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On 1st June 1980, the Cable News Network (CNN) began operation becoming the world’s first ever 24 hour television news network. CNN began the news reporting venture at 6p.m from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia with a story about the alleged assassination attempt of Vernon Jordan, who was a renowned civil rights leader in the U.S. The cable news network company went on to change the ideology that news could only be reported at fixed hours of the day (History, 2015). During the launch of CNN, television news was dominated by three major networks: NBC, CBS and ABC. The cable news network company is currently being watched by nearly 89 million American households with approximately 160 million homes on the international front.
This venture was instigated by Robert Turner, an outspoken businessman who was nicknamed as “Mouth of the South. After the death of his father, he took over the family business and expanded it consequently. His desire for mass media was evident when he decided to buy the failing Atlanta television station that used to air old movies and transformed the station into a nsuccess through his own personal investment. Later on, Turner went on to create CNN after four years of intense development. This venture became successful because of his resilience, determination and experience in dealing with mass media platforms. Through the first years of operation, the cable news network experienced significant amounts of loses and was consistently ridiculed as the Chicken Noodle Network by some Americans. This turn of events did not deter Turner in any way instead he decided to invest more in the business. He specifically focused in building the network’s news bureaus throughout the world and by 1983 he managed to buy a satellite news channel that was owned partly by ABC thus eliminating their main competitor from the picture (History, 2015).
As the years rolled by, CNN became famous for covering live events that transpired in the world as it happened in real time. This aspect of their operations ensured that the company remained to be the best in the industry with competitors always looking for gaps to try and salvage equal spoils with CNN. The network further gained enormous traction when it covered the Persian Gulf War that occurred in 1991 (Poindexter, 2008 p. 15). This period of broadcast helped CNN’s audience to grow tremendously and their popularity doubled especially during the early years of 1990’s.
The CNN center was constructed as a cost of $80 million. The building was originally known as the Omni International Complex, a hotel that mainly attracted European tourists. This real estate investment was considered to be daring by many stakeholders as the facility attracted a market that did not complement the business atmosphere required for coherent operations. Despite these facts, Turner decided to purchase 75% of the building for purposes of housing the cable network television business that he had developed. Through the coming years after CNN began operations, Turner managed to purchase the remaining 25% of the building thus making a new era for the undesired facility. A number of changes were made in the building which included removal of ice skating rinks and the construction of the atrium (CNN, 2015).
With the rough patch that CNN had through the early years of operations, the cable news network has managed to become the world’s leading news reporting platform. The company has employed thousands of journalists and correspondents throughout the world who confer relevant news to the cable news network for purposes of ensuring that its operation is on a 24 hour basis.

References
CNN. (2015). CNN Studio Tour. Retrieved July 2, 2015, from http://edition.cnn.com/StudioTour/history.html
History. (2015). CNN launches - Jun 01, 1980 - HISTORY.com. Retrieved July 2, 2015, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cnn-launches
Poindexter, P. M. (2008). Trouble in the news media landscape. Women, men, and news: Divided and disconnected in the news media landscape, 3-16.