YourWorldToday

It all feels very temporary, doesn't it? (It probably is!) I read on Status.news (Oliver Darcy's website) that Brad Smith is only filling in at 5am, presumably until CNN decide what they want to do with that slot in the long term. I think there's work being done to the studio at CNN London, because there's been no output from there for about two weeks now. (Everything has been done from flash sets, or in Amanpour's case, from her home!) I'm wondering if they'll return that 4am hour to London once the revamped studio is ready.

So today Lynda Kinkade did 12-2am, Rosemary Church did an hour and since 3am ET we've had Polo Sandoval. Very much doubt that will be the case everyday. I was expecting someone in London to do the 4am hour, but today is a public holiday in the UK. Probably we'll find out the proper arrangements tomorrow.

So some interesting changes happening from this Monday (May 4th). It looks like Early Start is being axed, and replaced with Headline Express (this was first flagged by @EastCoaston another forum). Interestingly it also looks like the 4am ET hour of CNNI Newsroom is returning. I wonder if Headline Express moving to 5am is to accommodate that? Presumably HE is produced by a different team, so it’s no extra workload for the CNNI overnight team. Wonder who will anchor this extra hour? I’d love it if they gave Christina Macfarlane that hour back, but I suspect (at least for now) it’ll be Becky Anderson and/or whoever anchored the previous hours of Newsroom (so probably Rosemary Church).

Luckily for him, no one watches NewsNation, so it doesn't really matter.

Bring back CNN Today from London!

It would probably make more sense for Elex's show to air only on CNN Domestic, and CNNI could keep doing its own thing. But I guess budgets won't allow for that. I'd love love LOVE the old CNN Today to come back from London, and have that instead of Newsroom or The Story Is (ah, the days of Max and Monita! @ginnyfan). But I don't think CNN London has the capacity to do such a thing anymore. Sundays are actually no longer a working day in the UAE, which I think is why Connect the World went Monday-Friday. (Really it should probably be Monday-Thursday as their working week officially ends at midday on Fridays. But that would probably mess the schedule up too much ) I suspect with the winding down of CNN Max, we'll probably start to see more and more domestic shows on CNNI. Probably by 2030 it'll be more or less a straight simulcast of domestic. Which sucks, but I guess these are the times we live in. News channels are becoming ever less relevant. Sad for us news junkies...

Yeah it’s very awkward, isn't it. Much like when they briefly brought back Your World Today and had that running Monday-Thursday nights from London… which was Tuesday-Friday mornings in Asia! (I think Mondays were CNN Newsroom from Atlanta). But logic doesn’t exactly seem to be the CNN schedulers’ strong point. It’s a shame they don’t have a European breakfast show in that slot, like they used to (CNN Today from London). But there are barely any anchors left in London… such a shame. They really have butchered CNNI.

With all the fill-in shifts she does, I suspect she probably has as much airtime as some of the permanent anchors! On another note, I think John Vause might have quietly left. He hasn't been on air since the end of August, and there's probably no place for him in the schedule with this new L.A. show starting at the end of this month. Another old CNNI face gone...

Yeah, it’s amazing how just a bit of colour really brightens up the backdrop. I find News Central DC always looks really dull and grey. I’ve never quite understood the point of One World. It was fine when it was an hour-long show focused on Africa, but now it’s focused on US politics (like every other show) it just seems a bit pointless. And doing a two-anchor show from a flash set is certainly a choice! I would love to know why CNNI is seemingly not allowed to use any of the big studios in NY. Quest Means Business in particular is always much better when he’s in London and he can use the big studio there.

He’s great. I love him too. He should be on the main CNN instead of Kasie Hunt. Something different to the non stop politics.

Thank God CNNI viewers aren't subjected to that crap... I'll take Quest Means Business over this ANYDAY.

I think a lot of people are leaving because they see the writing on the wall, both at CNN and in TV journalism as a whole. As long as CNN stays owned by WBD and Zaslav, it's going to be a bit toothless because he is trying to curry favor with Trump so as not to impede his M&A ambitions. Sad. Yeah she was wasted on that weekend morning show. Should have had her and Victor do the weekday show instead of Kasie Hunt.

Amara Walker is leaving: https://deadline.com/2025/02/amara-walker-cnn-departure-1236280236/

He was supposed to be retiring this year… then he signed a new three year contract. But yes I suspect this is CNN easing him out.

Surprised no one here has picked up on this yet - looks Wolf Blitzer is set to move to 10am. The Situation Room is moving with him, and he will co-host with Pamela Brown. https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/wolf-blitzer-cnn-daytime-anchor-move-1236276044/ https://nypost.com/2025/01/16/media/cnn-to-shift-wolf-blitzer-to-mornings-in-massive-shakeup-at-network-report/ Not only that, but Kasie Hunt may move from the early show to 4pm, with Jake Tapper shifting to 5pm. And get this... https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-plots-to-bury-the-anchor-trump-hates-most/ the boss wants Jim Acosta to move to midnight! (Though there is talk that this offer involves moving to LA, where it would be 9pm.) It seems like this is a way to get rid of Jim, and he's calling their bluff. Interesting times at CNN.

I'm still confused as to how all this is going to work in practice. Are we going to see a CNN News Central-style show, with Maurice and John standing at opposite ends of the studio? Somehow I can't see them being sat next to each other at a desk, a la Dan Rather and Connie Chung. Also what about "Margaret Brennan regularly leading coverage from D.C."? Are we talking a glorified White House correspondent role here? Or will she be a de facto third anchor? No one seems to know how the broadcast will look - I suspect perhaps even CBS doesn't know. I think @C Block is right, this is essentially a stopgap until the new head of news comes in and changes things again.

"Last rites" - ha! I like that. I suspect that is what Norah will do going forward - special reports and big events like tonight's debate.

Announced yesterday. 200+ jobs are to go. The streaming service will remain but be greatly scaled back: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/scripps-news-cut-200-jobs-1236157948/ https://www.axios.com/2024/09/27/scripps-news-layoffs-broadcast-news-channel https://deadline.com/2024/09/scripps-news-layoffs-1236101676/

Apparently so. It was in Puck News, I think one of Dylan Byers' articles, and it said Wolf is planning on retiring shortly after the inauguration. (As is Lester Holt at NBC)

I'd be surprised if there are any changes to shows before the election. I suspect there might be a bigger schedule change when Wolf leaves after the election.

I’m sure they will do something with HLN as soon as they are able. Probably they’ll rebrand it as soon as the current contracts expire. Back to CNN Max, Oliver Darcy had an interesting article in his new newsletter yesterday. The gist of it is that CNN Max used to simulcast a lot of CNN, but now they don’t (it’s either CNNI or separate shows) and this is because of (surprise) the cable companies. WBD’s excuse is that CNN Max is still in beta (a year after it launched!) and so the schedule is fluid. Basically it’s all about keeping the cable companies on-side. Interesting times.

A friend pointed out to me something interesting today. Around noon ET, it was Inside Politics with Dana Bash. Nothing unusual there, right? Due to the (second) Trump assassination attempt, CNN International carried Inside Politics as well. But CNN Max didn't, instead staying with the usual CNNI output at that time (One World). Which begs the question: why produce today's edition of One World, a CNNI show aimed at a global audience... and only show it to a handful of viewers on Max? It makes no sense. I know CNN Max can't simulcast too much of CNN domestic in case the cable companies get upset. So in that case why can't CNNI viewers get the output that we normally get anyway? I think they would have covered the shooting attempt just as well as domestic, if not better. Seems CNNI is on its way out. I'm convinced that as soon as WBD are able to turn CNN Max into a full-on CNN simulcast, they will do so, and end CNNI with it.

CNNI still uses voiceovers:

You’re absolutely right, and it’s sad. It’s almost a glorified simulcast of domestic at the moment, and that’s sad. Much of the international output that does air comes from flash sets, which just makes it look cheap. And why do they only use London, which has IMO the most gorgeous set, for only 3 hours a day?! I remember when 7 or 8 hours a day came from London. Now look at it… sad! Hong Kong is only used very occasionally, when there is no one available in ATL or LDN. Kristie never presents anymore, just appears as a reporter. Despite all this, for me, CNNI is still the best of a (very!) bad bunch. BBC News is just unwatchable since last year’s changes, and Sky News is just so DULL to watch. If you like your newscasters sat in front of a corridor, they’re your guys! I used to watch a lot of Al Jazeera but I think it’s become really biased in recent months. So I’m left with CNNI. I have hope that someone, somewhere, someday will a) remember CNNI exists and b) realise the potential it has to be profitable. You’d think, as the channel that INVENTED 24 hour news, that they’d know what they were doing. But it seems they don’t.

Nothing wrong with a bit of Quest! The man is a legend. I'm surprised domestic doesn't make more of Amanpour. She's been with CNN more or less since the start and they could make a big deal out of that. As for First Move... what a waste. An Asian breakfast show that runs Tuesday to Saturday (Hong Kong time)... just whom does that serve? It's such an awkward show, both the timeslot and the content. And I think it's a waste of Julia Chatterley's talents - she knows financial news inside and out, whereas I don't think general news really suits her. Put her back on at 9am ET and make it a proper business show again. If CNN really wanted to push the boat out, they could even give her a co-host in London, a bit like the old World Business Today. I don't think Kasie is at all suited to the early morning show. I get why she's there (the show is obviously aimed at political junkies) but I don't think either she or the format really work at that time in the morning. There was nothing wrong with Poppy and Phil. I think in 6-12 months CNN will throw in the towel and bring back a proper breakfast show. New Day Mk II, anyone? You might remember, about 15-20 years ago, when CNN used to show an hour of Your World Today from CNNI every weekday? Something like that might be good again, to break up all the US news and political talk in the schedule. RE: the UK election - CNNI did a special marathon broadcast (which was actually very good) and I think it was also streamed on CNN Max. I wouldn't be completely surprised if, 5 years from now, CNN, CNNI and CNN Max all merge into one channel, shown in the US and around the world. I can't see CNN, certainly the domestic channel, lasting too much longer in its current form. I don't know if the cable companies will want to keep paying for CNN if a) ratings keep falling and b) they keep streaming parts of it on Max. Who knows, a merged CNN could even be a good thing, if they covered a lot more international news than they do now.