06/01/2014 archive

On This Day In History June 1

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

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June 1 is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 213 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. The network signed on at 6 p.m. EST from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. CNN went on to change the notion that news could only be reported at fixed times throughout the day. At the time of CNN’s launch, TV news was dominated by three major networks–ABC, CBS and NBC–and their nightly 30-minute broadcasts. Initially available in less than two million U.S. homes, today CNN is seen in more than 89 million American households and over 160 million homes internationally.

CNN was the brainchild of Robert “Ted” Turner, a colorful, outspoken businessman dubbed the “Mouth of the South.” Turner was born on November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and as a child moved with his family to Georgia, where his father ran a successful billboard advertising company. After his father committed suicide in 1963, Turner took over the business and expanded it. In 1970, he bought a failing Atlanta TV station that broadcast old movies and network reruns and within a few years Turner had transformed it into a “superstation,” a concept he pioneered, in which the station was beamed by satellite into homes across the country. Turner later bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and aired their games on his network, TBS (Turner Broadcasting System). In 1977, Turner gained international fame when he sailed his yacht to victory in the prestigious America’s Cup race.

Early history

The Cable News Network was launched at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday June 1, 1980. After an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the first newscast. Burt Reinhardt, the then executive vice president of CNN, hired most of CNN’s first 200 employees, including the network’s first news anchor, Bernard Shaw.

Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite television companies, several web sites, specialized closed-circuit channels (such as CNN Airport Network), and a radio network. The company has 36 bureaus (10 domestic, 26 international), more than 900 affiliated local stations, and several regional and foreign-language networks around the world. The channel’s success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for the Time Warner conglomerate’s eventual acquisition of Turner Broadcasting.

A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1, 1982 and featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts. A year later, it changed its name to “CNN Headline News”, and eventually it was simply called “Headline News”. (In 2005, Headline News would break from its original format with the addition of Headline Prime, a prime-time programming block that features news commentary; and in 2008 the channel changed its name again, to “HLN”.)

Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition

Punting the Punditsis an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

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The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with George Stephanopolis: Guests on this morning’s “This Week” are: National Security Advisor Susan Rice; and Sen. Ted Crus (R-TX).

At the roundtable are ABC News contributor Bill Kristol; Tavis Smiley of “The Tavis Smiley Show;” New Yorker editor David Remnick; and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Mr. Scieffer’s guests are Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Robert Wallace, head of the Washington office of the VFW; and former CIA/NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden.

His panel guests are David Ignatius of The Washington Post; David E. Sanger of The New York Times; Leigh Gallagher of Fortune magazine; and our Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes.

Meet the Press with David Gregory: The guests on MTP are: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association; and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I).

Sitting at the roundtable are Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director amd Chief White House Correspondent; Rana Forhoohar, TIME Assistant Managing Editor; former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA); and Newt Gingrich (R-GA), forner presidential candidate & House Speaker.

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Ms. Crowley’s guests are National Security Adviser Susan Rice; former Senator Jim Webb (D-VA); Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns; and former National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.).

Her panel guests are Neera Tanden of Center for American Progress and Republican Pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.

Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Qatar World Cup: ‘£3m payments to officials’ corruption claim

 

 David Bond BBC SPORTS EDITOR



Fifa is facing fresh allegations of corruption over its controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

The Sunday Times  has obtained millions of secret documents – emails, letters and bank transfers – which it alleges are proof that the disgraced Qatari football official Mohamed Bin Hammam made payments totalling US$5m (£3m) to football officials in return for their support for the Qatar bid.

Qatar 2022 and Bin Hammam have always strenuously denied the former Fifa vice-president actively lobbied on their behalf in the run-up to the vote in December 2010.




Sunday’s Headlines:

How Antwerp turned into Europe’s go-to city for cocaine

Brazil’s sex trade: How the country’s one million prostitutes are preparing for the World Cup

The Opinion-Makers: How Russia Is Winning the Propaganda War

West Africa seeks regional effort against Boko Haram

Pakistan’s ‘Burka Avenger’ uses books, pens to right wrongs

The Breakfast Club :: Gom Jabbar Edition

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover  we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.  

(Truth be told, friends, we’re really not that disorganized; the fact that we’ve managed to put this series together and stick with it disabuses the notion that we’re disorganized, right?  Also, I wish I had a censored night once in awhile, but alas, this is something my producers made me say.)

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This Day in History

This bit was posted at Voices on the Square, The Stars Holllow Gazette, Docudharma, and Daily Kos.

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“Candy Man, Candy Man, Candy Man”