Cnn Provides Placement Opportunities

When Ted Turner began his twenty-four-hour Cable News Network in 1980, skeptics said that it would never find an audience. Who, after all, wanted to watch nothing but news all day?! A decade later, during the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations in the Persian Gulf, the American viewers—and, in fact, a worldwide audience—delivered their verdict. They did indeed want a service that enabled them to select the time of day for watching news and news-related programming. They welcomed the opportunity to edit their own news consumption using the Cable News Network menu, rather than settling for the 22-minute diet served up once a night by the broadcast networks.

CNN offers literally dozens of shows that are open to suggestions for story ideas from public relations people. In the business area alone, the programs include "Business Morning," "Business Day," "Moneyline," "Moneyweek," and "Inside Business," as well as "Your Money," a week­end program with tips for investors.

Talk shows carried by CNN include "Crossfire," which uses a guest each week from the fields of politics, academia, or government, "Sonya Live" from Los Angeles every day, with topics especially of interest to women, "Larry King Live" weeknights with an eclectic mix of topics, and public affairs shows such as "Evans & Novak," "Newsmaker Saturday," ^/and "Newsmaker Sunday."

Special focus shows include "Science and Technology Today" and "Showbiz." Regular features airing daily or on the weekend focus on medical news, nutrition and diet, travel, and fashion. Each of the shows and segments has a producer, who is the person to approach with sug­gestions and ideas for shows, segments, or guest appearances.

Of greatest importance to some public relations campaigns is the fact that CNN's programming is seen around the world. Trends, new products, and social ideas often receive their first international expo­sure on CNN. World leaders have been quoted as saying, "All we know about America and about what is happening in the world is what we see on CNN."