Not too long ago, people had to wait for the morning newspapers to know what had gone on the day before. If they were around to catch it, the once-a-day local news broadcasts on television could reveal details a little sooner. Meanwhile, all-day radio programs had dibs on breaking news.
Thankfully, everything transitioned when CNN (Cable News Network) began broadcasting news 24/7 on June 1, 1980. Situated in Atlanta, Georgia, the first topic the station tackled was the assassination of Vernon Jordan, a civil rights leader.
Before CNN was launched, TV news, especially national news, could only be heard once a day, in a measly 30-minute spot in the evening. These spots were mostly covered by CBC, NBC, and ABC. CNN was available to only two million households in the year it commenced its operations, but it swiftly grew over the following decades.
This can be attributed to an increase in the number of households with cable access through the 1980s and the 1990s. By the mid-1980s, 50 million residents in America had cable in their homes, making up 21% of the population at the time. By 1995, that figure had risen to 70%.
There are some historians who claim that the emergence of news outlets like The Weather Channel (launched in 1982) and CNN prompted people to acquire paid cable rather than scanning news programs. Indeed, CNN was one of many channels that accommodated the increasingly news-obsessed culture. Following in its footsteps came MSNBC, Al Jazeera, FOX News Channel, and BBC.
What’s more amazing is that this news-loving phenomenon was not cooped up in the United States alone. Alongside the advancement of technology in other regions, specifically in Asia and Europe, the 24-hour news cycle instantly became a global phenomenon. CNN itself has world-wide coverage made possible through CNN International.
While it may be successful now, it wasn’t a flowery path for the news outlet. CNN didn’t initially garner respect from the community, and even reached the extent of being dubbed the “Chicken Noodle Network” for constantly losing money. The network’s founder, Robert Turner, eschewed the criticisms and remained focussed on establishing the organization across the world, buying up many of its competitors in the process.
In 1983, Turner acquired the Satellite News Network, CNN’s then-largest competitor. They were delivering around the clock news coverage, but CNN always came first in breaking news long before the others broadcast them.
This was the major factor why CNN’s audience doubled in the ‘90s. Not only that, but more and more people were starting to think that it was prudent to know the news through the once-a-day news cycle.