The Situation Room
| The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer | |
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 Title card |
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| Format | News Program politics |
| Presented by | Wolf Blitzer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | CNN Studios Washington, D.C. |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CNN |
| Picture format | 480i (16:9 letterbox SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | August 8, 2005 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
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The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is an afternoon/early evening newscast on CNN and CNN International hosted by Wolf Blitzer that first aired on August 8, 2005. The show replaces three politics and hard news programs: Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, Crossfire (canceled on June 3, 2005) and Wolf Blitzer Reports.[1]
At first, the newscast aired live from 3–6 p.m. ET and was subdivided into an hour devoted to politics, an hour devoted to security, and an hour devoted to international news. However, on November 2, 2005, CNN announced that The Situation Room would be chopped up: block 1 would air live from 4–6 p.m. ET, and block 2 would air live from 7–8 p.m. ET (taking over the timeslot held by Anderson Cooper 360 which moved to 10 p.m. ET). Lou Dobbs Tonight aired between the two blocks.[2] Effective November 5, 2007, the show reverted to a single 3-hour block from 4:00–7:00pm ET to give more focus to the presidential election scheduled to take place 1 year from that date. Lou Dobbs Tonight moved up to 7:00 pm ET.[3] In January 2010 after the cancellation of Lou Dobbs Tonight and the expansion of Rick Sanchez's hour into a two-hour program, The Situation Room was pushed to air from 5:00 pm ET to 8:00 pm ET.[4] As of March 22, 2010, its third hour was replaced by a new program, John King, USA, hosted by John King. As a result The Situation Room now airs from 5:00 pm ET to 7:00 pm ET.[5] On October 3, 2011, Erin Burnett OutFront began airing at 7:00PM, John King, USA moved to the 6:00PM time slot, and The Situation Room moved to 4:00PM–6:00PM - leaving one less hour of CNN Newsroom.[6]
While The Situation Room has its own correspondents dedicated to the show, including Brian Todd,[7] Lisa Sylvester,[8] and Mary Snow,[9] the show also makes use of top CNN journalists from across CNN's networks, such as Gloria Borger, John King, Candy Crowley, Ali Velshi, and Suzanne Malveaux. A number of pundits make regular appearances, including Paul Begala, James Carville, and Donna Brazile.
The show begins with the following (or a variation of this) phrase: To our viewers: You're in the Situation Room. In the earlier days of the Situation Room, Wolf would use the slightly extended version, To our viewers: You're in the Situation Room - where news and information are arriving all the time. Standing by: CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories. Happening Now ... I'm Wolf Blitzer, and You're in the Situation Room." Another phrase Blitzer commonly uses, during the 6PM EST hour which is aired on CNN International, or during breaking news events, he would say We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and Around the World. I'm Wolf Blitzer, and You're in the Situation Room.[10]
The Happening Now statement to introduce the day's top stories is a remnant from the show's primary predecessor, Wolf Blitzer Reports.
The show also features a commentary segment, The Cafferty File presented by anchor Jack Cafferty who typically will offer his perspective on a particular political situation and ask the viewers to respond to his question through his blog on the CNN website, and recently on Facebook. Cafferty will usually cover at least two commentaries throughout the show, and read a few of the viewer responses at the end of the hour.[11] The format has been mimicked on Suzanne Malveaux's timeslot in the CNN Newsroom, with a segment called TalkBack, featuring Carol Costello. However, instead of having a different question for each hour, it is the same question with different answers.[12]
The show has also garnered criticism for devoting excessive coverage to human interest stories, notably devoting almost an hour of commercial free coverage to a story about a virus affecting their Windows 2000 computers.[13] Much of the criticism comes from satirist Jon Stewart, who has mocked the reporting of the show on multiple occasions. Saturday Night Live would later lampoon The Situation Room following the fallout from the death of Anna Nicole Smith and its excessive news coverage of the story in early 2007.[14] However, the show also earned critical praise for its multiple-screen coverage of Hurricane Katrina.[15]
On January 24, 2009, the Situation Room premiered a Saturday edition, which shows highlights of interviews aired during the weekday editions.[16]
[edit] Behind the scenes and studio uses
The Situation Room differs in some ways from similar cable news programs. For instance, use of eight video screens requires extra coordination. Two control rooms are used: One is exclusively used for the show itself, while the second is used to maintain content in the large eight-panel video wall. The show also makes use of live RSS feeds of news wire headlines that scroll in the background at various times during the show. Live video feeds are commonly present in the show's format.
The show is broadcast live from CNN's studios in Washington D.C but the show airs from the Time Warner Center in New York City during major voting events starting with the 2006 mid-term elections. This allows the show to make use of the New York Studio's larger video walls and high definition cameras. In 2008 this temporary move was done during the afternoons of major Presidential primary days, party conventions, debate nights and the week leading up to Election night when host Blitzer takes part in CNN's "Election Center" coverage as well as major presidential addresses. (Contributor Jack Cafferty and correspondent Mary Snow are regularly based at the Time Warner Center.) In 2012, however, the Republican primaries took place in CNN's Atlanta headquarters as the Washington D.C. studio were being rebuilt.
Typically when Blitzer is in locations other than New York, the camera crew will still shoot the DC set, utilizing the video walls to show incoming images as well as a live feed of Blitzer.
The style of the Situation Room has been mimicked on other CNN programs, most notably the International Desk on CNN International, which is presented by Hala Gorani. The International Desk uses a large rear projection display with multiple video feeds much like the Situation Room, but the program's format features much more international news than the Situation Room.
In 2012, CNN announced that the Situation Room's set would be demolished and replaced with a newer set.[17]
| Preceded by CNN Newsroom |
CNN weekday lineup 4:00PM–6:00PM ET |
Succeeded by John King, USA |
[edit] References
- ^ David Zurawik (07 June 2005). "CNN announces more lineup changes". The Baltimore Sun. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-06-07/features/0506070031_1_inside-politics-situation-room-miles-obrien. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ Peter Johnson (2 November 2005). "Cooper to replace Brown on CNN's 'NewsNight'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2005-11-02-media-mix_x.htm. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ Ron Steinman (November 2007). "The Situation Room". Digital Journalist. http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0711/the-situation-room-.html. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ Michael Calderone (27 January 2010). "CNN hopes King ends evening slide". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32032.html. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ BookAsylum (22 December 2009). "Downsizing The Situation Room". All Things CNN. http://www.allthingscnn.com/2009/12/downsizing-situation-room.html. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ Chris Ariens (6 July 2011). "Erin Burnett to 7pm on CNN; John King USA up to 6pm; Anderson Cooper moves to 8pm". Mediabistro - TVNewser. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/erin-burnett-to-7pm-on-cnn-john-king-usa-up-to-6pm-anderson-cooper-moves-to-8pm_b74952. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/todd.brian.html
- ^ Anchors & Reporters - Lisa Sylvester. CNN.com Accessed June 9, 2009.
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/snow.mary.html
- ^ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/sitroom.html
- ^ Jack Cafferty. "Cafferty File - Tell Jack how you really feel". CNN. http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Carol Costello. "Carol Costello CNN". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/CarolCNN. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Computer Worm Infects CNN on YouTube
- ^ Dennis G. Jerz (24 September 2007). "Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room — and Tabloid TV — Gleefully Mocked by Saturday Night Live". Jerz's Literacy Weblog. http://jerz.setonhill.edu/blog/2007/09/24/wolf_blitzers_situation_room_a/. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ David Bauder (3 November 2005). "Aaron Brown departing CNN in shake-up that gives time slot to Anderson Cooper". The Associated Press via The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2002600041_webcnnbrown02.html. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Linda Moss (22 January 2009). "Blitzer's ‘Situation Room' Joins CNN's Saturday Lineup". Multichannel News. http://www.multichannel.com/article/162562-Blitzer_s_Situation_Room_Joins_CNN_s_Saturday_Lineup.php. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
- ^ Alex Wprin (3 January 2012). "CNN Readying New DC Studios For Election Night 2012". Mediabistro - TVNewser. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn-readying-new-dc-studios-for-election-night-2012_b104846. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
[edit] External links
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