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Wikipedia / CNN International

Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and international news bureaus. Unlike its sister channel, CNN, a North American-only subscription service, CNN International is carried on a variety of TV platforms across the world, and broadcast from studios inside and outside the United States, in Atlanta, New York City, London, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi. In some countries, it is available as a free-to-air network. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC News, France 24, CGTN, DW, RT, DD India, NHK World, TRT World or Al Jazeera English.

History

Early years

CNN International began broadcasting on September 1, 1985, at first primarily broadcasting to American business travelers in hotels. The first studio for CNNi was at CNN's original studio building known as Techwood, home at that time to all of Turner Broadcasting System's channels. Today, it is home to the Techwood Studios complex that houses the entertainment channels. Other early studios in Atlanta were tucked away in various corners of the CNN Center, and the newsroom lacked even a digital clock. The vast majority of the network's programming originally consisted of simulcasts of the two domestic CNN channels (CNN/US and Headline News). In the United Kingdom, the channel began broadcasting on September 17, 1987, the office was located at 25/28 Old Burlington Street, London. In 1990, however, the amount of news programming produced by CNNi especially for international viewers increased significantly.

Paul Vessey, an executive of CNN International, said in 1992 that CNN will go international style and get "less and less American".

A new newsroom and studio complex was built in 1994, as CNN decided to compete against BBC World Service Television's news programming. CNNi emerged as an internationally oriented news channel, with staff members of various national backgrounds, even though some accusations of a pro-U.S. editorial bias persist. CNN International was awarded the Liberty Medal on July 4, 1997. Ted Turner, in accepting the medal on behalf of the network, said: "My idea was, we're just going to give people the facts... We didn't have to show liberty and democracy as good and show socialism or totalitarianism as bad. If we just showed them both the way they were ... everybody's going to choose liberty and democracy."

New international era (1995–2005)

In 1995, creative director Morgan Almeida defined a progressive rebranding strategy, to target CNNi's diverse global market, making the on-air look less overtly American and with a cleaner, simpler "international" aesthetic going forward. The word "International" in the channel's logo was replaced with a globe, and the new branding featured numerous international locations filmed in time-lapse, channel idents created in CGI with Velvet Design in Munich, and a news brand designed with The Attik in New York.

The regionalization of CNN International was through the efforts of Chris Cramer, joining CNN in 1996. CNN International was split into three feeds Asia, Europe/Africa/Middle East and Latin America. By 1998, CNN International produced 90% of its content, up from 50% in 1996. The rest of the percentage is for domestic CNN broadcasts from the United States. According to an annual PAX survey, in 1998 and 1999 CNN International was the leading cable and satellite network in Asia in terms of viewership among affluent households and among business decision-makers. CNN International planned to air shows in 1999 including World Beat, its popular weekly international music segment, and the global arts round-up Art Club. The channel was banned in China in June 1999, on the tenth anniversary of the Tianamnen Square massacre.

2006–2009 revamp

The network undertook another major rebranding effort in 2006 overseen by Mark Wright and London agency Kemistry. The ticker was replaced by a flipper, on-screen graphics were more unified and from October 2007 until August 2008, new studios were progressively rolled out. However, on January 1, 2009, CNN International adopted the "lower-thirds" that CNN/US had introduced a month earlier which was inspired by the clean modern design of the CNNi rebrand efforts.

In the U.S., CNNi North America was distributed overnight and on weekends over the CNNfn financial channel, until that channel's demise in December 2004. It is now available as a standalone, full-time channel, usually as part of high-tier packages of subscription providers including Time Warner Cable, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Cox Communications.

Former CNN Beijing and Tokyo bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon described how the news-gathering priorities of CNN International were skewed to "produce stories and reports that would be of interest to CNN USA." Nevertheless, Jane Arraf, a former correspondent who was with the Council on Foreign Relations and later served as a Middle East-based correspondent for Al Jazeera English, noted that when she spoke on international affairs, CNN International would usually give her more airtime than CNN/US. For its part, former CNN executive Eason Jordan has defended CNN International's "international" perspective, saying "No matter what CNN International does, as long as CNN's headquarters is in the United States people are going to say, well, it's an American service. But the reality is that it's an international service based in the United States, and we don't make any apologies about that."

Going beyond borders (2009–2013)

From January until September 2009, CNN International adopted more programs that became geared towards a primetime European audience with a few titled after CNN International personalities, most notably the interview program Amanpour. On September 21, 2009, the channel launched a new tagline "Go Beyond Borders", along with a new logo, and consolidated its general newscasts (World News, CNN Today, World News Asia, World News Europe and Your World Today) into a single newscast entitled World Report.

The slogan "Go Beyond Borders" emphasizes the international perspective that gives the information in this string and the plurality of the audiences. With this tagline, CNN also refers to the various platforms to disseminate their content. The new image was created by the creativity and marketing department, and agency CNN Tooth & Nail. An important element of the rebrand was a new evening program that added the broadcast of programs Amanpour and World One. The makeover of CNN International has been subject to a lot of criticism on both the new prime-time lineup and the redesigned graphics.

On January 11, 2009, in a bid to compete directly with Al Jazeera English, the network launched a new production center: CNN Abu Dhabi, based in the United Arab Emirates. Then, CNN International adapted half-hour shows in its schedule with a new evening prime program for the Middle East viewers, Prism.

In 2010, CNN International launched new programs for its evening lineup to improve its schedule. In 2011, programs from CNN U.S. were added to the CNN International schedule, including the talk program Piers Morgan Live which was later canceled and replaced with CNN Tonight hosted by Don Lemon.

This is CNN (2013–present)

"This is CNN" represents CNN International's rebrand with new sets and output in full 16:9 high definition. The "This is CNN" slogan is also used on its sister network CNN in the United States. The managing director of CNN International from 2003 to May 2019 was Tony Maddox.

In 2019, CNN International announced it was reducing its programming and staff based in London to reduce costs, with CNNi losing $10 million per year. Later that year, CNNi cancelled its Asia-Pacific Primetime Show, News Stream, anchored by Kristie Lu Stout, effectively ending production output from its Hong Kong Studios and since 2020, with the exception of American overnight hours, live CNN International programming now only airs on weekdays, and for around 10 hours a day with the remaining hours filled with simulcasts of CNN US and, at the weekend, by pre-recorded magazine programmes.

In 2022, WarnerMedia closed CNN International in Russia due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Regional and online versions

There are five variants of CNN International:

The schedules of the different regional versions no longer differ significantly from each other, but there are still minor variations such as content during the commercial breaks (e.g. weather forecasts and local airtimes shown).

CNN has reported that its broadcast agreement in mainland China includes an arrangement that its signal must pass through a Chinese-controlled satellite. With this method of transmission, Chinese authorities have been able to black out CNNi segments at will. CNN has also said that its broadcasts are not widely available in mainland China, but rather only in certain diplomatic compounds, hotels, and apartment blocks.

In June 2015, CNN International was made available online in the United States for CNN/U.S subscribers on participating television providers through the CNNgo service.

In 2023, much of CNN International's original programming was made available through CNN Max, its streaming channel in the United States through the HBO Max streaming service. This allowed viewers to tune in to the channel without a linear pay TV subscription. On October 28, 2025, CNN International became available part-time on CNN.com and the CNN App to those in the United States who subscribe directly to its CNN All Access tier (weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 Eastern time). Earlier, on October 3, CNN announced that its namesake Max service would be discontinued on November 17, with no reason given.

CNNj

CNNj is a Japanese version of CNN International distributed by Japan Cable Television that was first launched on March 1, 2003. CNNj is tailored specifically for a Japanese audience, with all programming broadcast from 7:00a.m. to 12:00a.m. (Japan Standard Time) being translated into Japanese. The channel used to broadcast a mixture of CNN International and CNN/US, but since 2008, CNNj has been a direct relay of CNN International Asia Pacific.

Starting late 2010, the high-definition feed of CNN US was launched in Japan for American viewers under the name "CNN/US HD", the first such feed available outside of the United States.

Programming

News programs

Some of the programs produced by CNN/US are not broadcast on CNNi in full.

Magazine programs

  • African Voices

  • CNN Creators

  • Connecting Africa; presented by Eleni Giokos

  • Inside Africa

  • Marketplace Africa; presented by Zain Asher

  • Marketplace Asia; presented by Kristie Lu Stout and Hanako Montgomery

  • Marketplace Europe; presented by Anna Stewart and Clare Sebastian

  • Marketplace Middle East; presented by Giokos

  • Next Big Trip

  • Quest's World of Wonder

  • Tech for Good; presented by Kristie Lu Stout

Former programming

High definition

CNN International HD is the high-definition simulcast feed of the channel broadcasting at 1920x1080p, which was launched in September 2012. Before June 3, 2013, only programming from CNN/US was available natively in HD, while shows made for CNN International were produced in 4:3 576i. In February 2013, the European SD feed of CNN International began broadcasting in widescreen by downscaling the HD feed, which resulted in all 4:3-native programming being broadcast in pillarbox until the June 3 switchover, and finalized on June 17 of the same year, when the switchover was completed.

Following the March 2003 launch of CNNj, a live relay of CNN/US and CNN International, with simultaneous audio translation into Japanese, starting in late 2010, the high definition feed of CNN/US was launched in Japan under the name CNN HD. CNN/US (both SD and HD) is also available on Greater China-based satellite service DishHD, a subsidiary of Dish Network in the United States.

On June 28, 2016, CNN International HD was launched for Sky customers in the UK (including on Freesat from Sky), on channel 506 or 579, making the next news channel launch in the 600s. The HD version is available free-to-air within the British Isles, and is provided on satellite and IPTV services, and also live-streamed for U.K. users (and geo-blocked outside the U.K.), through CNN International's official U.K. video site. However, viewers with non-proprietary Freesat boxes will need to add the channel manually as Freesat does not market CNN International HD publicly as part of its offerings.

Online

CNN debuted its news website CNN.com (initially an experiment known as CNN Interactive) on August 30, 1995. The site attracted growing interest over its first decade and is now one of the most popular news websites in the world. The widespread growth of blogs, social media and user-generated content have influenced the site, and blogs in particular have focused CNN's previously scattershot online offerings, most noticeably in the development and launch of CNN Pipeline in late 2005. In April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place among online global news sites in unique users in the U.S. according to Nielsen/NetRatings; with an increase of 11% over the previous year.

CNN Pipeline was the name of a paid subscription service, its corresponding website, and a content delivery client that provided streams of live video from up to four sources (or "pipes"), on-demand access to CNN stories and reports, and optional pop-up "news alerts" to computer users. The installable client was available to users of PCs running Microsoft Windows. There was also a browser-based "web client" that did not require installation. In July 2007, the service was discontinued and replaced with a free streaming service.

The now-defunct topical news program Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics was the first CNN program to feature a round-up of blogs in 2005. Blog coverage was expanded when Inside Politics was folded into The Situation Room. In 2006, CNN launched CNN Exchange and CNN iReport, initiatives designed to further introduce and centralize the impact of everything from blogging to citizen journalism within the CNN brand. CNN iReport which features user-submitted photos and video, has achieved considerable traction, with increasingly professional-looking reports filed by amateur journalists, many still in high school or college. The iReport gained more prominence when observers of the Virginia Tech shootings sent in first-hand photos of what was going on during the shootings.

In early 2008, CNN began maintaining a live-streaming broadcast available to those who receive CNN at home. CNN International is broadcast live, as part of the RealNetworks SuperPass subscription outside the U.S. CNN also offers several RSS feeds and podcasts.

On April 18, 2008, CNN.com was targeted by Chinese hackers in retaliation for the channel's coverage of the 2008 Tibetan unrest. CNN reported that they took preventive measures after news broke of the impending attack. The company was honored at the 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development and implementation of an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and store-and-forward digital newsgathering system.

On October 24, 2009, CNN launched a new version of the CNN.com website, revamping it by adding a new "sign up" option where users may create their user name, a new "CNN Pulse" (beta) feature along a new red color theme. However, most of the news archived on the website has been deleted. CNN also has a channel on the popular video-sharing site YouTube, which as of October 2025 has 18.7 million subscribers.

In April 2010, CNN announced via Twitter its upcoming food blog called "Eatocracy", which will "cover all news related to food– from recalls to health issues to culture." CNN had an internet relay chat (IRC) network at chat.cnn.com. CNN placed a live chat with Benjamin Netanyahu on the network in 1998.

CNN also maintains a wire service known as CNN Wire, a CNN Newsource division.

Bureaus

  1. Note: Boldface indicates that they are CNN's original bureaus, meaning they have been in operation since CNN's founding.

United States

Worldwide

In parts of the world without a CNN bureau, reports from a local affiliate station are used to file a story.

Present personalities

Past personalities

Criticism

Middle-eastern reporting

In October 2011, Amber Lyon gave her claims to the Syrian government news agency SANA that she had been directed by CNN to report selectively, repetitively, and falsely to sway public opinion in favor of direct American aggression against Iran and Syria, and that this was common practice under CNN. She subsequently repeated this claim, addressing the degraded state of journalistic ethics in an interview during which she also discussed the Bahraini episode, suggesting paid-for content was also taken from Georgia, Kazakhstan, and other states, that the war on terrorism had also been employed as a pretext to pre-empt substantive investigative journalism within the U.S., and that following the Bahrain reporting, her investigative department had been terminated and "reorganized", and her severance and employee benefits used as a threat to intimidate and attempt to purchase her subsequent silence.

Lyon claimed to have met with Tony Maddox, president of CNN International, twice about this issue in 2011 and had claimed that during the second meeting, she was threatened and intimated to stop speaking on the matter. CNN issued a detailed response to Lyon's claims about its coverage of Bahrain.

On July 7, 2010, Octavia Nasr, senior Middle East editor and a CNN journalist for 20 years, was fired after she expressed admiration on her Twitter account for a militant Muslim cleric and former Hezbollah leader who had recently died.

See also

References