CNN Press Release - Nationally Syndicated Radio Host and Best-Selling Financial Expert Clark Howard and CNN Journalist Isha Sesay Join New Show Airing 5-7 p.m. ET

NEW YORK, NY, May 22, 2012—HLN launches a new destination for news and information with Evening Express, hosted by Ryan Smith, beginning Monday, June 4. This new addition to HLN’s schedule will air weeknights, 5-7 p.m. ET, and feature HLN’s popular personal finance expert Clark Howard, and CNN’s Isha Sesay, it was announced by Scot Safon, Executive Vice President and General Manager, HLN. Evening Express will be based at the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta.

“HLN is excited to offer our viewers an evening news program that centers on the news and information they’ll discuss around the dinner table,” said Safon. “The format and tone of Evening Express was inspired by our hit show Morning Express with Robin Meade. Viewers tell us all the time that they love how Robin and the Morning Express team start their day on HLN, and now Ryan, Clark and Isha will be welcoming them home in the evening.”

Evening Express will provide an energetic, inspirational and solutions-oriented look at the day’s news, accompanied by deeper discussions and reporting on stories and issues that resonate in the American household, including parenting, education, health, personal finance and relationships.

Evening Express will also have a deep a social footprint, engaging with viewers and users on all platforms.  In tandem with its June 4 launch, the show’s digital extensions will include Facebook (Facebook.com/EveningExpressHLN), Twitter (@EveningExp) and a dedicated blog on HLN’s recently launched web site, HLNtv.com (HLNtv.com/EveningExpress) that will feature distinctive angles on the stories of the day. Evening Express hosts can also be followed at @ryansmithtv, @IshaSesayCNN and @ClarkHoward.

Smith, a familiar HLN on-air presence in 2011 as a result of his reporting during the Casey Anthony and Conrad Murray trials, was a member of the Morning Express team and host of programming during InSession on truTV. A sports and entertainment lawyer with a degree from Columbia Law School, Smith covers a wide variety of news stories and has a personal interest in health and wellness issues.

Howard is one of HLN’s most popular personalities, with a wildly successful nationally syndicated radio program and personal finance website in addition to his regular appearances on HLN weekends and Morning Express with Robin Meade. In 2011, his book, “Clark Howard’s Living Large in Lean Times,” spent 21 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, his third to make that list. With the launch of Evening Express, the personal finance guru will now bring his expert advice to viewers later in the day, answering specific consumer questions and providing information that is applicable and actionable to a wide spectrum of the audience.

Sesay is well known to CNN audiences for her work as an anchor for CNN International, hosting the daily news program CNN NewsCenter and weekly program BackStory, and serving as the nightly “360 Bulletin” correspondent on Anderson Cooper 360°. In addition, she files reports for African Voices and Inside Africa, CNN International’s award-winning, weekly program dedicated to providing viewers with an inside look of Africa.On HLN’s Evening Express, she will bring her strong reporting skills and a point of view informed by her experience covering news stories from across the globe.

CNN veteran Angie Massie is the Executive Producer of Evening Express. Katherine Green is Senior Vice President and Managing Editor, HLN.  Steve Rosenberg is Director of Dayside Programming, HLN.

About HLN

HLN is the national television network that focuses on the “must-see, must-share” stories of the day.  Drawing upon the network’s deep bench of talent, including Robin Meade, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Nancy Grace, and Dr. Drew Pinsky, HLN dissects and demystifies the news stories and newsmakers people are talking about.

HLNtv.com, the network’s new digital platform, is the online destination for users to go deeper into the top stories driving the conversation and generating the national buzz.

HLN is a CNN Worldwide network reaching more than 100 million households in the U.S. CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information.

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TV Newser reports of management moves at HLN and CNN International.

TVNewser has learned that after two years as HLN’s senior vice president, [Bill] Galvin will move to CNN International as SVP of business development and sports programming, responsible for special coverage and sponsored content of CNNI. He will also be in charge of sports coverage across CNN Worldwide.

[Katherine] Green will move into the role of SVP and managing editor at HLN. She has served as the SVP of programming at CNNI since 2007. [Mike] McCarthy, currently VP of coverage and feature programming at CNNI, will be promoted to her former post.

Click through to TV Newser to read the memos from CNNI boss Tony Maddox and HLN's Scot Safon.

Katherine Green, CNN International's Senior Vice President of Programming, spoke at an annual television conference in Sydney last night.

Appearing on the panel exploring international trends in programming, Ms. Green offered a snapshot of some of the ways the network has been reacting to the new global news consumer.

Below is an excerpt of Katherine Green's speech to the ASTRA 2011 Conference.

In three years at CNN, we have spent a lot of time studying a new kind of consumer. We have discovered a globally minded, very autonomous and intelligent and extraordinarily curious person who is trying to consume information. I saw some ratings out of Australia and saw the news still makes it into the top 10 on a weekly basis. It is a reflection that consumers want to be informed. They are thirsting for knowledge and understanding. What we're beginning to do as we watch the ebb and flow in ratings is tell us that we need to change our programming. They are challenging us to do that.

There has been an emphasis from our viewers, they want intelligent rather than sensational. They want depth and context rather than brevity and speed. They are asking for perspective, and want separate perspectives, there are so many different ways that you can see a story. If you are in the Western world, you may see it one way, and the Eastern world, you may see at another. The viewers have recognised that and are asking us to give as many perspectives as possible. Because they are autonomous in thought and want to come to their own conclusions from that.

The result is, we have been working on involving the programming, which is no easy thing to do. They want connectedness, they want to feel, they want passion, emotion, humanity. When news is presented, they are looking for those things in it so they have a connection with things happening around them. The straightforward presentation of fact, you can get online. What TV does is make it visual, visceral, and emotional. You can tap into it, feel it. When you add digital abilities, it becomes interactive. We will have to converge technologies and create a world in which TV and Internet are complimentary, instead of separate platforms working apart.

There is a new kind of programming playing for the consumer. It is experiential. When you see a government being overthrown by protesters, organised through social media, playing out in your living room, the revolution taking place, it is an experience you are having unlike any other. When you add in the number of people who can take video clips, photos, and send it into a news agency and allow us to show their experiences to you, you have an even greater experience. Every single time I see the video of the tsunami rolling across Japan, and know that I watched it happen live. I stood there and watched it. At that moment, I shared a human response. Oh my gosh, what is happening? Somebody explain this to me.

We are seeing viewers asking us for that opportunity, to have this profound experiences, those connections coming from profound experiences. So what is CNN's role in all of this? We have to make sense of it. When you have that moment, watching it play out on television, we have tried to transport you there as best we can. You need to know what is happening. What does it mean? What thoughts should I be having? Our job is to take the core values we have had for years - trust, value, integrity - and we cannot dumb-down the message, we have to be intelligent and transparent.

You can read the full transcript of Ms. Green's speech in a PDF available from the conference website here.

March 14, 2011 – CNN International announced today that environmentalist Philippe Cousteau will be the network’s host and special correspondent for the successful Going Green specials during 2011. With the network’s promise to take viewers beyond borders to deliver intelligent programming for an interconnected world, the partnership reaffirms CNN’s commitment to report environmental stories that are changing our planet.

"We're delighted that Philippe has accepted our invitation to participate in the series of programming for a second year. I am struck by his dedication to the environment. It is truly his passion, and his extensive work on green issues makes him a strong voice in the fight towards worldwide conservation. His contribution to our programming will undoubtedly strengthen our already successful franchise of Going Green,” said Katherine Green, senior vice president and general manager for CNN International.

Read more »

CNN Press Release: CNN launches a multi-month network initiative to mark the most iconic moments and news events of the past 30 years.



CNN is asking viewers from around the world to submit their photos, memories, videos via iReport, the network’s user-generated news community, online or directly via the CNN international iPhone app.

"We're delighted that this landmark anniversary for CNN allows us to engage with our global audiences to produce a definitive take on the most significant events of the last three decades. The idea that attics and cellars may be hiding never-before-seen footage from iconic newsgathering moments is hugely exciting. 'CNN30: Were You There?' will take us beyond history's borders to reveal new insights on the events which have shaped our world," said Katherine Green, senior vice president of programming for CNN International.

"With this project, CNN is asking our audience to reflect on our shared history, and help us layer personal memories against iconic images from the biggest news events over the last 30 years,” said Lila King, participation director, CNN.com. "Our hope is that this ambitious project of marrying personal snapshots and original news footage will shine a new light on the moments that changed our lives as well as our world."

Viewers are together invited to help build an interactive timeline on CNN.com at www.cnn.com/30 of the past three decades, sharing their recollections and any archival footage, pictures and more. The best of these submissions will be featured in a half-hour special program premiering on CNN International on October 23 at 8:30pm (HKT). Users can also comment and like individual iReports on Facebook and Twitter.

Submissions are encouraged beyond the 30 events that CNN have listed which include:

• The assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984
• The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union
• The 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana
• The 1997 Hong Kong handover
• The 2008 Mumbai terror attacks
• Chernobyl in 1986
• The 2001 September 11 terror attacks
• The 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall
• The 1990 release of Nelson Mandela
• The 2004 Asia tsunami
• The 1994 Rwandan genocide
• Hurricane Katrina in 2005
  
• The Haiti Earthquake in 2010.
  

The full list is at www.cnn.com/30 and deadline for submissions is October 15.

CNN Press Release - Network gets rare access to tennis legend's fight against cancer in 'Martina: My Toughest Opponent'

It has been almost six months since tennis legend Martina Navratilova was told she tested positive for breast cancer. On a day she considers her "personal 9-11", the 53-year-old athlete says she "was in denial for about two seconds and cried for a minute" before deciding to aggressively take on what she knew would become her greatest challenge.

In 'Martina: My Toughest Opponent' CNN chronicles Martina's journey of balancing treatments, tennis, and everything in between. Narrated by CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, this half-hour special gives viewers an intimate look at Martina's personal battle with breast cancer.

"She didn't miss a beat. That's very Martina. She doesn't sit around wondering or fidgeting," says former professional tennis player and founder of the Women's Sports Foundation Billie Jean King. "She just gets into action. She's a woman of action. You know, the way she played was that way and that's how she is in real life."

When asked where she finds strength, Martina says: "I think anybody that survives the communist system, they're pretty tough! And then being gay on top of that, that wasn't helpful. As they say, that which does not kill you makes you stronger, so I am pretty strong."

Following a lumpectomy in March, Czech-born Martina underwent more than two dozen radiation treatments during a six-week period, which ended just days before she secured yet another Wimbledon title. CNN cameras followed her throughout this time, capturing not only her trips to the Paris-based treatment center, but also the time she spent at Roland Garros and the All England Club playing doubles matches with Jana Novotna and working as a commentator for The Tennis Channel.

When you're playing with Martina it's one thing, but when you're playing with Martina and you know everything she is going through, it's very emotional," says Novotna.

Many tennis greats – past and present – were interviewed for both the on-air and online components of this special including Novotna; Billie Jean King; Boris Becker; Jimmy Connors; Steffi Graf; Pam Shriver; Tim Henman; Kim Clijsters; Lindsay Davenport; Bob Bryan; Caroline Wozniacki; Bud Collins; Francesca Schiavone; and Martina Hingis.

"It is very rare to be given such extraordinary access to someone of Martina's stature," says Katherine Green, senior vice president of CNN International. "This candid program shows how Martina never lets the cancer sideline her. It is a story that is beyond inspiring."

AIRTIMES - ALL TIMES ET:

Saturday, 7 August at 1230; Sunday, 8 August at 0700, 1430, 2200; Tuesday, 10 August at 0830, 1230

ALL TIMES CET:

Saturday, 7 August at 1830; Sunday, 8 August at 1300, 2030; Tuesday, 10 August at 1430, 1830

When Katherine Green, senior Vice President of Programming for CNN International, joined the network in early 2008, she took charge of an ambitious repositioning project that eventually saw strategic changes to the network’s programming schedule planned, and implemented. Whilst some of the new programs commissioned by Green are still yet to air – notably ‘Amanpour’ and ‘W1’ – another key element of CNN International's revamp was unveiled Monday with a newly renovated London set debuting during ‘World Sport’.








In other news, the London-based program, ‘Connect The World’ with Becky Anderson, is tipped to undergo a change in graphics and titles later on Monday. Anderson teased viewers at the close of Friday’s program:

“We have a new look show next week, so do join us on Monday. We’re very excited about it.”

A possible glimpse of the new look can be found on the newly launched webpage for the show, the blog and a new promo that debuted on Monday:

CNN Pressroom - Katherine Green Appointed SVP for Programming; Mike McCarthy Promoted to VP Coverage/Feature Programs

CNN International today made two senior level appointments, laying the foundation for future growth and development across CNN’s global network. Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, made the announcements.

Award-winning journalist and news programming executive Katherine Green has been appointed to the lead position of senior vice president of CNN International programming. Green, most recently vice president/news director of WTTG/Fox 5 News in Washington, D.C., will be based at the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta. In addition, Mike McCarthy, managing editor for CNN International, has been promoted to the new position of vice president of coverage and feature programming.

In her new role at CNN International, Green will oversee all of the editorial production, program development, network talent and day-to-day operations of CNN International.

“Katherine brings a unique and formidable track record in programming innovation, a wealth of editorial talent and really exciting ideas to this job,” Maddox said. “This is one of the key appointments for the international group, and Katherine’s exceptional management skills are what we need as we aggressively move into an era of digital development and growth for the network.”

During a career spanning more than 20 years, Green has been instrumental in launching new and innovative news broadcasts and winning numerous awards, including more than a dozen Edward R. Murrow awards, several Emmy awards and other honors from the Associated Press and other organizations. She has a long track record for both market growth and leadership in various top 10 markets including Washington, D.C, Baltimore, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., and New York.

“CNN epitomizes global news with a quality and integrity that other networks can only aspire to match,” Green said. “To be able to shape CNN International for the future is a rare opportunity and a challenge I relish.”

For his new role, McCarthy will remain based in Atlanta and will oversee major breaking news and the growing strand of feature programs produced in CNN’s London, Hong Kong and Atlanta production centers.

“Mike is an exceptional journalist and newsroom leader, and his promotion solidifies a management team exceptionally equipped to energize our programming and create content not just for television but rapidly growing platforms inside and outside of CNN,” Maddox said.

McCarthy has served as CNN International’s Atlanta-based managing editor since November 2002. Prior to this appointment, he was senior executive producer for news and business coverage from CNN’s regional production center in London, where he was instrumental in creating CNN International’s feature strand as well as relaunching the European morning wheel of programming with integrated news and business coverage, as well as launching the flagship Business International strand.

“One of the keys to our success in the future is harnessing the incredible reach of CNN International’s resources to create new and engaging multi-platform programming for an increasingly diverse and sophisticated audience,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy has had a rapid rise at CNN International since joining as a senior producer, business news in May 1999. He previously held the post of deputy program editor at the London News Network, responsible for London Today and London Tonight. He joined LNN in 1993.

He has also worked as a freelancer for NBC Europe, News International and the Mirror Group. He started his career in journalism at the National News Press Agency in London.

Launched in 1985, CNN International is the world’s leading 24-hour news channel, encompassing five English-language CNN services and reaching an audience of more than 220 million television households worldwide in more than 200 countries and territories.

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.