A video that had been prepared by CNN in the event of 'the end of the world', and was set to be released by the last surviving employee, was once leaked online by an intern.
Ted Turner pretty much revolutionised how news was delivered when he founded CNN (Cable News Network) back in 1980.
When the American media mogul created the world's first 24-hour news network, he famously said: "We’re gonna stay on until the end of the world."
Since then, rumours surrounding a so-called Doomsday video began to circulate until it was 'released' years later.
Former CNN intern Michael Ballaban, who had interned at the company since 2009, included the alleged leaked clip in an article for Jalopnik in 2015.
It had apparently been stored in CNN’s archive under the label 'TURNER DOOMSDAY VIDEO' with strict instructions: "Hold for release till end of the world confirmed." CNN has never officially confirmed the video's authenticity.
The one minute video featured members of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine bands performing the hymn 'Nearer, My God, to Thee'.
Although Turner's apparent plan was for it to be aired only in the event of global catastrophe, it seems Ballaban had other ideas.
"Normally, when a TV station begins and ends the broadcast day, it signs on and off by playing the National Anthem," Turner explained to The New Yorker in 1988.
"But with CNN—a 24-hour-a day channel—we would only sign off once and I knew what that would mean.
"So we got the combined Armed Forces marching bands together... and took them out to the old CNN headquarters and we had them practice the National Anthem for a videotaping."
He added: "Then, as things cranked up, I asked if they'd play 'Nearer My God, to Thee' to put on videotape just in case the world ever came to an end.
"That would be the last thing CNN played before we signed off."
As you can imagine, the clip has been shared on social media many times throughout the years, and people are still freaked out by it.
One viewer commented: "It’s completely eerie that they had planned a doomsday video…like I get why they would, specially with the fear of the nuclear war back then.
"But the fact that they probably still have that tape and the fact that they most likely have taken it out… it makes you really think."
"I can already picture the chaos going on while this is playing in the background," another person wrote.
While someone else said: "Woah that's insane! I never really heard about this but seeing it is chilling since many truly believed that there was a huge possibility that the world would end. Imagine the fear they must've felt."
LADbible Group has contacted CNN for comment.
Topics: US News, World News
