Happy Birthday

... to the amazing reader of this blog only known as 4ut but also to a network that she peruses.

   30 years ago, almost to the hour, CNN was unleashed upon the world as her first 24-hour news station. It was the brainchild of Ted Turner, launched 5 years after his TBS Superstation was the first cable station permitted to broadcast nationwide. But it was just the beginning. Soon CNN would be the network of "can you remember where you were when.."

   CNN made household names of its anchors. The newlywed team of Lois Hart and David Walker anchored its first cast, and topical debate programs like Crossfire were part of the mix. The little cable network now has over 900 affiliates because their team was the first to broadcast seminal events. During the brief time we had cable when I was a kid, I witnessed the Challenger launch and ultimate horror, and CNN was the only station to carry it. Names like Wolf Blitzer and Christine Amanpour became more than their nomers, but family during the Gulf War and the horror of 9/11 was played out in real-time for those captivated by the improbable but absolutely real.

  The network ushered in a new information age ; one where minute-by-minute events could shape world views and prompt response. It was in Ted Turner's vision that the newspaper become a bastion of the aged, and he has invited us in to witness an instantly aware era. Whether you see CNN as groundbreaking or along for the technological ride, it has defined the way in which we perceive the universe.

  So happy 30th to a news icon that has spawned many, a dream of one man realized by us al, a unifier and a divider. Accused of being far too right or far too left, one network changed with its creator and with the human condition that afflicts us all. All views are welcome in the intellectual universe and I for one pay homage to the greatest revolution in modern journalism since shorthand.

  Happy birthday to CNN and the idea that human beings need to have true global awareness. While the network  may not last another 30 years, the philosophy will never die. Human beings need to be nourished, not just through nutrients, but thought.

  And seeing IS believing.