News Broadcasting
CNN marks silver jubilee with ‘Defining Moments’
MUMBAI: CNN marks its 25 anniversary with a special televised program Defining Moments: Stories that Touched Our Lives. The show will look back at events that have touched the lives of people around the world over the last quarter century.
The silver jubilee celebration will also be commemorating with a three-day conference of international journalists, world leaders and CNN executives, anchors and correspondents.
On 1 June at 6:30 CNN will Defining Moments: Stories that Touched Our Lives.
According to CNN release, from the unforgettable images of the recent South Asian Tsunami to that infamous night in Baghdad in 1991 when U.S. coalition bombs began to fall, CNN made its own mark in the history books while making the world a smaller place.
CNN International managing director Chris Cramer says, “As CNN celebrates 25 years of groundbreaking news coverage and technical innovation, we reminisce its illustrious history. It is a history that is shaped every day as CNN continues to stretch the boundaries of television reporting and expands, not just its services, but the ability to gather the news from the most remote parts of the world.”
The special one-hour program includes moments of courage against oppression and communism embodied by the eyewitness recollections of CNN veteran journalist Jim Clancy as he recalls the revolution of the Eastern Bloc and tales of a wall, that once divided the whole world, as it came falling down.
The channel had captured the haunting pictures in the hot spots of Bosnia and Rwanda; bringing crimes against humanity to light with CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour who recounts the ethnic rivalries in Kosovo as one of the Defining Moments: Stories that Touched Our Lives.
The programme will be hosted by CNN anchor Jonathan Mann. The show will highlight some ambitious endeavors and fatal flights with the explosions of the Challenger and the Colombia. The program also features images of reconciliation and conflict in the Middle East.
Broadcasting an unprecedented window to the world for the last 25 years, the Tsunami in 2004, the attacks on September 11, the tragic death of Princess Diana to the moments that mattered most, CNN was there.
As part of its 25th anniversary, CNN will also host the 2005 World Report Conference to be held in Atlanta from 30 May through 1 June. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Jim Clancy, Wolf Blitzer, Zain Verjee, Ralitsa Vassileva, Octavia Nasr, Michael Holmes and Anderson Cooper will join other international journalists and world leaders to discuss issues at the forefront of the news media today, informs the release.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, Sri Lankan president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Pakistani chief executive general Pervez Musharraf, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are among the international leaders who will join the conference either in person, via satellite or through a taped address. Musicians Bono and Ricky Martin and author Deepak Chopra will also participate in the conference.
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.
