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Tag: Hala Gorani

  • CNN launches new show ‘IList’

    CNN launches new show ‘IList’

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has launched a new monthly show i-List which takes viewers to countries that are changing the way we live and look at the world around us. i-List will highlight innovation and influence in industry, business, technology, culture and more. It showcases a nation’s people and places – those having an impact inside and outside their borders.

    From 8 February, CNN International turns its cameras on France in i-List: France, a special week of prime time programming and reports from the country that will uncover some of the economic, social, cultural and political developments currently shaping France and positioning the nation for the future. Throughout 2010, i-List is set to come from a number of Asian countries.

    CNN International VP of coverage and feature programming Mike McCarthy says, “With i-List, we wanted to give our viewers and users insightful and intelligent programming about countries that are changing the way we think and how we live in an Interconnected world. It will highlight the inventive people, innovative businesses and inspirational cultural trends in nations that directly impact the way we live and do business in the future.

    CNN will anchor two of its signature European prime time shows from France. Hala Gorani will be in Paris with I-Desk from 9-12 February 2010 at 2 am and Fionnuala Sweeney in Lyon with World One from 8-12 February at 11:30 pm. There will also be a series of specially commissioned reports by correspondents Jim Bitterman and Atika Schubert.

    CNN’s Paris-based Senior Correspondent Jim Bitterman – recently awarded the Legion of Honour for his 30 years of distinguished reporting on France – examines how France is leveraging long established ties with China and India through the entrepreneurial spirit of business leaders such as the legendary Pierre Cardin, former French Prime Minister and Senator Pierre Rafferin and inspirational Club Med chairman Henri Giscard d’Estaing.

    Atika Shubert begins the week at the Lyon Library which has joined up with Google Books to post 500,000 ancient manuscripts online. French officials fear that the scanning project by Google will put the country’s national literary treasures in the control of corporate hands. Lyon’s Library Director shows CNN the rare document he believes need to be scanned by Google.

    The week of coverage will culminate with a 30-minute debate hosted by CNN’s Hala Gorani with a panel of French personalities including Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon.

    Online users will be able to visit the i-List microsite, www.cnn.com/ilist for video packages and more.

  • CNN opens new production centre in the Middle East

    CNN opens new production centre in the Middle East

    MUMBAI: A pivotal part of CNN’s content ownership strategy has come on stream with the launch of a new state-of-the-art production center and newsgathering hub in the heart of the Middle East. This was announced today in Abu Dhabi by CNN International MD, executive VP managing director Tony Maddox.

    He was joined for the announcement by Turner Broadcasting System chairman and CEO Phil Kent and by CNN Chief International correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

    Maddox says, “The Middle East has played a significant role in CNN’s heritage and is part of our DNA, two of our earliest bureaus were in Cairo and Jerusalem. This region unquestionably plays an integral part in world affairs, and the new hub in Abu Dhabi gives us the opportunity to get to the heart of the rich and diverse stories across the political, business, social and cultural spectrums.

    “The establishment of a permanent broadcast and production center in the Middle East by CNN is a significant and unique move by a Western news broadcaster. It gives CNN a powerful base from which to coordinate seven regional bureaus and showcase a new daily news show from the Middle East.”

    The new online and TV production facility sits alongside CNN’s existing 32 international newsgathering operations which also includes digital production centers in Hong Kong, London, Mexico City and Atlanta.

    Overseen by CNN’s managing editor for the Middle East Tom Fenton, CNN Abu Dhabi will also coordinate newsgathering for the seven CNN operations in the region: Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jerusalem, Kabul and Islamabad.

    With more than two dozen staff, CNN Abu Dhabi not only consolidates CNN Worldwide’s investment in global newsgathering, but it also underlines CNN’s growth strategy that includes the commercial launch of the CNN Wire, the unveiling of the new CNN.com and the addition of new prime-time shows across HLN and CNN International.

    Built as a fully high definition and online production facility, CNN Abu Dhabi houses a four-camera digital studio with 24/7 live capability, edit suites and fully integrated newsroom.

    First Daily News Show From the Region: For the first time in its history, CNN will broadcast a daily live news show from the Middle East. ‘Prism’, presented by Stan Grant, will air Sunday to Thursday at 12p ET/9p GST. CNN Abu Dhabi will also be the home to CNN’s perennially popular feature shows Inside the Middle East, now in its sixth year, and Marketplace Middle East which launched two years ago.

    Prism is the 10th new show to be launched on CNN International in the past 12 months. It joins the network’s new primetime line-up, uniting Stan Grant, Christiane Amanpour, Richard Quest, Becky Anderson, Fionnuala Sweeney, Michael Holmes and Hala Gorani in a schedule that between them covers off business and current affairs programming, breaking news and behind-the-scenes reportage in distinctive formats.

    Content Ownership : CNN’s content ownership strategy has provided a wealth of new material for all of CNN’s platforms across TV, online, mobile and CNN’s commercial wire service, while also allowing that content to be aggregated to affiliates.

    Since early 2008 CNN has opened seven new editorial operations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and now the Middle East, as well as placing additional correspondents in many existing operations.

  • CNN travels to Dubai next month

    CNN travels to Dubai next month

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN anchor Hala Gorani hosts the special Inside The Middle East from Dubai in December as she takes viewers on a journey to Lebanon and Tunisia to meet a singing legend and one of the most prolific film producers from the Middle East. The special airs on 2 December 2006 at 2 pm, 8 pm, 3 December at 6 pm and on 7 December at 8 pm.

    In Beirut, CNN correspondent Brent Sadler meets 82-year old tarab singer, Nahawand, one of the most elderly performers in the Middle East. Twice a week she rocks her audiences in the aisles of Music Hall, a trendy Beirut nightclub where the Lebanese glitterati dance on tables to the powerful voice of ‘the nightingale’. Now, with age, she suffers mentally but never forgets her lyrics. Her doctors remark that this frail woman in her trademark black suit and red scarf literally lives to sing, and that those few minutes on stage every week may be her motivation to stay alive.

    Gorani then explores the history of Western film production in Tunisia, where much of the country’s movement can be attributed to Tunisian-born Tarak Ben Ammar, who is today a major international film broker and movie producer. Currently producing the upcoming ‘Hannibal Rising’ movie, he also took part in producing popular films like ‘Star Wars’ and the ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ movies. Ben Ammar shows INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST around his magnificent Greco-Roman film set north of Tunis, revealing how he convinced Hollywood legends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to shoot their movies in his native Tunisia, helping transform the small North African country into one of Hollywood’s favourite film sets.

    The show also looks at a specific problem affecting life in the Middle East: iodine deficiency disorder. Just a pinch of iodised salt with a meal is known to be enough to eliminate the primary cause of preventable learning difficulties and brain damage. But mental retardation, dwarfism and speech defects due to IDD have yet to be eliminated in the region despite efforts to get salt producers to add iodine to their product. In Egypt’s rural Nile Delta, the show looks at one anti-IDD programme targeting babies that is proving successful and follows an Egyptian health minister in his battle against IDD as he seeks to rid the souks, shops and stores of illegally produced, un-iodised salt.