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Frequently Asked Questions About CNN

Anchor Questions

1. How much money do your anchors earn in a year?
Answer: Anchors make anywhere from $40,000 (freelance) to several million, depending on tenure and experience.

2. How long is an anchor's shift?
Answer: CNN--typically an 8-hour shift. Headline News--4.5-hour shift with 3 on-air hours.

3. Do anchors write their own stories?
Answer: All of our anchors have journalism and broadcasting backgrounds and have the ability to write their own stories.

4. Do anchors pick out their own clothing?
Answer: They have general guidelines they must follow as far as style and color but do have the flexibility to wear their own clothing.

5. Do anchors have someone else apply their make-up and fix their hair?
Answer: CNN does provide make-up artists/hairstylists for the anchors if they want to use them.

6. What are the steps to ultimately becoming an anchor?
Answer: Typically, an anchor is a reporter in a local market before moving up to work for a national news network like CNN.

7. What do anchors do when they are not on the air?
Answer: They can research background for an upcoming interview, scroll the wires, review upcoming scripts and get any questions answered.

8. Where can I find out more about my favorite anchors and reporters?
Answer: Bios of most of the CNN anchors and reporters can be found at the following link: CNN Anchors & Reporters.

Newsroom Questions

1. What are the most common college degrees earned by the people in the newsroom?
Answer: Journalism, English, communications, history, political science and general humanities degrees.

2. Who is "in control" on the newsroom floor?
Answer: The executive producer and director are in charge in the main control room. Each segment or block of programming has a producer.

3. How long does it take a story to get on the air?
Answer: It can take anywhere from minutes, in breaking news events, to hours. It depends on the urgency, context, and length of the story.

4. What does it look like on the newsroom floor during breaking news events?
Answer: There can be up to 200 people on the floor, each with a specific job. The energy level picks up and a sense of urgency is apparent.

5. What kinds of checks and balances does CNN use to make sure the stories are accurate?
Answer: An average story is said to go through nine sets of eyes before making air. It is also the job of copy editors to proofread stories for grammatical and factual errors. News is verified three times from three different sources before it is broadcast on our air.

Technical Questions

1. How many satellites does CNN use to transmit its signal?
Answer: The number of satellites CNN leases time from fluctuates between 10 and 38.

2. What happens when the TelePrompTer breaks down?
Answer: The anchor will then refer to hard copies.

Ted Turner Questions

1. Where is Ted's office?
Answer: Mr. Turner maintains an office in New York at the Time Warner headquarters.

2. When did Ted Turner launch CNN?
Answer: In June of 1980, Turner launched CNN, the world's first live, 24-hour global news network.

Job Opportunities

1. How can I find a job or internship opportunity at TBS, Inc.?
Visit Turnerjobs.com to find a complete listing of all available job opportunities for TBS, Inc. In addition, the site contains information tailored to college students and recent graduates regarding internships and training opportunities.

Educators

1. Do you have any materials for educators?
Answer: CNN Student News is commercial-free and free of charge to all registered educators. CNN Student New is available on air on CNN Headline News Monday through Friday from 3:12 - 3:22 am ET and online at www.cnnstudentnews.com. Daily teaching materials include discussion questions and activities to help teachers integrate the news into their curriculum.

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