Do not start out at CNN! - Production Assistant CNN Employee Review

Absolutely no training, pretty much all the freelance producer (i.e. most of the workforce on the editorial side) are on zero hours contracts - so you are given the number of shifts you will work a few weeks in advance. The manager can take your name off the rota and effectively leave you fired - but because you are on zero hours contract there is nothing you can do about it. When you start as a production assistant (standard entry level job after completing an internship) they throw you into the job without any training , and if you are still making mistakes afrer a few days then they take you off pay and ask you to shadow another production assistant unpaid before giving it another go. Oh - and despite the fact production assistants compete with each other for a limited number of shifts per week, the manager insists that new production assistants are trained by existing ones, in effect asking them to train their competition. Absolute genius! I still remember when the managing director of CNN flew in on a private jet from New York (approx $20,000) to announce redundancies - in a year when CNN netted $600 million in profit! The place is run on greed and is a disgrace. AVOID at all costs!