Playing Games at CNN: How a Softball Team Captured the Spirit of a News Network

It was a transitional time when the Internet and digital technologies were beginning to uproot how we consume news. Large media companies were merging, newspapers were losing readers, and the pressure for corporate profits and relevancy was intensifying.

CNN, the respected cable news operation, was part of that fight for survival. The fast-moving changes swirling outside in the real world were felt inside the Washington Bureau. Despite the challenges, employees found an unusual outlet to cope with the tumultuous time: recreation softball.

For a few months each spring and summer, those CNN colleagues in Washington came together to compete against their peers in the Metropolitan Media Softball League. The games were not a panacea for all the troubling news events covered during working hours, but they did foster camaraderie and a sense of unity that they were on this journey together.

From 1998 to 2007, the CNN CaNiNes racked up impressive victories, suffered humiliating losses, and won two championships with a network team of reporters, producers, and technical crew. Through his popular weekly game reports shared among CNN employees worldwide, former news editor and softball coach Jim Barnett’s Playing Games at CNN uses a jeweler’s eye to mix breaking news of the day with a winning team spirit that brings those pivotal years of journalism upheaval into focus.