CNN (Cable News Network)

Founded in 1980 by Atlanta-based entrepreneur Ted Turner (1938- ), CNN was the runaway media success story of that decade. Adopting a “rolling news” format, CNN offered news whenever the viewer needed it. Rivals compared this to convenience food and dubbed the network “chicken noodle news.” By the mid-1980s the network had developed a substantial overseas presence via satellite and led the way with electronic news-gathering techniques. This ushered in an era of real-time news in which populations and leaders alike could follow events as they happened. The downside of this approach was the perceived problem that areas not covered by CNN (such as central Africa) slipped from the political agenda. The alleged role of CNN in setting foreign-policy agendas has been dubbed the CNN effect. CNN played a major role in the Gulf War of 1991. Iraq sought to sway world opinion by allowing Peter Arnett (1934- ) to broadcast from Baghdad during the bombardment. CNN poses a major challenge to state-funded international broadcasters, especially now that the network has begun to broadcast in foreign languages. By the end of the last century CNN faced stiff competition from broadcasters, including BBC World, Rupert Murdoch’s (1931- ) Sky News, and regionally specific stations such as Al Jazeera of Qatar.