The Situation Room

infobox television
show_name = The Situation Room


caption = The Situation Room |
format = News Program
Live Action
runtime = 180 minutes (4-7 p.m. ET)
creator =
starring = Wolf Blitzer and various contributors
country = USA
network = CNN
first_aired = August 8, 2005
picture_format = 480i (SDTV)
last_aired = Present
num_episodes = Unknown
website = http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/situation.room/
imdb_id = 0470977
tv_com_id = 45592

"The Situation Room" is an afternoon/early evening newscast on CNN hosted by Wolf Blitzer that first aired on August 8, 2005. The show replaces three politics and hard news programs ("Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics", "Crossfire" (cancelled on June 3, 2005) and "Wolf Blitzer Reports").

At first, the newscast aired live from 3-6 p.m. ET and was subdivided into an hour devoted to politics, an hour devoted to security, and an hour devoted to international news. However, on November 2, 2005, CNN announced that "The Situation Room" would be chopped up: block 1 would air live from 4-6 p.m. ET, and block 2 would air live from 7-8 p.m. ET (taking over the timeslot held by "Anderson Cooper 360" which moved to 10 p.m. ET). Lou Dobbs Tonight aired between the two blocks. Effective 5 November 2007, the show reverted to a single 3-hour block from 4:00-7:00pm ET to give more focus to the presidential election scheduled to take place 1 year from that date. Lou Dobbs Tonight has moved up to 7:00 pm ET. The third hour of "The Situation Room" is simulcasted on CNN International.

A number of CNN journalists and pundits often join Blitzer, including Jack Cafferty, Donna Brazile, Ali Velshi, Carol Costello, Suzanne Malveaux , Abbi Tatton, Paul Begala, Bay Buchanan, James Carville, and J.C. Watts.

The show begins with the following (or a variation of this) phrase:"To our viewers: You're in the Situation Room - where news and information are arriving all the time. Standing by: CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories. Happening Now ... I'm Wolf Blitzer, and You're in the Situation Room."

The "Happening Now" statement to introduce the day's top stories is a remnant from the show's primary predecessor, "Wolf Blitzer Reports".

The show has garnered criticism for devoting excessive coverage to human interest stories, notably devoting almost an hour of commercial free coverage to a story about a virus affecting their Windows 2000 computers. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7sP0GT1w&feature=related] Fact|date=August 2007 Much of the criticism comes from satirist Jon Stewart, who has mocked the reporting of the show on multiple occasions. "Saturday Night Live" would later lampoon The Situation Room following the fallout from the death of Anna Nicole Smith and its excessive news coverage of the story in early 2007. However, the show also earned critical praise for its multiple-screen coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Behind the scenes

"The Situation Room" differs in some ways from similar cable news programs. For instance, use of eight video screens requires extra coordination. Two control rooms are used: One is exclusively used for the show itself, while the second is used to maintain content in the large eight-panel video wall. The show also makes use of live RSS feeds that scroll in the background at various times during the show. Live video feeds are commonly present in the show's format.

The show is broadcast live from CNN's studios in Washington D.C but during major voting events starting with the 2006 mid-term elections, the show mainly airs from the Time Warner Center in New York City using that broadcast centre's larger video walls. It continues to do so during the afternoons of major Presidential primary days, when host Blitzer takes part in CNN's "Election Center" coverage. (Cast member Cafferty is regularly based at the Time Warner Center.)

External links

* [http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/situation.room/ Official site]