I'm assuming you're not referring to the Sweeney there James. As I say, the current presenters are all great but I do miss Fionnuala - you knew any broadcast anchored by her would be a proper newscast (same was true too of Ralitsa Vassileva).
Also in London...
Hannah Vaughan Jones is very good too. She's on maternity leave now though.
Nina dos Santos is excellent too. She doesn't present from the studio much these days, but she is very professional and knowledgeable while she is doing more reporting on location now.
I'm assuming you're not referring to the Sweeney there James. As I say, the current presenters are all great but I do miss Fionnuala - you knew any broadcast anchored by her would be a proper newscast (same was true too of Ralitsa Vassileva).
Ah yes. Fionnualla. She was my favourite actually. A formidable presenter, extremely versatile, hard as nails yet “human” too. Great viewer connectivity.
Of all those who left CNNI over the years, I think I miss her the most.
She and Becky were a great duo in the evening shifts, business and news shared between them.
My favourite ever CNN pairing was CNN Today London with Richard Quest and Andrea Sanke. Was over 10 years ago (maybe 15) but they were a fantastic duo.
That's a classic clip. CNN London had a great morning output in the 2000s, especially with Richard at the helm. He was first paired with Hala and then Monita but there was always an array of great fill in anchors, including Becky, Andrea, Liz George etc. They had a lot of fun plus a dedicated sport and weather team. If Richard can't wake you up in the morning I don't know who can.
Ever since the shift moved to overnight Atlanta it feels like a graveyard shift, no matter who presents.....
The current crop of anchors are all pretty great, though I do miss all the veterans who were all on the air up until about five years ago, when they were all unceremoniously shown the door and not given a chance to say goodbye on air. Ralitsa Vassileva, Jim Clancy, Asieh Namdar, Monita Rajpal, Jonathan Mann, Colleen McEdwards, Stephen Frazier, Fionnuala Sweeney, and more. There were also others who weren't there quite as long but were missed when they were gone, including Adrian Finighan, Hugh Riminton and Anjali Rao. Hugh and Kristie was one of my favorite pairings, as well as the short but brief time when Colleen McEdwards and Jon Mann were together.
It got a little iffy when they started letting the CNN.com (formerly Pipeline) anchors fill in. Reggie Aqui, Veronica De La Cruz, Brooke Baldwin, and a few other relatively unknowns never looked right in the international anchor chair.
The absolute worst anchor I ever saw on CNNI though was Kaushal Patel. Really painful to watch, and I have no idea why they let her fill in for so long in Hong Kong.
Also, never thought I'd say this, but I really miss the pre-Zucker era on CNN Domestic when you could turn CNN Newsroom on in the middle of the weekday and at least get some semblance of news. I was a fan of Heidi Collins and Kyra Philipps, and Don Lemon was even good when he had a pretty regular newscast on weekends.
I do wish CNN did a few more double-headed shows actually - that clip of Andrea & Quest was great and a good duo does make a show more watchable and we've seen it work many a time on CNN over the years. Michael & Coleen were great on YWT, Max and Monita on CNN Today, Errol & Rosie on European mornings and in more recent times Michael & Amara on CNN Today and now Cyril & Isa on YWT.
Proper rolling news presented by a pair seems to be out of fashion a bit these days but there's nothing better IMO. It does feel a shame that the European mornings aren't permantly double-headed - they have a fair few anchors spare in Atlanta or in lower profile shifts who they may as well use. I'd be well up for a Rosie/Vause or Rosie/Holmes pairing.
Was nice to see Michael Holmes pop up this morning in Natalie & George's usual shift, with his slot change I hadn't seen Michael in quite a bit.