October 25th, 2009
11:41 AM ET
Back to the Berlin Wall

My first glimpse of CNN was in 1989, channel surfing one evening and to my amazement suddenly seeing people scrambling on top of the Berlin Wall, hacking at it with pickaxes. Living in Britain, I'd never heard of CNN. Yet here I was watching a seismic moment that would forever change Europe and the world beyond it - live on TV. The fall of the Berlin Wall was about people power, so fast forward 20 years and it's fitting that we are inviting you to write on our online Wall or upload your pictures and video. Twenty years ago it was a global story and now we're getting a global response.

This interactive Berlin Wall is one feature of the new-look international edition of CNN.com. Click "International" on the top left of CNN.com and take a look.

We hope you like the improvements we've made. We're increasing our coverage of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. And we're integrating more of our language services into the site including video from CNN en Espanol and news feeds in Arabic. Meanwhile you can stay up to date with the programs CNN screens around the world, including the new "Amanpour" show.

News is a conversation between many people. The days when viewers just sat back and were told what was going on are long gone. Technology has connected the world at a breathtaking pace. So to make sense of it, we aim to bring many diverse perspectives to our stories from CNN teams across our international bureaus. We've invested millions of dollars over the last few years to beef up our international newsgathering. Now we want to uncover even more stories that nobody else is reporting, like our recent series exposing the cocaine trade killers in Colombia.

You can also go beyond the headlines. We tour the world to bring you everything from business updates, movie news and travel tips, including the buzz across Asia from our partner site CNNGo. Let us know what you think. We welcome your feedback and ideas.

Posted by: Nick Wrenn - VP, CNN International Digital Services
Filed under: Content


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Displaying 16 Comments | Add comment
1
October 25th, 2009
2:49 pm ET
 

The "New CNN" is just fine. I liked the old one too. But,It takes longe, much longer, sometimes 3 to 10 minutes to load and downloading other CNN links take longer too. What's happening?

Posted by: Richard Kahl
2
October 25th, 2009
9:29 pm ET
 

Change is always a stretch and sometimes unwelcomed. If it's not broke don't fix it......I liked the old CNN style. But I must say this new one is colorful and it is too soon for me to judge how well I will like it down the road. I like seeing the headlines and clicking on those sights that I was interested in. I will let you know if this new look grows on me or not. Mary

Posted by: Mary from Scottsdale
3
October 26th, 2009
6:05 am ET
 

M y thoughts went way back to the SIXTIES when the wall was built. Thanks for reviving our memories

Posted by: M.R.Krishnan
4
October 26th, 2009
7:16 am ET
 

I liked the old CNN...or lets say its the matter of time I get used to the new presentation. The old version was easy to follow into the various news and links.
Change is inevitable with time....I agree

Posted by: Satya
5
October 26th, 2009
8:37 am ET
 

This is very neat! Keeping up to date and alert at all times with the latest world trends.
I live on Aruba..small island in the Dutch Caribbean and the minute breking news and/or information enfolds I am able to receive this alert! THANKS CNN FOR YOUR PROFESSIONALISM.
Lidia Halley

Posted by: Lidia Halley
6
October 26th, 2009
9:24 am ET
 

Very very confusing. very very small print, pictures, et cl. will change home page

Posted by: J Deborst
7
October 26th, 2009
10:43 am ET
 

Old folks don't like change. I particularly don't like not having the markets on the home page. Don't want to click on a tab to get to them. If you could just squeeze the DOW listing at the top of the home page screen that would be good.

Posted by: Jim
8
October 26th, 2009
11:07 am ET
 

Dear CNN,

Finally you have a user friendly, dynamic, eye-catching site which vividly reflects the professionalism, research, creative problem solving, and excellence of CNN.

I access your sight on a daily basis. In the past it was frustrating to click and hunt for the topic or report of my particular interest. There are no words to describe my delight when I accessed your site this morning and found all my points of interest easily and with minimum number of clicks.

Thank you so much for making your site more dynamic, beautiful and most importantly, user friendly.

Posted by: Shannon Thane
9
October 26th, 2009
3:01 pm ET
 

i liked the previos layout better. why did you have to change something that was fine as it was.

Posted by: david parker
10
October 27th, 2009
10:52 am ET
 

I think the site is great!!

Can't you people just give it a chance-without being so critical?

Posted by: Jan H
11
October 29th, 2009
9:40 pm ET
 

CNN, you have been my home page for years and for once I don't mind change . It's just lovely.

Posted by: Jeanette fox
12
October 29th, 2009
9:41 pm ET
 

P.S. and as a Berliner i just love this page.

Posted by: Jeanette fox
13
November 1st, 2009
11:25 pm ET
 

I wanted to post a photo from Berlin two days ago. We lost a lot of what berlin was when the wall came down but brought in a new level of freedom. I was stationed in Berlin for ten years as one of the defenders of freedom. I just moved my family back to Berlin three months ago.

Posted by: Michael
14
November 3rd, 2009
1:32 pm ET
 

I was staying in Germany at the time as well as a few years later. In 1989 many people gave me a hug on the streets recognizing a Russian. In 1992 I heard meny germans saying "Where is my Wall. I would build it again. But it should be higher!"

Posted by: Russian
15
November 5th, 2009
11:18 am ET
 

I'm afraid the new layout does not suit me at all. I primarily use CNN.com while in work and I like to be as subtle as possible about it. Large images and displays make it a lot more difficult to hide the fact that I'm browsing news articles rather than working.

Posted by: Alan
16
November 8th, 2009
9:37 pm ET
 

Why isn't the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall a headline story? And why isn't our president going to Berlin for this anniversary? I'm disappointed in the priority shown by Obama; after all he found time to go to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics to be in Chicago.

Posted by: Linda
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