The Next Phase of the American Experiment
Breaking Down History and Culture, AmEx Style
Hello all!
This is Dr. Nic Hoffmann speaking, or typing, rather. Over the past school year, this was a place to share the work students were doing. We were proud of that work. However, as the project continues, this will become a place where I, and occasionally Mike Burns and maybe guest writers like students, will be telling stories from the American Experiment. This is a way in the age of AI, to keep student’s work more protected, but also let others get a glimpse of what is going on in the class.
In the past school year, we made it all the way to 2023 in our notes (ok, 2021 and aftermath, but still). We want to polish that story of what happened in the past 30 years and hone it into this project; I hope you will come along with us. As I work toward a book coming when I complete it, there will be a seasonal podcast coming in August (hopefully). In the meantime, let me give you a taste of what I am working on.
Ah, CNN; the founder of the 24-hour media day. In history, we say the news is the first draft of history. 24-hour news is the caffeine addled jittery cramming for finals version of history. We can all thank Ted Turner for this creation. Turner, before he was mostly known for buffalo steaks, turned his local channel WTCG in the megalith it would become by 1976, showing the reruns of shows like Gilligan’s Island, I Love Lucy, and Star Trek on national basic cable. By 1976, his business model was working, subscriptions were at over two million people and his net worth was at over $100 million. It was that year that he bought the Braves, the next he bought the Hawks, and the next he bought the call sign we would know him for, WTBS.
CNN would be his next big project. The idea of 24-Hour News was not only new, but novel. The ubiquity was crucial. I remember the audio of the “skies over Baghdad have become illuminated,” as Bernard Shaw watched the Persian Gulf War start, but I remember the pictures from the White House of President George H. W. Bush watching CNN as well. In the modern context, the question as to the value of 24 hours news comes up repeatedly. Breaking News before you can comprehend what is happening would define the crises of Columbine and 9/11, leading to the rise of conspiracy culture. The exploitative tabloidesque nature of the news like the coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey case or OJ Simpson Trial would stick us to our screens, but ruin lives. However, all of that was yet to come. CNN was supposed to change the game. Providing news around the clock was supposed to keep us informed and for Turner to provide a unique service.
When I have heard speeches Turner made about CNN, he would joke about how more people watched the Cartoon Network regularly. However, as a Cold Warrior in his own way, he also made it clear that the news was necessary to keep you safe. At launch he claimed, "Barring satellite problems, we won't be signing off until the world ends." On the day of launch, the CNN logo appeared, and then the national anthem played. Turner made it clear; it would only play once. Now, before frothing about CNN being un-American, remember the national anthem was the signal of the end of the broadcasting day, then the test pattern and the channel would go dark. CNN would never go dark. As Turner himself said, “We'll be on, and we will cover it [the end of the world] live, and that will be our last, last event. We'll play the National Anthem only one time, on the first of June [1980], and when the end of the world comes, we'll play "Nearer My God To Thee" before we sign off.”
This was thought to be a joke, until 2009 when the tape was found under the title “Hold for release until end of the world confirmed,” in the CNN MIRA archiving system (from Jalponik). See below:
When Ronald Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine paving the way for Conservative Talk Radio on the AM dial, MSNBC on the left and Fox News on the right (both starting in 1996), CNN stubbornly stayed just to the left of center, but even with Headline News, it started to slip in viewership. Though internationally, CNN is the top American Broadcast TV News Source, its numbers have been crashing domestically and internationally after a chaotic year and CEO. In fact, for the first time in years, as of this writing MSNBC took the top spot in prime-time following Tucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News. However, for one moment, let’s remember the moment, 43 years ago, that Ted Turner started the first TV Network prepared for the end of the world.
Thanks,
Dr. Nic Hoffmann