Monthly Archives: November 2024

When I learned my former CNN colleague and teammate Jim Barnett had written Playing Games at CNN about the pioneering news network’s Washington bureau softball team, I looked forward to indulging in that DC ritual of looking for my name in the index. Alas, the book spans the years 1998-2007, beginning three years after I left Washington for Hong Kong.

The book recounts how the CNN CaNiNes brought disparate elements of CNN together and gave us something to share beyond the too often tragic stories we often covered – and the tragic ways we often covered them.

I remember a moment in the newsroom circa 1992 when a news anchor lamented how interest in the network was bound to diminish with the end of the Cold War. “There’s no more Big Story for us,” the anchor sighed. I theatrically unfurled a twenty dollar bill from my wallet. “Financial news is boring,” the anchor clucked dismissively, en route to becoming a major player at CNN and, to this day, in the broader media universe. I was just a writer/third baseman, watching as CNBC came along and ate CNN’s lunch ratings-wise. In 1995, I joined CNBC Asia.

The late 1990s and early 2000s were far more tumultuous times with the internet challenging established media across the board. As Barnett tells it, with the light touch, dogged conviction and impeccable control of a fine newsman, pitcher and team manager, the CaNiNes and their Metropolitan Media Softball League rivals reflected that turmoil and their struggles to cope with those seismic shifts that continue to this day, as well as providing players and fans a brief respite from them.

Washington ritualists take note: Playing Games at CNN has no index.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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