the biggest stories in the world for journalists, in my opinion, are on the rise of China and the rise of India," she notes. "Being based in Hong Kong, I can cover those stories. And that is a tremendous opportunity for me."

CNN.com recently posted an interview Stout did with a witness to the protests in Yangon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian readers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Columbus Day to our US readers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mystery Journalist

This week's Mystery Journalist was Alina Cho.

Upcoming Events

There's not a lot going on in the world of CNN today so I thought I'd get everyone caught up on some upcoming events....



Jeffery Toobin continues he's book signing tour.

-Sunday, Oct 7th - The New Yorker Festival
-Tues, Oct 9th - Ann Arbor Michigan (Borders)
-Wed, Oct 10th- Boston (Harvard Book Store)
-Thurs, Oct 11-Raleigh, NC (Regulator Books)
-Tues, Oct 16-Kansas City (Rainy Days Books)
-Thurs, Oct 18th-Madison, Ct (R.L. Julia @ Yale)

For more dates check out our CNN Calendar of Events

*If you attend one of Jeffery Toobin's signings or another CNN event we'd love to hear from you! Please email us with your account and we'll share it with our readers.

Some other events....




-Sunday, Oct 14th James Carville will be taking questions at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan
-Tues, Oct 16- Christiane Amanpour will conduct an online chat at University of Rhode Island
-Sunday, Oct 21-Soledad O'Brien will be speaking the Bishop's Dinner in Sioux City, Iowa



A few Anderson Cooper appearances to promote the upcoming Planet in Peril series on Oct 23rd and 24th.

-Tues, Oct 9th- The View (check your local listings for time)
-Mon, Oct 15th- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (12:35am est/NBC)
-Sunday,Oct 21- The Apple store in NYC

To keep up with Anderson's professional appearances check out our All Things Anderson Calendar of Events

Beltway Sniper

Next week, Special Investigations Unit revisits the DC Sniper. Can you believe that its been five years since this happened? Having lived in the area that nervously awaited an arrest in the shootings, I remember the undercurrent of fear that people had during those weeks.

Below are excerpts from the CNN Press Release:

The shootings began in early October 2002 and lasted for nearly a month – a series of sniper killings that exploited the fears of a nation still uneasy from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 only one year earlier. Five years later, anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien reports the CNN: Special Investigations Unit – The Mind of the DC Snipers about how two men, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, came to know each other and began their reign of terror. O’Brien also dissects exclusive video of Muhammad taken in prison.

The Mind of the DC Snipers will premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. and will replay on Saturday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. All times Eastern.

The documentary reveals how Malvo spent most of his early years in the tiny Jamaican town of Endeavor. O’Brien learns through exclusive interviews with the boy’s aunt, Jean Lawrence, and his father, Lesley Malvo, that Lee Malvo was a gifted student, whose troubled years seemed to begin when his mother, Una James, assumed parental custody. James, who worked as an itinerant beach vendor, appears to have been neglectful and physically abusive to the son she ultimately abandoned when he was 14 years old. Soon afterwards, Malvo met John Allen Muhammad.

Muhammad, a former U.S. Army combat engineer, who converted, along with his family to Islam, was unpredictable and temperamental, and was, by now, a fugitive. According to his ex-wife, Mildred Muhammad, he abruptly left their home in Tacoma, Wash., for Antigua with their three children without informing her. In addition to these custody issues, Muhammad appears to have supported his children by selling counterfeit passports. Muhammad’s children, speaking for the first time and exclusively to O’Brien, describe how their father integrated Malvo into their family and began training him to be guarded, distrustful of authority and eventually, a killer.

DC Snipers features interviews with law enforcement investigators who worked to solve the case under intense media scrutiny, witness reports which led to dead ends, and mishandled and leaked evidence that may have enabled Muhammad and Malvo to evade detection. Charles A. Moose, former chief of Montgomery County Police Department and now a beat police officer in Honolulu, recounts the pressures investigators felt to deliver results in this case that captured national attention.

“We’re all people; we all make mistakes,” says Moose, in his first television network interview in more than three years about the subject.

O’Brien contacted both convicted killers during her investigation. Although Malvo retracted the interview offer, O’Brien speaks to his prison social worker about his stated remorse and his on-going fears of rejection and abandonment. From Muhammad, viewers get an exclusive look at the mind of a sociopath as he describes his continued struggle for freedom.

Mildred Muhammad tells O’Brien that Malvo never had a chance against her manipulative yet charismatic husband.

“That boy was a victim before he even knew it,” she says. “His life was over when he said, ‘Hi’.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeffrey Toobin will be on BookTV on CSPAN2 this weekend talking about his new book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. The program will air on Saturday, October 6, at 10:00 PM ET and Sunday, October 7, at 11:00 PM ET.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Birthday to Thomas Roberts who will be celebrating his birthday on Saturday, October 6th!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mystery Journalist

Can you name this CNN journalist?

Let us know who you think it is and we'll reveal this journalist's identity in Sunday's post.

Tonight Really Is All Things CNN!

Kiran Chetry was the Master of Ceremonies at the American-Nepal Friendship Society annual awards dinner on September 29 in New York City. The event also included a panel discussion on "US Nepal Relations: Expectations and Realities in a Period of Transformation." where Kiran acted as moderator.
The America-Nepal Friendship Society (ANFS) is an association of individuals engaged in bringing the people of the United States and Nepal closer together in understanding, appreciation, and cooperation. According to a press release by the ANFS, Kiran Chetry, provided insight as well as a personal Nepali connection in moderating the panel which included Minister Sahana Pradhan. James T. Walsh,

member of the United States House of Representatives, Kul Chandra Gautam, Assistant Secretary General of the UN and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF among others. At the conclusion of the panel discussion, Moderator and Master of Ceremony Kiran Chetry was presented with a Nepali scarf and Honorary Certificate as a token of appreciation by Dr. Tara Niraula
For a full report click here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CNN’s The Situation Room at 4p Wins Another Month in P25-54, Ranking #1 Among All Cable News Nets in September

For the second time this year, CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer at 4p dominated the P25-54 demo, raking first among all cable news nets for the month of September.

Congratulations Wolf and Situation Room team!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The CBC Institute and CNN announced the date for the upcoming debate they will be carrying. It will be on January 17, 2008. The Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute (CBC Institute) announced today that a date has been set for a Democratic presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, SC. The debate will be held on the evening of January 17, 2008 and will be produced and broadcast by CNN.
In making the announcement, CBC Institute Board Chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said “We are excited about this debate and look forward to hosting the Democratic candidates in South Carolina.”Congressman Thompson also said, “The debate site will be the Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach. We are working to complete debate logistics and will make those arrangements public in the next few weeks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyra Phillips had a busy day in the CNN NewsRoom. Kyra conducted an interview with the President of Gallaudet University, the nation’s only liberal arts university for the deaf. She asked questions about an incident involving a black student at Gallaudet University residential high school. She also reported that he was held against his will by seven other students who scrawled swastikas and the letters KKK on him.
You can read Kyra’s full interview with the President of Gallaudet University here.

Kyra also interviewed Adm. Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant about the criminal investigation of two racial incidents involving Coast Guard personnel.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The man in charge of the Coast Guard tells me he's disappointed. Knowing him as I do, that's a bit of an understatement. He's Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard commandant, and he joins me now live from Washington, D.C.
Admiral, thanks for being with me.
ADM. THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: Good afternoon, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I want to go back to that e-mail that you sent out to the entire U.S. Coast Guard. We heard a little bit about it in the piece that I just did to set you up, but you made it very clear that this is behavior that you are not going to tolerate at all.
Tell me what you're going to say to the cadets today as you travel to the academy.
ALLEN: Well, Kyra, the events that occurred are absolutely against our core values, as you stated. But they're very inconsistent with the mission of the Coast Guard, a real humanitarian service. We save people's lives.
We have to watch out for each other when we're doing rescue operations and the country expects that we're going to perform to a high level. You cannot do that when you create these types of environments, and I won't tolerate it and I don't expect my people to either.
PHILLIPS: So tell me what the Coast Guard is doing right now about this criminal investigation into these two incidents involving nooses.
ALLEN: Well, Kyra, at the time of the incidents, we did what was called an admin investigation or a preliminary inquiry. That didn't produce any results. So now we have a criminal investigation under way, and currently there are 13 agents at the Coast Guard Academy conducting interviews.
PHILLIPS: All right. Admiral, stay with me. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to continue this interview.
PHILLIPS: I'm going to continue my interview now. We're talking about hate symbols, unspoken threats, and where these threats are being made.
Two nooses, two hateful messages sent to a Coast Guard cadet and a civil rights officer at the Coast Guard Academy.
Joining us again live, Admiral Thad Allen, the U.S. Coast Guard commandant.
Sir, we talked about the fact that you are headed to the academy to address cadets today, that you will not tolerate this kind of behavior.
We discussed the Coast Guard's criminal investigation.
Now I want to ask you about these two incidents. Has this ever happened before at the U.S. Coast Guard?
ALLEN: Well, Kyra, I've asked our civil rights office to take a look at recent reports around the Coast Guard, and last year we had two incidents where nooses were found at workplaces, but there was no activity directed at an individual. There was immediate action taken by the commands. In one case, the noose was actually a result of a knot-tying training event for our people and they were counseled.
PHILLIPS: Well, you bring up a very interesting point, too, and this was new to me. I had no idea that the Coast Guard had a civil rights director. I had no idea that you had civil rights officers.
Tell me about Terri Dickerson. I understand she's your director of civil rights. She's going with you to the academy. She's a black female.
Why do you have this position, and why does she direct -- report directly to you?
ALLEN: Well, Kyra, we've had a director of civil rights in the Coast Guard for many years. We have a headquarters staff of 21 and we have 27 permanently assigned people in the field to assist our commanding officers in dealing with human relations complaints and provide them advice.
Terri Dickeron is a senior executive in government, reports directly to me, one of only a handful of people in headquarters that does that. And again, this underscores our commitment to make sure that we have workplaces free of a hostile environment.
PHILLIPS: And talk to me about the serious nature of these incidents, how it's impacted your men and women, your men and women of color, and how it's impacted your organization.
ALLEN: Well, this is a demoralizing event to the entire service, and especially to people of color. They need to be able to work in an environment that's free of hostility and be able to work as a team in the Coast Guard.
PHILLIPS: When you find -- and notice I say "when you find" -- the person or persons responsible for these actions, how will they be held accountable? And if they are found guilty of a hate crime, could that take it to an entirely different level?
ALLEN: Well, Kyra, when cadets enter the Coast Guard Academy, they take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, like all our people in the Coast Guard do, and they are held to the same standard of conduct that active duty Coast Guard officers are held to.
And quite frankly, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, this is conduct unbecoming an officer.
PHILLIPS: Is this something that could get an individual or individuals kicked out of the U.S. Coast Guard?
ALLEN: Well, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is a separate justice system that applies to military members, it actually exerts a higher standard of conduct for those who serve the country.
There's a range of options from administrative measures at the local level, clear up including a court-martial.
PHILLIPS: A court-martial, so it can go that far.
Let me ask you this, too, Admiral. For blacks, Hispanics, American-Indians, anyone of color who is thinking about joining the Coast Guard or they are in the Coast Guard right now, should they fear for their safety?
ALLEN: I don't think this is a matter of physical safety, Kyra. This is a matter of a hostile work environment that we have to get rid of.
PHILLIPS: Why is diversity important to you? Why is this a personal mission for you, not just a professional one?
ALLEN: Well, anybody who serves this country serves one of the most diverse countries in the world. The people we serve need to see a Coast Guard that looks like them and we need to understand the cultural differences and be sensitive to the fact that the people we're saving out there come from very different walks of life.
PHILLIPS: Final question. You and your director of civil rights, Terri Dickerson, headed to the academy right now to speak to cadets. How will the two of you address them? Your mission, what you're going to say, and her mission.
ALLEN: Well, we're going to find out how this happened, and we have a very detailed investigation ongoing, but we need to figure out moving forward how to prevent this in the future and how to create the right work environment for all of our people. Everybody needs to have the promise that when you enter the Coast Guard you'll be treated equally, fairly, and so we will treat you the same way as the people that we save out there.

Also in Kyra Phillips news, this Saturday Kyra will be co-hosting the 17th annual “Cox Presents: A Salute to Teachers” at 7 p.m. The event will be broadcast from the Civic Theatre in downtown San Diego. Check the CNN Calendar of Events for more details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Belated Birthday to Brianna Keilar who celebrated her 27th birthday on September 21st.

Also a Happy Belated Birthday to Gary Tuchman who celebrated his “25th” (wink, wink) birthday on October 2nd. A great big thanks to Anderson Cooper and the AC360 team for the tip on Gary’s birthday.

Last Week at a Glance, Sept. 24-28, 2007

ATC is pleased to welcome a guest blogger to help us understand the complicated world of ratings. Welcome Ratings Guru.

Last Weeks Ratings at a Glance

by the Ratings Guru

Welcome to the most disputed area of the television industry… program audience ratings. Because there is so much raw data supplied, it is almost a given that any channel in Cable or a Broadcast Network can claim to be #1 in something, anything at any given time during the day.

We will look at the primetime news/information programs that comprise primetime in the Cable universe – the “big three” – Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. We’re going to look at them primarily from the most accepted demographic – Adults 25-54. Now since we don’t have access to every demographic that comprises a 2+ Total Audience, we are limited in what we can tell you.

First some background as to how the audience was examined – and these are accepted in the industry.
We look at TIME PERIOD audience for each day, week and number of days that comprise a calendar month since the programs you are most concerned about air five days a week.
It is irrelevant to the analysis if the anchor was present in the time period as ratings are developed for advertising analysis, and programs are not bought based on who is sitting in the anchor chair that night. They are buying the program, not program and anchor.
What is relevant, and is discarded is “event” programming such as debates. In the case of any channel airing an “event,” the audience numbers are discarded and the average audience for that program for the week or month, is used in place of the “event.” Why can’t “event” audience be used? It isn’t indicative of the average program’s performance.

Can my ratings analysis differ from what you see on the internet? Yes. The reason is I am not looking to send out a press release that points out program advantages. Will the numbers differ from site to site? Yes. Some sites use Nielsen audience figures for LIVE only and some use LIVE+Same Day DVR estimates. The absolute final audience figures for a program can be delayed as much as three weeks, so we use what we call Nielsen Fast Track Nationals – the overnight ratings of LIVE + SAME DAY DVR based on the 56 metered US markets that comprise the Fast National numbers. These are the same audience figures the internet sites use. However, for our analysis, LIVE+SAME DAY DVR is the most current, accurate performance in the absence of final, certified audience performance.

You may have heard that the advertising industry switched this year from buying on LIVE ratings only, to a term that we call C3. What that means is the channels and media buyers have agreed that LIVE+3 day retention of DVR program viewership will count as the final program audience performance. You can see now why it can take up to three weeks for Nielsen to compile accurate final audience delivery.

You have also witnessed the result of the ad community resisting cable channels using commercial breaks (called “pods” in the industry) which are so long that there can be massive viewer tune-out. Rating commercials is now a serious business, separate from program ratings, so CNN has started telling viewers their commercial breaks will be shorter, “so don’t go away.” To quote a recent trade ad: “One of the best things that has emerged from C3 thus far is that it has forced the cable nets to be more accountable for the length of their commercial pods.” Now do you see why CNN is using graphics alerting viewers their breaks will be shorter – it’s for the ad community. They are not reducing the amount of advertising spots over the course of an hour, they are just breaking more often.
So, let’s jump in and see some highlights on how CNN and AC360 fared in audience performance!

Fox News/CNN/MSNBC Primetime Analysis
Comparisons over Month of September 3-29, 2007

Like it or not, television tends to have tremendous amounts of audience 50 years and older. If a channel has a large amount of older viewers, they can always boast of being #1. It’s nice to say you are #1, but if the ad community really cares about the key demographic delivery of Adults 25-54, being #1 in the demographic is most important. While all News typically skews old, some programs have formats that can be more appealing to the true audience the advertiser wants. Is it nice to get all this extra audience outside of Adults 25-54? Sure, but try to get anyone to pay for it other than advertiser who buy total audience (few).

FOX News’s primetime (8-11PM) was far and away the #1 cable news channel for the month of September because of its top-heavy Adult 50+ audience.

CNN’s strength of audience is better balanced with total audience, thus it is important to look at the programs in the key demographic of Adults 25-54. Why not compare primetime to primetime on the cable channels? Because their formats and anchors appeal to vastly difference kinds of audience. It is much more fair to look at how the programs perform in the time period against their competitors.

8-9PM CNN:
Unfortunately, this has been a very inconsistent time period in scheduling different programs, specials and substitute anchors. In having a steady anchor last week (and some real controversy between CNN and Fox News), OUT IN THE OPEN has grown +9% in the key demographic. Consistency reigns however, and both COUNTDOWN and BILL O’REILLY beat the program significantly for the week and month.
9-10PM CNN:
LKL’s audience can great fluctuate based on his guests and subject. He consistently beats DAN ABRAMS on MSNBC, but rarely tops HANNITY and COLMBS on Fox. With substitute hosts and varying topics, LKL has actually decreased in audience over the course of the month, registering a -22% decrease off of his non-event week of Sept. 3-7. In weeks when he focuses on guests in the news, or the news topic itself, he can generate audiences almost double what Sept. 24-28 showed (238,000).
10-11PM CNN:
Now here is where it gets interesting. GRETA did beat 360 for the month, but 360 was able to gain enough audience over the course of the month to cut the audience advantage GRETA had over 360 almost in HALF. That rarely happens in news, as people are typically set in their ways in who they watch. 360 started out the month almost 15% behind GRETA in looking at FIRST RUN, 10-11PM (we all know 360, 11P-12MD is a rebroadcast for the most part, and Fox airs different programming. We are comparing time period to time period here. By the end of the month, even with a poorer showing September 24-28, 360 cut GRETA’s advantage percentage to 9%. Not bad….
GRETA, unfortunately “cleaned 360’s clock” the last week of September with a 22% advantage.
Did 360 have some great weeks – sure Iraq coverage had a 13% advantage over GRETA.
The first two days of OJ coverage helped 360 (didn’t beat GRETA), but it “fell off the cliff” on Wednesday of the OJ week by keeping too much on the story and not presenting a strong, full hour of compelling news. The rest of the week performed well, but with a substitute anchor, nothing like GRETA’s audience. It shows that audience do have “story fatigue.”
NOTES:
8PM on CNN will continue to struggle against consistent viewers of COUNTDOWN and BILL O’REILLY.
9PM with LKL can provide a great lead-in program for 360 when he is hosting and the guest or subject is compelling. This program has the most audience swings of all the CNN primetime programs.
10PM – the “wild card.” Special coverage, knowing when to leave a story, full hard-hitting news in combination with the twists and turns 360 is allowed to take even though it is considered a “news program,” can boost the audience the most. The Iraq coverage, promoted heavily for four days gained in audience each night. OJ analysis also did well until the audience clearly tired of the story. The latest ratings, in a “normal” news week, have not been kind to 360 and GRETA has beaten it by 22%. But, and it is a big but. Since 360 has a much better percentage of audience in Adults 25-54 versus GRETA, her old skewing audience would typically remain loyal. The new broadcast primetime season began, and there are lots of new 10PM programs to pull younger demographics away from news. This, on top of the commercial experimentation on 360 may need to settle down over the course of the next few months. Men demographics will be affected by the Baseball playoffs, World Series, ESPN’s Monday Night Football, along with more primetime programs premiering. Good news: CNN has much more DVR audience than does Fox News. Fox’s audience primarily watches their programs live. CNN and MSNBC can pick up at least a 10% audience gain with the final audience published by Nielsen, and 10% can mean a lot in the key demographic advertisers want. It means almost nothing in the older demographics to advertisers.

And it’s all about ratings for the advertisers. Talk to you next week and we’ll only look at a week’s performance from now on. Let me know your questions. I’ll do my best to answer them!

AUDIENCE AVERAGE, Adults 25-54, WEEK OF SEPT. 24-28, 2007:

8PM:
Fox News: 475,000
CNN: 199,000
MSNBC: 289,000

9PM:
Fox News: 334,000
CNN: 238,000
MSNBC: 160,000*


10PM:
Fox News: 313,000
CNN: 245,000
MSNBC: 175,000**

*Abrams only aired 3 days – “event” debate aired and “Doc Block” on Friday. Those programs would not be sold as “Abrams.”
**Excludes “event” debate; average audience determined for five days.
SOURCE: Courtesy, Nielsen Media Research; Demographics and weeks as noted; LIVE+Same Day DVR (referred to as LS).

CNN Explores Hispanic Heritage in Prime Time, Online This Week

Below are excerpts from a CNN Press Release announcing programming for Hispanic Heritage Month:

CNN’s Uncovering America programming initiative continues this week across the network’s multiple broadcast platforms and digital services with dynamic, original reporting on the challenges faced by Hispanic communities in the United States and the growing influence of Hispanic culture upon politics, daily life and business in America. This latest installment – The Hispanic Experience Today – coincides with events across the nation for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Online, CNN.com offers in-depth coverage and users’ reflections on being Hispanic in America. Through i-Reports, users can submit videos, still photos and text of their experiences. Many viewers’ personal reflections are posted at www.CNN.com/UncoveringAmerica.

On television, CNN’s American Morning on Wednesday, Oct. 3, will feature Cuban-American actor Oscar Nuñez from NBC’s The Office, who will talk about the changing images of Hispanics in media. American Morning is anchored by Kiran Chetry and John Roberts and airs Mondays through Fridays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (ET).

On Out in the Open, the network’s nightly issues broadcast, anchor Rick Sanchez will interview guests and moderate debates on the hot topics of English as the official national language in America, jobs and immigration. Tonight, Sanchez reveals his undercover investigation about life as a day laborer. Reporting on the informal economy surrounding day laborers, Sanchez shows first-hand how they negotiate for wages, the kind of work they perform and their hopes for the future.

For Wednesday, Oct. 3, Out in the Open broadcast will focus on enforcement at the U.S.-Mexican border. Sanchez will moderate a spirited debate on proposed recommendations on the subject of whether a border fence is a sensible means of addressing illegal border crossings and other immigration issues. Out in the Open airs each weekday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (ET).

On Anderson Cooper 360°, special correspondent Soledad O’Brien files, “Return to Hidalgo,” a report on one of the nearly empty Mexican villages on the road from Mexico City that are being rebuilt with U.S. dollars sent home from undocumented workers. But with increased border enforcement, the population of Hidalgo has begun to swell with returning workers from America. O’Brien reports on both sides of the border for a look at the changes that means for the American cities that they left and the Mexican ones to which they’ve returned.

Also on Anderson Cooper 360°, correspondent Ed Lavandera will report about children of Mexican workers attending the Yuma Union School District in San Luis, Ariz. Each weekday, children who were born in America but still live in Mexico return for a better education in violation school district boundary rules. Lavandera talks to people on both sides of the issue, including an “attendance monitor” who tracks down the kids who are attending public schools for free in Arizona.

For Anderson Cooper 360° on Thursday, Oct. 4, correspondent Harris Whitbeck reports on the issue of cross-border adoption in which the owner of a Guatemalan adoption agency stands accused of coercing Guatemalan parents to allow their babies to go to wealthy American adoptive parents. Recently, Guatemalan officials claimed the man paid women to become impregnated with Anglo sperm to make babies even more desirable to prospective American parents.

For the Uncovering America initiative, CNN Newsource has produced minibiographies on notable Americans of Hispanic ethnicity that are currently airing on television affiliates across the country. The profiles will also be available to users as streaming video at www.CNN.com/UncoveringAmerica. The profiles include:

• César Chávez, a Mexican American farm labor leader and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who worked to secure civil rights for farm workers;
• Ellen Ochoa, NASA’s director of flight crew operations and America’s first female Hispanic astronaut;
• Dr. Antonia Coella Novello, MD, a Puerto Rican pediatricn and nephrologist who served as the first Hispanic U.S. Surgeon General during the Clinton administration;
• Legendary Afro-Cuban American salsa singer Celia Cruz; and
• Mexican American middle weight boxing legend and Olympic gold medalist, Oscar De La Hoya.

CNN en Español, CNN’s 24-hour Spanish-language news network, will also air profiles of Hispanics who have “made a difference.”

• Anchor Claudia Palacios interviewed Atlanta-based Dr. Jorge Simons, who treats and counsels drug and alcohol addicts;
• correspondent Cristina Puig interviewed Peruvian-American soccer star and trainer Teofilo Cubillas;
• correspondent Karina Coronel interviewed American theater legend Mauricio Marcel, an Argentinian-American now based in Washington, D.C.;
• Patricia Pedraza profiles entrepreneur Salomon Paniagua, who began his career as a busboy and now owns a chain of diners in Queens, N.Y.;
• and Nazeli Nazar interviews Laura Trejo, the first female Hispanic politician to be appointed to senior levels of city government in Los Angeles and now serves as the general manager of the city’s Department of Aging.

On Monday, Oct. 15, CNN en Español will begin streaming its news and public affairs program, Encuentro con Daniel Viotto, on CNN.com Live which each night at 8 p.m. (ET). Guests will be newsmakers, business leaders and politicians from the Latino Diaspora.

Separated at Birth

A few days ago Sapphire sent me a picture of CNN's John Roberts. It reminded me of John McCook from 'The Bold and The Beautiful'. The idea of doing a separated at birth post was born. With the ladies help here are a few of our comparisons.

John Roberts and John McCook (Eric Forester on The Bold and The Beautiful)

Wolf Blitzer and C. Evertt Koop

Kyra Phillips and Tina Fey

David Mattingly and Gordon Thompson (Adam Carrington on Dynasty)

Dan Rivers and Clay Aikin

Heidi Collins and Reba McIntyre

Anderson Cooper and Kermit the Frog

Dana Bash and Dory (Ellen Degeneres' fish in Finding Nemo)

Tom Foreman and Scooter from The Muppets