Tag: cnn international

I haven’t really watched in forever

It all started one day in 2004 after Ronald Reagan’s death that I just wanted to see what was happening. But I quickly wanted more out of it. I knew there was more of CNN than I was seeing, given that I’m living in the United States and did a bit of digging on the internet or how global the channel is. Enter CNN International.

I started watching because I wanted to know what was going on around the world. I love learning about countries, so I’m always down for Eurovision and the Olympics (and the World Cup).

I ended up tuning in to CNN International religiously (even when we got hit with 4 hurricanes that year) because of the news happening all over the world, but also because the anchors and reporters were top-notch (I’m one of those people lol).

I stopped watching in 2005 and didn’t get back to it until one day in 2009 when I was flipping through the channel at the end of my day in college and I saw that my local cable provider had added it in three days earlier. So, again, I started watching religiously.

During that time, greed took over on their part. The management (and the ones that came after) started gutting the journalists I got to know and love and replaced them with the ones that keep making headlines themselves despite the old adage that journalists should never be part of the news. I stopped watching in 2016

My last run with it went from 2019 to early 2022. It had carried me through the pandemic, but I also saw that the most meaningful shows only came on in the middle of the night, morning hours, and afternoon my time. The US primetime lineup is exactly the same as the main CNN primetime lineup (they had this for 10 years now), and I just couldn’t do it anymore. Plus, it’s hard to find the channel when you cut the cord.

So why am I bringing this up? One, I wanted to be a journalist. I love writing, but at the time, I didn’t feel like I would want to pursue the career. I always admired them, sometimes much more than most people. Two, I was in college pursuing a degree in Accounting, and this was a way for me to unwind from the coursework. Three, I got to meet other CNNI fans all over the world at the height of it between 2009 and 2011 and I felt like I have a solid network (and I still follow them on social media to this day, even if we’ve gone on to other things).

I will say this, despite the troubles… the journalists at CNN are real and credible and nothing in this world will convince me otherwise. However, the greed from both management and some of the anchors had taken over and while the new boss is trying to clean up the act, I don’t think it’ll be enough to get this longtime fan to come back. So, in short, I have moved on to getting news mainly from local sources and some independent news outlets (and no, don’t take anything at face value, no matter who is saying it).

Let me know your thoughts on the news industry as a whole.