The CNN cable channel – a fundamentally new form of news television – was launched by the advertiser Ted Turner. No one ever understood why suddenly the businessman (who had previously thought that the absence of news was already good news) decided to bomb the public round-the-clock with global issues and expecting to succeed. But his gut feeling was right. Enthusiasm and a sensible business practice quickly propelled the channel into the ranks of market leaders. CNN used to stand out with its real-time event coverage, not just during the evening prime-time hours.

CNN’s slogan says this explicitly: “Facts first.” Sitting at home at their TV sets, more than a billion people in two hundred countries of the world want to get their facts first today. News is the profession of the Cable News Network, whatever the employees of competing TV channels think about it.