When I saw we had a ticket to see Inside CNN in our CityPASS, I was a bit underwhelmed. “This tour is going to be boring,” I thought. I would have been fine with skipping the tour, but Bryan was insistent we visit. He had always wanted to see inside CNN and this was the perfect opportunity. We approached the ticket counter and found that tours ran every twenty minutes from 9 AM to 5 PM and lasted fifty five minutes. Colin, our tour guide, greeted us, explaining the rules of the tour—some places were off limits to make pictures, some places were not, and most places didn’t allow flash. After a trip through security and a ride up the eight story free standing escalator, we were ready to begin. We started with Colin giving us a brief history of CNN and showing us a room filled with monitors. He explained what was happening on each set and the background employees who kept the programs running smoothly. I had never thought of the “backstage” of news casts before and enjoyed listening in on their conversations.
From there we went to the CNN fact checking room, a huge room filled with employees monitoring for the latest breaking news. Did you know an important, breaking news story could go onto the air in as little as three minutes? Most of the news would require an eight hour process, passing through people who gathered the news and verified it, then sent to management who repeated the process and passed it onto producers who chose what they would like to air on each show. The room was divided into sections, with groups of workers checking different regions of the world, management on the left, and editors and producers on the far right.
Because I do not watch much cable news broadcasts, I didn’t realize CNN also owned the HLN network, or Headline News. This network produces most of their shows in Atlanta and boasts the headline, “News and Views.” While they are still held to the strict fact checking process required by CNN, the anchors are able to interject their own opinions into the broadcasts. After we stopped by the fact checking department, we were off to see a live taping of a news broadcast. We seemed to have caught most of the commercial break, because the anchors stopped talking, studied their news reports and chatted with the producers shortly after we arrived.
I left with a better understanding of broadcast journalism and a greater respect for the amount of work required to create a news program. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was glad I went. This tour does require being able to descend eight flights of stairs during the length of the tour so wear comfortable shoes.
wow that looks so interesting!
HOW cool is that.. and sooo interesting; that sure sounds like a fun trip and I would have loved it, guess I need to schedule a trip one day.. I had no idea that they have actual tours… SUPER cool
that is epic & completely awesome 😀
SO BIG! All vibes are so executive . I have never been to a news studio tour but now I definitely want to 🙂
So huuuuuge! It would really be awesome if I go there someday!
Wow that sounds fun! I would LOVE to do this tour!
I’d loooove to take this tour! So fantastic! Even if the eight flights of stairs might kick my butt —I’d do them with a smile on my face. Such a cool tour, I’m amazed how LARGE it is.
Oh that’s so cool! Touring there is probably strict huh? Nice to see pics of the behind the scenes of CNN.
how awesome-n busy, very exciting ty xx
Well that sounds like you were pleasantly surprised. I think I would have felt the same as you before you went…nothing all that exciting. However, it sounds like a really interesting tour that was also very educational.
This is the first CNN tour post and photos that I have seen, very interesting!!!!
It really looks like a busy and fast paced place. That is exactly how I always imagined that CNN headquarters would look. How cool that you got to visit.
I would love this tour. We watch the TV show “Newsroom” and I am amazed how many people that show depicts working behind the scenes. Really nice experience for your family.
I used to watch CCN all of the time. What a cool experience!
Wow how cool! I’d love to go around there and just check everything out. Neat tour
Oh wow that sounds like it would have been amazing to go around and see just how it all works! x
I would love to go on a tour like that. That is so neat that you got to go check that out. Pretty cool that you got to see behind the scenes.
WOW! I always wanted to know what happened behind the scenes of the CNN offices. It looks really cool to know what is happening with all of our fave anchors
That is wonderful. I would love to tour somewhere like that. A great “look behind the scenes”. The photos inside are pretty amazing. Can you imagine working there?
This sounds like a fun place to visit. I didn’t even know that you could visit here like this, but now that I know, I want to go!
Sometimes the tours do turn out a lot better than we’d initially thought. Happy surprises are nice surprises. 🙂
I’m not sure if I would have been able to do the 8 flights of stairs (petrified of heights), but that is an amazing experience, nonetheless. 🙂
Wow that was great! I don’t watch too much TV either and very rarely watch CNN, my mother watches it all the time. Does sound like a tour for comfortable shoes with 8 flights of stairs. I think my daughter who’s thinking of being a journalist would enjoy this tour a lot.