As violence continues in Syria, CNN Domestic and CNN International will present a 30 minute special this weekend. Details from CNN below.

CNN Press Release: Homs: City Under Siege

This weekend CNN/US and CNN International will air a special half-hour documentary on Syria. Narrated by CNN's senior international correspondent Dan Rivers, 'Homs: City Under Siege' takes viewers inside Syria's third-largest city – and a flashpoint in the uprising.


Program Description

Bombs rain down on residential neighborhoods. Snipers shoot at those who dare to leave their homes. Bodies lay in the streets, as women, children, even medical crews are killed. This is how activists describe the scene in what’s being called the capital of the Syrian uprising. Homs has suffered the worst of the violence that has left more than 6,000 people dead since the uprising and government crackdown began almost a year ago. And residents say it’s getting worse. Many are risking their lives to show the world how their city is suffering, by sharing video of the violence that has grown in intensity over the past week. Distressing images and remarkable voices bear witness to the deteriorating situation and the escalating atrocities. Through the voices of those who are living it, CNN tells the story of one week in 'Homs: City Under Siege.'


Airdates/times

CNN/US: Saturday, February 11 at 10:30pm (eastern)

CNN International: Saturday, February 11 at 1030 GMT, 1630 GMT; Sunday, February 12 at 0030 GMT, 2130 GMT; Monday February 13 at 0430 GMT

** This version corrects program title and host.

CNN International last week launched a new promotional poster campaign in airports across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including: London, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg. The print campaign will be backed up with an online presence and promotional spots to be aired on CNN International.

Click the images to the right of this post for a closer look at some of the new posters. CNN's press release follows below.

CNN Press Release: CNN International launches pan-EMEA brand campaign. Outdoor, print and digital executions focus on anchors’ expertise

CNN International is launching a pan-EMEA advertising campaign designed to underline its credentials as the world’s leading international news channel. The campaign seeks to build the profiles of its individual anchors, cementing their relationships with existing viewers and growing the channel’s core audience.

The creative uses hyper-real portrait photography of CNN International’s key presenters, including Richard Quest, Hala Gorani, Dan Rivers, Pedro Pinto and Becky Anderson, alongside lines such as “Richard. Your competitive advantage is my business”; “Pedro. Behind every sporting hero, there’s a story”; and “Hala. When we know it, you know it.”

Each of the executions uses the campaign line, “Go beyond borders, wherever you are.”

Posters will form the backbone of the campaign, running across airports in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg. Print ads will supplement the posters in key markets, as well as digital executions across a number of major online portals and promos on CNN International itself.

Gillian Power, marketing manager at CNN International, said: “The focus of the campaign is very much on our presenters, and the intelligence, relevance and credibility they have as individuals, but it’s also about our viewers. We want to remind them of the reasons they watch CNN International and the benefits they gain from it.”

The campaign runs from this month until early 2012. The creative agency was Play People, and media was planned and bought by MJ Media and PSI.

CNN Domestic and CNN International will carry coverage of today's UK Parliament Select Committee hearings into phone hacking. CNN has sent through details of the network's plans below.

CNN Press Release: CNN's coverage of UK phone-hacking inquiry

On Tuesday morning Rupert Murdoch, Chair and CEO of News Corporation; James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation (International); and Rebekah Brooks, former Chief Executive of News International, will appear before the Select Committee in UK Parliament to answer questions about the phone-hacking scandal. This hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET, follows a 7 a.m. ET session where UK lawmakers will question leading members of the Metropolitan Police including former chief Paul Stephenson.

CNN’s coverage of these hearings will include live reports from senior international correspondent Dan Rivers from inside the hearings; Richard Quest, Becky Anderson and Matthew Chance from Abingdon Green (outside Parliament); and Atika Shubert from CNN London.

• CNN International and CNN/US are covering the hearings live. CNN/US begins at 9:15 a.m. ET, with CNNI offering extended coverage from 6:00 a.m. ET until they end.

• Both sessions will stream live in their entirety on CNN.com and via the CNN Apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets and selected Nokia devices. In addition, CNN’s news blog 'This Just In' will live blog during both sessions featuring updates, instant analysis, iReport submissions and the latest News Corp. share price fluctuations.

CNN Press Release: Award-winning international reporter Dan Rivers returns to London as senior international correspondent for CNN.

CNN today announces Dan Rivers' appointment to senior international correspondent based at the network’s second largest production hub in London, England.

"Dan has established a reputation as one of the finest investigative reporters in the industry. In the relatively short time he has been with CNN, he has not only covered some of the most significant news stories from South East Asia which have won him an Amnesty International Media Award and a George Polk Award in the past year, he has developed a wealth of knowledge and experience in covering breaking news. His return home where he started and established himself gives us an advantage for our investigative and enterprise reporting in the UK. Dan will continue be part of our global team covering breaking news for all our platforms," says Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide.

Award-winning Rivers was most recently based at CNN's Bangkok bureau where he reported throughout the recent political turmoil and protests in the Thai capital. He also followed the Phnom Penh trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, tracking down the chief interrogator of the S-21 prison camp, chronicling the atrocities committed, hearing from survivors and unveiling allegations of corruption at the trial. His exclusive investigation into the case of Rohingya refugees set adrift by the Thai navy made headlines around the world. He also gained exclusive and clandestine access to Myanmar to report on the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Elsewhere he has closely followed stories including the flooding in Pakistan in August of this year, the Yogyakarta earthquake and the release from prison of controversial Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Prior to joining CNN in 2006, Rivers worked for ITN in the UK both as a crime correspondent and later as an international correspondent. He takes up his position on 1st October.

About Dan Rivers

Dan Rivers is an award-winning correspondent for CNN International who has covered news and business stories from across South East Asia for the past four years.

Since joining CNN, Rivers has cemented his reputation as one of the foremost investigative reporters of his generation. He closely followed the Phnom Penh trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, tracking down the chief interrogator of the S-21 prison camp, chronicling the atrocities committed, hearing from survivors and unveiling allegations of corruption at the trial.

His exclusive investigation into the case of Rohingya refugees set adrift by the Thai navy in a story that made headlines around the world led to him winning both an Amnesty International Media Award and a George Polk Award for International Television Reporting. He also gained exclusive and clandestine access to Myanmar to report on the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Elsewhere he has closely followed stories including Thailand’s political turmoil, the Yogyakarta earthquake, and the release from prison of controversial Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. Most recently he was deployed to Pakistan to report on the aftermath of the flooding. He has also secured exclusive interviews with international newsmakers including the Bali bombers prior to their executions, former and current Thai prime ministers, alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Prior to joining CNN in April 2006, Rivers was the Crime Correspondent for Britain’s ITV News. During his career at ITN, Rivers broke the story that a series of police blunders led to the mistaken shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at a London underground station, after the Brazilian was mistaken for a terrorist. Rivers’ report was subsequently nominated for a Royal Television Society Award in the UK.

In March 2003, Rivers was one of the ITV News team covering the War in Iraq as an embedded reporter with the Royal Navy, broadcasting live from a ship in the Gulf. He was first with a tip-off of the initial attacks on Baghdad and also filed exclusive reports on mine sweeping operations off the coast of Iraq. During the three weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Rivers covered the unfolding humanitarian and aid problems in southern Iraq. Further international experience includes his coverage of the Asian Tsunami and the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Prior to joining ITN, Rivers worked for EuroNews in Lyons, France, where he reported on a variety of international news stories, including the fall of President Milosevic in Serbia.

Before that, he freelanced for London News Network (LNN) on 'London Tonight', producing reporting around the British capital. Rivers’ first job in journalism was as a journalist and newsreader on an independent local Radio station, Pirate FM. Rivers studied Social Sciences at Durham University and Broadcast Journalism at Falmouth College of Arts.

All Things CNN notes CNN's recent honors at the 2010 National Headliner Awards; where the network scooped a one, two, three placing in the Investigative Reporting category.

CNN's winning entries:

Feature or Human Interest Story (Broadcast Radio Division)
Third Place: CNN (Radio)
Young, Black and Unemployed
Dan Szematowicz, Lisa Desjardins


Continuing Coverage of a Major News Event
First Place: CNN
Anderson Cooper 360: Inside the Battle Zone: Afghanistan
Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, David Doss

Documentary or Series of Reports
Second Place: CNN
World's Untold Stories: Killing Fields: Long Road to Justice
Dan Rivers, Kocha Orlan, Mike McCarthy and Sheri England


Investigative Reporting
First Place: CNN
Your Government at Work: Post Office Mansion
Abbie Boudreau, Scott Zamost and Jessi Joseph

Second Place: CNN
Anderson Cooper 360: Texas Highway Robbery?
Gary Tuchman, Katherine Wojtecki, Kevin Myers, Derek Davis and Alana Duglas

Third Place: CNN
American Morning: Gulfstream Air Investigation
Allan Chernoff, Laura Dolan, Janelle Rodriguez, James Kraft


Business and Consumer Reporting
First Place: CNN
The Border
Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Scott Matthews, Todd Schwarzschild, Marcus Hooper

Second Place: CNN
How the Wheels Came Off: The Rise and Fall of the American Auto Industry
Michael Kane, Ali Velshi and Christine Romans


Health/Science Reporting
First Place: CNN
The Wheelchair
Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Scott Matthews, Todd Schwarzschild, Marcus Hooper

Third Place: CNN
Another Day Cheating Death
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Roni Selig, Tim Langmaid, Caleb Hellerman, David Martin

A full list of all the award winners is here.

CNN Press Release: CNN International Honored with George Polk Award Second prestigious award for groundbreaking documentary

The CNN documentary was fronted by CNN’s Bangkok-based correspondent Dan Rivers and produced by Kit Swartz, Kocha Olarn and Theerasak Nitipiched. The award will be presented to Rivers on Thursday, April 8 at a luncheon in New York City.

“To receive another prestigious award for this documentary is a tremendous reflection of the quality and depth of CNN’s reporting and the tenacity and resourcefulness of Dan Rivers,” said Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International.

Rivers traveled to parts of Indonesia and remote islands off the west coast of Thailand, where he uncovered shocking photos showing the Rohingya boat refugees being taken out to sea and abandoned by Thai military. Following a government inquiry, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva admitted these practices to Rivers in an exclusive interview and said he would bring those responsible to account.

“This story underscores all the reasons why I became a journalist,” said Rivers. “It’s about getting the facts and using those facts to engage an audience and make a difference.”

This is the second award for World’s Untold Stories: A Forgotten People. In 2009, the Amnesty International UK Media Awards honored the documentary in the ‘International Television & Radio’ category for, as jurors stated, not only breaking new ground in the investigation, but also securing a personal commitment from the Thai prime minister to intervene.

The documentary can be viewed here

CNN International has won an Amnesty International Media award in the ‘International Television and Radio’ category for its documentary World’s Untold Stories: The Forgotten People. The winning half-hour documentary, presented by CNN's Bangkok-based correspondent Dan Rivers, highlighted the on-going persecution of the ethnic Rohingya people in their bid to escape terrible persecution and privation in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and in neighboring countries.

Jurors at the award ceremony last night singled out CNN’s entry for particular praise for putting the issue high on the agenda at an ensuing Southeast Asian summit meeting and were impressed by a brilliant investigation that broke new ground and secured a personal commitment to intervene from the Thai prime minister.

CNN International executive vice president and managing director Tony Maddox says, "This award is a tremendous reflection on the quality and depth of CNN’s reporting, the tenacity, bravery and resourcefulness of our correspondent Dan Rivers and an endorsement of the network's strategy to own and create more content.”

“It is a testament to CNN’s London based managing editor Deborah Rayner and the World’s Untold Stories team in Atlanta that only the third edition of the documentary series, produced by CNN International, has won such a prestigious award so soon," he adds.

World’s Untold Stories was brought in-house in January 2009, following the recruitment of Deborah Rayner from the UK’s Channel 4.

The allegations of mistreatment of the Rohingya in the neighboring country of Thailand - at the hands of the military - prompted a government inquiry. The Thai prime minister told CNN in an exclusive interview with Dan Rivers that he promised to bring those responsible to account.

The haunting pictures of Thai soldiers towing boatloads of Rohingya and cutting them adrift on the high seas – first broadcast on CNN’s World’s Untold Stories – are one of the iconic images of 2009 and are credited with bringing the practice to worldwide attention.

“This story underscores all the reasons why I became a journalist”, says Rivers. “It’s about getting the facts and using those facts to engage an audience and make a difference.”

Thanks to those who sent in tips about these:

New Bios:
Stephanie Elam

New Photos:

Dan Rivers

John Vause

Andrea Koppel

Ralitsa Vassileva