The CNN Grill Episode 2: Blitzer Strikes Back

Well, they shipped the CNN Grill and all their fancy neon signs over to St. Paul. Don't ask me how they did it. I'm too tired to care.


I took this shot is from the inside of the security zone, thus making the Grill look like even more of a fortress.



MSNBC just can't compete. They've got a tent in a park somewhere and a couple of cameras:



Fight on Chris Matthews. Fight on.

A Quick Tour of the CNNopolis

This is where Anderson Cooper eats his lunch. It's also where CNN broadcasts the majority of their convention coverage from.
Does it depress me that their neon sign probably cost more than my annual salary? A little.

They even made decals for the windows. Bravo CNN. That's some impressive branding.

This is probably the biggest slap in the face to us lowly print journalists. "Private until 3PM? Yay! Let's go kick it with John King tonigh.... oh wait, never mind."

Wolf Blitzer: Buy Me a Sandwich

The National Journal had an excellent story this morning that pretty much sums up the contrast in workspaces between the print media and broadcast. Moneybags CNN rented out a bar/restaurant inside the Pepsi Center complex. The rest of us are having a hard time finding any food around here. Our organization has dealt with this the way most organizations who didn't buy a restaurant are: take-out. The problem is to get the take-out, you have make it through the secret service gauntlet to go fetch it and bring it back in. Welcome to a world of cold food, seasoned with the saliva of explosive sniffing dogs.


Oh, and yes the floors are wood. We just couldn't rationalize $1,000 extra for carpet.