Media Alert
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY CENTER HOSTS CNN’S BLACK IN AMERICA TOUR April 22
ATLANTA (April 18, 2008) CNN Worldwide’s marketing department announced the launch of a multicity tour of six historically Black colleges and universities in conjunction with the network’s "Black in America" multiplatform programming initiative. The Atlanta University Center, which consists of Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, will host the final Black in America campus stop on Tuesday, April 22, on the Promenade of Clark Atlanta’s campus from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (ET).
As with previous stops on this tour, CNN, together with the National Association of Black Journalists, will also announce the winner of the Campus iReporter contest for the Atlanta University Center. The Campus iReporter contest winner will receive a digital video camera and will also be able to submit additional footage from his/her Black in America campus stop to win the grand prize: a trip for two to the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend.
Viewers and users are encouraged to share their firsthand accounts of the black experience through video, photo, audio or text submissions at www.iReport.com, CNN’s recently launched user-generated community Web site. Contributors to iReport.com also may gain recognition by having the material they submit to the site – once vetted and approved for use – appear on a CNN network or CNN.com.
“The response from the students and the schools has been extraordinary, and their participation is an important part of this story,” said Scot Safon, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of CNN Worldwide. “Black in America is a worldwide CNN multiplatform event about issues that directly impact the future of all Americans.”
The HBCU tour will include a trailer outfitted with a jumbo television screen, along with video kiosks, where participants can submit their video response to a programming-related question via iReport. On the AUC campus, there will be a live DJ, text-message polling, a graffiti wall and electronic polling stations using questions from a CNN/Essence Magazine/Opinion Research Corporation poll. CNN, Essence Communications and Comcast will all have representatives and giveaways on site. Exclusive video previews from upcoming "Black in America" programming will also be featured.
CNN.com’s special section for the HBCU tour is available at www.CNN.com/blackinamerica/hbcu. It includes rules of participation for the Campus iReporter contest, and it will also feature images from previous stops at Florida A&M University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina A&T State University, Hampton University and Howard University.
Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., CNN launched a sweeping on-air and digital initiative, "Black in America." CNN continues its commitment to groundbreaking documentaries and reporting for "Black in America," which examines in-depth the often underreported stories of the African-American experience. This landmark program features six hours of documentaries, a weekly series of reports on CNN/U.S. and CNN International and a multimedia online effort. For more information, please visit CNN.com’s interactive special section at www.CNN.com/blackinamerica.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
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Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in
the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top
75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta,
Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding
alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman;
U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and
Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the
full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the
student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman
students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than
2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more
information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu.
