Young Journalists Head to CNN
Georgia State University’s Journalism Students
By Kayla Pratt
CNN is considered one of the leading news organizations in the world. Much of its programming is broadcasted from New York although its official headquarters is in Atlanta.
The CNN headquarters offers tours to the general public. Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a special, behind-the-scenes visit to the CNN headquarters. It was led by CNN Digital Editor Monte Plott on Thursday, October 18, 2018, at 12:45 p.m.
The tour starts with a security check and then dives right into the history of the building and the company. According to Plott, the venue was originally a failed, indoor amusement park, The World of Sid and Marty Krofft. Plott also mentioned that the escalator that runs through the center of the building stands as a remnant of the amusement park.
Later, Plott led our group to the different departments and networks that operate out of the building. He explained that the Atlanta headquarters of CNN houses four news networks: CNN En Espanol, HLN, CNN International, and CNN Domestic. Ironically, CNN Espanol does not broadcast in Spain, according to Plott.
The group was given several opportunities to talk to journalists and editors, as well as a fellow Georgia State University journalism major, Christina Maxouris, writing interning at CNN.
They were able to ask about stories that editors were reviewing and what writers were currently working on.
In the network’s formative years, the had a radio station that was unsuccessful according to Plott. The most intriguing part of the tour was the analytics board. It captures reports throughout the day and other trending reports from their competitors. The analytics board is massive and spans across an entire wall in the newsroom.
As the tour came to a close, Plott left the group with a few words of wisdom.
“As journalists, the only thing we have is our credibility. That means getting it right — getting everything right — from beginning to end.”