First on CNN Observations: Confirmation from HK that the CNN Asia/Pacific Operation will unveil their new set in 10 days.

Tony Maddox - CNN International

Luis Barrera - CNN En Español RADIO

Erica Hill - Headline News

Samantha Hayes - CNN Newsource
(anyone think she resembles Christi Paul?)

Leticia Milam - CNN En Español RADIO

Cal Perry - CNN International

Mario Vela - CNN En Español RADIO

Harris Whitbeck - CNN International

CNN Press Release - Vice President Dick Cheney will appear on CNN’s Larry King Live on Tuesday, July 31, at 9 p.m. (ET).

Larry King Live airs nightly from 9-10 p.m. (ET). For more information on upcoming shows or to locate past transcripts, visit http://www.CNN.com/larryking. Wendy Walker is the senior executive producer of Larry King Live.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium live video news service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and two Web sites.

Looks like CNN has a new business reporter, probably replacing Felicia Taylor. Her name is Jennifer Lewis-Hall, and she's filling in for Jennifer Westhoven on Robin & Company today.

Nic Robertson

Stephanie Elam

Veronica De La Cruz will be the Mistress of Ceremonies at the NAAAP National Excellence Awards Gala on Friday, August 17th in Atlanta. More information...

TVNewser has the details. She will definitely be missed.

Sasha Herriman

Parisa Khosravi

Susan Lisovicz

Robin Oakley

CNN Pressroom - Campbell Brown, an experienced and respected broadcast anchor and correspondent, will join CNN on Sept. 1, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. Brown joins the network from NBC News where she served as anchor of Weekend Today and correspondent for NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, for whom she was also the main anchor substitute.

“We are extremely fortunate to be able to bring Campbell Brown to CNN,” said Klein. “Campbell stands out in this business as an impressive anchor with a distinctive ability to connect with viewers. She has covered a range of stories over the years and is particularly well suited for CNN’s global and journalistic reach.”

"CNN has a first-rate and well-earned reputation for solid journalism,” Brown said. “I'm honored to join such an impressive team of anchors, reporters and producers and to become part of that long-standing tradition.”

Prior to joining Weekend Today, Brown covered numerous major news events for NBC and served as White House correspondent during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the build up and launch of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Before being based at the White House, she had covered the Bush presidential campaign and Republican primaries, the Republican National Convention, the presidential debates and Election Day in 2000. She also covered the Bush team from Austin, Texas, during the Florida recount story.

When Brown joined NBC News in 1998, she served as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent where she covered President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial among other stories and later served as Pentagon correspondent reporting on the war in Kosovo.

Throughout her NBC News career Brown covered the most significant news events impacting the world including the war in Iraq, the last two presidential elections, the first Iraqi elections, and the death of Pope John Paul II from Rome. She reported from Gaza and the West Bank on the violence in the Middle East and extensively covered Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

From 1996 to 1998, she was a correspondent for the NBC News Channel, where she covered national breaking news stories such as the crash of Swiss Air Flight #111 and the pope’s historic visit to Cuba.

Brown started her career in local news as the political reporter covering Kansas politics for KSNT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kan. She then moved to WWBT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Richmond, Va. Brown also reported for WBAL-TV in Baltimore and WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., before joining NBC.

Brown graduated from Regis College in Denver with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

From the Feedback Form:

Did you see the new guy anchoring in the 10am hour on cnn.com livevideo? I didn't catch his name but never seen him before.

I'm out of town at the moment and will return on Monday. Anyone have any details? Thanks, Jeff for the note!

CNN Pressroom - CNN, YouTube, S.C. Democratic Party Partner for Innovative Forum on Monday, July 23, at 7 p.m. (ET)

CNN, YouTube and South Carolina Democratic Party on Monday, July 23, will offer the first of two unprecedented presidential debates that will feature the candidates responding to video questions submitted directly by the American public. Anderson Cooper will moderate the two-hour Democratic forum with questions submitted through YouTube and then answered by the candidates live on CNN.

The Democratic debate, the first presidential forum of the 2008 election cycle to be sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will be held at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., on Monday, July 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. (ET) and will air live on CNN. The Republican presidential forum hosted by CNN and YouTube will take place on Monday, Sept 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. (ET) in Florida.

The public may submit their questions to the candidates via YouTube at www.youtube.com/debates. CNN will select the questions used in the debates and produce the televised events.

CNN’s top political correspondents including senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, chief national correspondent John King and American Morning anchor John Roberts will preview the event throughout the day and be on hand for special post-debate programs. Programming highlights include:



7 p.m.-9 p.m. CNN/YouTube Democratic Candidate Debate

9 p.m.-10 p.m. The Situation Room, special post-debate program anchored by Wolf Blitzer from Washington, D.C.

10 p.m.-11 p.m. Anderson Cooper 360º live on location in Charleston and anchored by Anderson Cooper

11 p.m.-1 a.m. Replay of CNN/YouTube Democratic Candidate Debate

In addition to the live airing on CNN, the debate will appear on CNN International and CNN en Español and will replay on Headline News on Tuesday, July 24, from 10 a.m. to noon (ET). CNN.com will stream the entire debate live as well as provide continuous updates through the CNN Political Ticker. After the debate, CNN.com will post pundit scorecards and solicit I-Reports from users to provide their own analysis and opinions of the debate.


CNN Radio will provide affiliates worldwide with a pre-debate program anchored by Ed McCarthy and Dick Uliano beginning at 6:34 p.m. (ET), followed by the debate itself at 7 p.m. (ET). CNN Newsource will provide its affiliates with reports and packages throughout the day.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

CNN Pressroom - Kate Bolduan is joining CNN Newsource’s Washington, D.C., bureau, it was announced today by Paul Crum, executive director of news operations, administration and affiliate services for CNN/U.S.

Bolduan will serve as a national correspondent and will report live from the scene of breaking news events and from the nation’s capital, providing live reports for more than 800 CNN Newsource partner stations.

“The addition of Kate helps us to continue to grow a well-rounded team of journalists from our D.C. ranks,” Crum said. “This lets us continue to provide the extensive reports and stories that are important to our Newsource affiliates.”

Bolduan comes to CNN Newsource from WTVD-TV in Raleigh, N.C., where she served as a reporter with an emphasis on breaking news and live coverage. During that time, Bolduan covered stories of national interest including Tropical Storm Ernesto, the Apex chemical fire, the Duke lacrosse case and a at a high school in Orange County, N.C.

She graduated with honors from the George Washington University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

CNN Newsource, comprised of approximately 800 affiliates including TV stations and local/regional cable news channels throughout North America, is the most widely distributed syndicated news service. Through continuous digital media distribution and five digital satellite channels, CNN Newsource provides partners with the news content necessary to produce competitive newscasts. This includes: CNN Worldwide’s global newsgathering resources; the collective coverage power of CNN Newsource affiliates; customized live coverage of breaking news from CNN correspondents and localized CNN Marketsource reports live from the floor of the NYSE. Additionally, CNN Newsource stations benefit from CNN Newsbeam, which provides satellite time and fiber connectivity from CNN's vast global resources at lower than market rates. CNN Newsource also helps prepare tomorrow’s journalists by providing service at no charge to colleges and universities through its Newsource in the Classroom program.

Looks like Will Selva from CNN Headline News' morning program Robin & Company has left the network. His bio has been removed from the Anchors and Reporters page and his name has been removed from the Robin & Company show page.

Has anyone heard why he left? I'm not sure if it's been mentioned on air. I can only watch from 6-7 daily and haven't heard anything. Thanks!

Update from Feedback Form: It was announced on Fridays Robin and Company that Will was leaving. Atleast in the last half hour that talked about it. They said he was going to a newnetwork and a new job. No other details were givin.

CNN's International Site is slowly getting their Show Pages updated. The Business Traveller page has gotten its re-design.

CNN's Hong Kong Studio has a "temporary" set it looks like. Check out ths screenshot. This background is not animated, and they don't do any panning of the set when going to/coming back from commercials. Does this mean they are working on a new set?

We'll bring you more information as it becomes avaialble.

Thanks to Troy for this screenshot and scoop!

In The Money, the weekly finance program hosted by Ali Velshi and Christine Romans is now being called Your $$$$$ (Your Money). This hasn't been reflected on the show's page but it has been reflected at http://www.cnn.com/Programs.

Jim Acosta

Ken Jautz

Also, they removed the photo of correspondent Jennifer Eccleston.

No, he's not switching offices, but he sure has been working in different bureaus recently. Normally based in the New York bureau, last week he was in Atlanta co-anchoring the afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom filling in for Don Lemon and tonight he is filling in from Washington for The Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer.

Would you like to see Miles O'Brien moved back to a full-time anchor postiion? Yes No Current Results

Five months after its scheduled launch, ex-CNN Anchor Carol Lin has launched a new website, similar to what Daryn Kagan has done since leaving CNN.

Her site will feature news stories and online tools relating to cancer patients and their families.

For more information, or to submit stories to her site, visit CarolLinReporting.com.

Is Andrea Koppel gone from CNN? Anne Schroeder at Politico is reporting so. She is definitely an asset to CNN and will be dearly missed. More on this as it becomes available...

From the mailbag:

Hi, amazing blog! It's always nice to know more about your favouritenews channel. I do have a question - where's Isha Sesay? Is she off for good toSouth Africa? I cannot believe all black journos at CNNI have to report africanissues - which seems to be the case now. Hopefully her south african assignment isjust temporary. Let us know if you heard anything concrete. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for your comments! If you want to leave feedback for our site, use the form at your right.

CNN/I's Your World Today (YWT), with Jim Clancy and Ralisa Vassileva briefly cut to CNN/US coverage of the fire at the under-construction airport tower at Miami International Airport on Wednesday. The coverage began just before 1755 gmt as thick black smoke was billowing out of the tower. YWT broke away for a break as normal, and after 1800 gmt - after a quick recap of the story - normal programming resumed.

CNN Pressroom - Global Effort to Honor Heroes Receives 2,500 Nominations from 45 Countries in First Nine Weeks of Submissions

CNN has secured producer-director Joel Gallen, who has helmed ambitious telethon events supporting victims of both the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, to produce “CNN Heroes,” a year-end awards gala to honor ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary deeds. In a live global broadcast from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the event will include musical performances, celebrities presenting the honorees’ stories, and documentary tributes to the CNN Heroes and their accomplishments.

The gala is the culmination of the network’s global “CNN Heroes” initiative, which shines a light on individuals who have made their marks in areas ranging from the environment to civil rights to human health. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, along with an array of notable co-hosts to be announced later, will present “CNN Heroes” during a special live global broadcast on CNN/U.S. and CNN International on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m. (ET).

“There are so few opportunities to celebrate the everyday heroes among us and to remind us all of what a difference just one person can actually make,” Gallen said. “I am proud to be a part of this worldwide event, and I look forward to telling these heroes’ stories in a way that reflects their dedication, their passion and their influence on our society.”

“We care deeply about the world that we cover, and we felt it was important to spotlight those people we are seeing who are dedicating their lives to help others.” said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. “I am very pleased to welcome Joel aboard and am glad that we will be able to tap into his expertise for this important project.”

For more than two months, CNN Worldwide has featured everyday heroes across its television networks, digital services and at www.CNN.com/Heroes. To date, CNN has received more than 2,500 nominations of people from 45 countries and continues to solicit nominations from its global audience. A blue-ribbon panel will select the winners.

Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions brings a wealth of creativity and experience in live-event tributes and awards-show productions. Only six days after Sept. 11, 2001, he produced and directed the musical telethon, America: A Tribute to Heroes, for which he received both an Emmy and a Peabody award. Among his many other credits, Gallen produced Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast, the MTV Movie Awards and several White House event specials during the Clinton administration.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

They changed Erica Hill's photo from the one you see on the Prime News with Erica Hill website back to this one.

In case you missed it, on Monday's edition of The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer interviewed Michael Moore, who had some words about CNN's reporting and Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

Tonight both Michael Moore and Sanjay Gupta will be on CNN's Larry King Live. Be sure to tune in at 9:00 ET.

Todd Benjamin

Max Foster

Paula Newton

Michael Ware

Thanks to Bill for the tip!

CNN Pressroom - CNN news executive Susan Bunda has been promoted to the newly created position of executive vice president of content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide, it was announced today by Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. In her new role, Bunda’s responsibilities will include developing programming for CNN consumer platforms and marshaling CNN talent, resources and experience on wide-ranging business initiatives. She is based in Atlanta at CNN world headquarters and reports to Walton as a member of the CNN executive team.

“With this appointment we are empowering Sue to help lead our continuing integration of television and the Web as the future of our news business,” Walton said. “Sue’s mandate is to bring her creativity, professional relationships and 20 years of experience with CNN to bear on platform-focused content creation, resource allocation, audience development and brand resonance. I look forward to her perspective and input at the most senior level of our organization and to the positive impact she will have on our product, marketplace position and business results.”

“This is an exciting opportunity to build on the successes of CNN Worldwide,” Bunda said. “I believe in the people and the wealth of ideas here and look forward to finding ways to deepen the connection with our viewers.”

Bunda also will focus on identifying demographic trends and opportunities, strengthening the organization’s ties to consumer communities and connecting the CNN brand with appropriate philanthropy.

As senior vice president of news for CNN/U.S., Bunda oversaw the network’s Atlanta-based programming and all editorial content from CNN’s domestic bureaus, as well as the medical and science & technology units. She helped lead CNN’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the South Asia tsunami, Pope John Paul II’s funeral, the 2004 presidential campaign and elections and the continuing war in Iraq. She also was instrumental in the creation of I-Reports, content submitted from viewers from their cell phones, cameras and other devices.

Previously, Bunda was senior vice president of talk shows and guest bookings for CNN/U.S, an executive producer with the CNN Special Events Unit and executive producer of the legal analysis show Burden of Proof. She joined CNN in 1987 as a producer and writer. Earlier in her career, she was with WWMT in Kalamazoo, Mich., and WMAQ in Chicago.

Bunda majored in communications and minored in journalism at Western Michigan University. She is an executive member of Women in Cable Telecommunications and served on the inaugural diversity committee at CNN.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

Miles O'Brien is sitting in for Don Lemon today in the afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom.

CNN.com has updated Valerie Morris' anchor/reporter bio page to the new look... and she's been gone from the network since March.

A few observations from CNN/I over the last few days:

• Richard Lui, formerly of CNN Pipeline, and now of Headline News, was anchoring World News over the weekend

• Jonathan Mann has returned to anchoring, and has been seen hosting World News and, while writing this at 1535 gmt, Your World Today. He also continues to produce and present the Insight segments

• Also on Your World Today this afternoon, Bonnie Schneider has been hosting the weather. Bonnie very rarely appears on CNN/I screens

New Photo/Bio at CNN.com:

Eric Lanford

Scroll down this page and check out the right side of the screen for our Wallpapers section where we've just added some great new wallpapers from your favorite CNN Anchors and Reporters!

Recently Nicole Lapin hosted the 49th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards which honored former Inside Politics host Judy Woodruff. Ariana Huffington and Paula Poundstone were also in attendance to honor Judy. Photo courtesy the LA Press Club.

• A lot of people have been asking recently about Fredricka Whitfield. She is anchoring CNN Newsroom today.

• Linda Stouffer was seen anchoring Prime News with Erica Hill last night. Today she's anchoring the Afternoon edition of Headline News.





• Bonnie Schneider was reporting on a story about a Robot contest in Atlanta. Maybe since she is just as freelancer in the Weather department, she can do other stories as well.

Betty Nguyen is in New York sitting in for Kiran Chetry on American Morning this morning. Looks like she's been sitting the past few days or so.

It's Midnight CT and I flipped to CNN/U.S. and noticed Christine Romans anchoring Now In The News before the repeat of Anderson Cooper 360°. Is it normal for her to anchor the Now In The News at this time of night, or does someone from Atlanta do it? She was coming from the New York newsroom. This didn't seem to be "Live" as there was no live bug at the upper left corner of the screen. Can anyone offer any insight? Thanks!

The following show pages at CNN.com have been revamped to go along with the new changes at CNN.com. We will update this as more show pages are revamped:

American Morning
Anderson Cooper 360
Glenn Beck
Larry King Live
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Nancy Grace
Paula Zahn Now
CNN Presents Updated 7/5 11:44 AM CT
Prime News with Erica Hill
Robin & Company Updated 2:30 PM CT
Talk Asia
The Situation Room
Showbiz Tonight

CNN Pressroom - Enhancements Incorporate Extensive User Feedback to Improve Usability, Interactivity of Site
Reaffirming its position as the leading Internet site for news and information, CNN.com unveiled on Sunday, July 1, the latest evolution in online news: an intuitive, integrated Web site that puts users within a click of the global, national and local news and information they find most relevant to them.

With the site’s enhancements and redesign, users can access the news of the day through a story package that provides text, images, video, related stories and user-generated content. Also, the live online video content that was available through the subscription-only CNN Pipeline becomes woven into the fabric of CNN.com. All CNN.com video, live and on-demand is available to users for free, making the site’s news video offering the most extensive on the Web.

“To simply describe this relaunch as a site redesign grossly understates what we’re doing at CNN.com,” said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services. “This goes beyond the next level of online news and jumps straight into a fully integrated experience in which articles, videos, images and user-generated content all come together to give users a more enriching, immediate interaction with the news content and information they need and want.”

The goal of CNN.com’s latest evolution is to enhance and simplify online news for consumers to allow them to access and interact with their information in more ways than ever before. To that end, improvements to CNN.com and its international edition include:

· Integrated multimedia storytelling that puts text, videos, photos, maps, charts and more all accessible on one page. Tabbed elements allow easy access to a variety of media types, allowing users to determine themselves how they get the news they want.

· The most news video on the Web with larger video screen. Both live and on-demand video – including CNN’s massive online video archive – are available free of charge without need for downloads. A new on-demand video player offers a Flash-based, play-in-page experience complete with larger and higher quality video and tools to create playlists and provide feedback. A live player provides access to up to four live video streams, one of which is guided by CNN.com-exclusive news anchors – the only offering of its kind on the Web.

· Locally relevant content, allowing users to personalize CNN.com to offer enhanced weather forecasts and personalized local headlines. This content comes from various sources and content-sharing relationships, including CNN.com’s more than 860 CNN Newsource affiliates and the recently announced strategic alliance with Internet Broadcasting, the nation’s largest publisher of TV station Web sites.

“If there was an ‘easy button’ for getting all your news in one place, the relaunched CNN.com would be it,” said David Payne, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com. “Every element of the site, from the user interaction to the design, was done with simplicity and usability in mind.”

Additional new features and enhancements of note include:

· “Hot Topics,” section fronts that provide in-depth multi-media content based on timely, newsworthy stories.

· “All About” pages, thousands of pages giving users access to an archive of stories that CNN.com – and other selected media sources – have published on almost any subject.

· “We Recommend” feature, which presents users with stories and videos from CNN.com and other content partners based on the user’s past CNN.com browsing history.

· “From the Blogs” feature, which aggregates comments from blogs around the Web discussing either a specific story or topics related to one published on CNN.com.

· Highlights at the top of every article, which enable users to scan and digest story details quickly, and a “Next” link, which allows them to browse through story highlights quickly. CNN.com also directs users to related content, one way in which the site reveals connections between stories. As an effort to be a good Web citizen, CNN.com also offers links to content available on other news and information sites and blogs.

· More ways for users to engage in news through feedback, content submissions with I-Report articles, video, photos and and blog commentaries.

As the first Internet site dedicated to 24-hour news coverage, CNN.com attracts an average of more than 24 million unique users each month. Launched in 1995, CNN.com draws from the resources of CNN Worldwide to provide relevant, up-to-the minute news and information. CNN.com features the latest multimedia technologies, from video streaming and user-generated content to audio packages and searchable archives of news features and background information.

Earlier today CNN's John Roberts was reporting from the London Bureau about events of this past weekend. He will be co-anchoring American Morning from London tomorrow morning beginning at 6:00 AM Eastern.