The Weekly “World Report” on CNN,an Analysis

Abstract

A comparison of stories sampled from CNN's weekly “World Report” reveals coverage patterns different from those demonstrated by ABC, CBS, and NBC in other studies. Since 1987 the “World Report” has presented short contributions from other countries and these are presented without editing or censoring. In this content analysis of a 1989 sample of stories, CNN emphasized arts as the number one topic, while the arts ranked 13th in a recent study of network world coverage. Some nations took greater advantage of the opportunity to contribute material, for example, Japan, West Germany and Vietnam. This study argues that CNN provides an alternative view of some types of events, with a somewhat more positive tone, as might perhaps be expected from news that is contributed.