June 1, 1980. Ted Turner flipped a switch in a cluttered Atlanta control room and launched CNN — the world's first 24-hour news network. "We won't be signing off until the world ends," he declared.

Forty-five years later, CNN's fate is uncertain, trust in media has collapsed, and the line between news and noise has all but disappeared. How did we get here?

Breaking the News is an independent podcast project from Bookmark Media that traces the arc from Turner's audacious vision to the fractured media landscape of today — through decades of corporate mergers, digital disruption, the rise of partisan echo chambers, and the political weaponization of the press.

This feed features our Deep Cut conversations — in-depth video-podcast interviews with the journalists, executives, and thinkers who lived this transformation from the inside. Our guests include former CNN executives, award-winning correspondents and anchors, bestselling authors, and leading voices on media trust, polarization, and the future of journalism.

Hosted by John Hashimoto and Bill Smee — both CNN veterans who spent years inside the network during its rise — each conversation pulls back the curtain on what really happened behind the scenes and what it means for how we get our news today.

Our full documentary series, Breaking the News: CNN and the Birth of Chaos Media, is currently in production. These conversations offer an early look at the reporting, questions, and through-lines driving that project.

New episodes drop regularly. Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more and support our independent production: breakingthenews.org

Breaking the News: CNN and the Birth of Chaos Media

john hashimoto