CNN Debuts New Podcast "Tug Of War"

 CNN AUDIO PREMIERES TUG OF WAR, NEW PODCAST HOSTED BY CLARISSA WARD

This week, CNN Audio debuted its first episode of Tug of War – a new limited-series podcast hosted by CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward.

In this series, Clarissa travels to some of the most volatile corners of the world to document the greatest power struggles of our time.

The first episode has Clarissa taking listeners onto the streets of Afghanistan and into the homes of its citizens as they watch the balance of power start to tip — and the Taliban tries to keep order with truncheons and whips. She shares firsthand accounts from Afghan citizens who witness the United States military withdrawal - after two decades of war - escalate into the Taliban swiftly toppling the Afghan government, watching their twenty years of hard-earned freedoms crumble.

Tug of War is the fifth new original podcast from CNN Audio this year.

Listen to Episode 1 on CNN Audio, or anywhere you listen to your podcasts:

Watching the Taliban Takeover

In August, CNN's announcement of its fall podcast lineup revealed two encouraging trends. First, that a fall podcast lineup attracts as much media attention as the fall lineup from broadcast television. Second, CNN has seriously "upped its game" in the podcast space and is bidding to be a serious player with quality content and a carefully calibrated strategy.

In addition to new shows, new seasons of Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, The Axe Files with David Axelrod and The Handoff with Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon will be available.

 It's clear that CNN has developed a stand-alone content and business strategy for its podcasts that does not simply mirror its TV content. That's a positive sign. Further, the podcasts mentioned enable CNN to excel at what it really does best and not enough of: investigative journalism.

Finally, these shows potentially remove CNN from all the "teeth-grinding grievance grunts" who screamed fake news at CNN for the last few years due to its political reporting. It could still happen, but because of the quality of the reporting on these upcoming shows, that catcall projects more unremitting anger than any reasonable media criticism.

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