News Broadcasting
CNN Intl to unveil new look, feel on 6 February
MUMBAI: In an attempt to move away from cluttered screens and heavy graphics, CNN International will unveil a new look on Monday, 6 February. The re-design covers all parts of the on-air look including a new position and treatment for the network logo, network identity spots and music, full-screen graphics, lower third fonting and network colour scheme.
Explaing the logic behind the move CNN International senior VP Rena Golden says, “Our priority is to ensure that our viewers around the globe, many of whom do not speak English as a first language, understand and engage with the news we deliver. The uncluttered screen and enhanced concise graphics will now allow our video and journalism to breathe fully. This redesign serves the viewer better: allowing our journalism to take centre stage and engage more, while giving better navigational information”.
CNN International will also adopt the internationally recognised colour for alert, yellow, for its breaking news graphics. In addition, the ‘news ticker’ or ‘crawl’ that is common to all news networks will be replaced by a new information bar that displays one complete sentence, or story, at a time allowing viewers to concentrate on the main part of the screen.
Audience navigation of the network and its programs was also a critical part of the re-design. New navigational tools and graphics will allow viewers to see what news coverage and programming is coming up in the hours ahead. The next phase of this project will include new sets in Atlanta, London and Hong Kong.
Underlining the international concept of the channel and its global distribution of more than 186 million households world wide, the design work for the new look was overseen by the network’s creative director Mark Wright, together with various international creative agencies and London based independent consultant Frank Lampen.
The new identity has been created to better serve the needs of the channel’s global citizen viewers, and includes new news graphics, navigation and promotion elements, opening title animations, a new logo and new music.
CNN International’s in house design team worked with a selection of London based creative partners on the project. CNN International’s redesign removes graphic elements to create a cleaner look which prioritises live video. The result the chanel states is a more focussed use of design elements, and reduced clutter.
In a radical break from the norm in news channels, CNN International is abandoning the traditional “news ticker” that runs along the bottom of the screen, in favour of a new system which displays one complete story at a time, allowing viewers to get regular headline updates whilst not being distracted from the main part of the screen.
CNN International’s new identity keeps the channel’s classic red logotype, but sets it in a white carrier. The globe, which differentiates CNN International from its sister US channel, has been updated to a silver and glass globe set within a square window, and this new device is used across idents, promotions and navigation elements.
In keeping with the channel’s international nature, the project has been run jointly from London and CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta. A collection of London-based agencies worked with CNN’s in-house production and music composition teams in the US.
The project has been led by CNN International’s US-based creative director Mark Wright, CNN’s marketing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mark Haviland, and London based independent creative consultant Frank Lampen.
A number of agencies worked with CNN International to develop the new look. Strategic direction for the project and the core creative treatment for news presentation and navigation graphics were developed by London agency Kemistry. Graham McCallum, Marc Ortmans and Ricky Churchill headed up the Kemistry team who worked on the project.
The new channel identity was developed by Brand42, also based in London, through its creative director Adge Gittins. Brand42’s logo concept runs through all on screen branding elements and is now being extended to other delivery platforms and off-air communications.
Brand42 worked with London design and production company CC-Lab on motion graphic design for new channel idents and opening title sequences. After Effects animations were produced in house at CC-Lab, with Adge Gittins as creative director, Jason Hocking as producer and Rob Jones as lead designer.
CNN International’s in-house creative team, led by assistant creative director Hillary Kilfeather, designed new weather graphics, created a new look for the channel’s World Sport show and devised a new treatment for the channel’s signature timelapse idents.
Working with CNN International throughout the process has been London based creative consultant Frank Lampen. Formerly part of the launch team at E4, he has recently worked on projects with Nike, Smirnoff and J&B as well as being an independent producer.
Music has been written by Atlanta based composer Herb Avery, who has worked with CNN for a number of years, and is credited with much of the music that is currently to be heard on the channel.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
