CNN’s roof top in Rome

Wed Apr 6 21:40:51 2005 EDT (-0400 GMT)

CNN tents
If you remember my post from a few months ago I described the multi-million dollar industry that is (was) waiting for the Pope’s death. All the major networks pay millions for access to roofs that overlook the Vatican and can see the Sistine Chapel in order to film the white smoke that will indicate the election of a new Pope.

Digital Globe has taken a picture of the Vatican and the huge line to view Pope John Paul II’s body. From this image you can see the white canvas or tarpaulins that mark CNN’s vantage point. That is to say, based on Anderson Cooper’s shot on and this image, I think it’s CNN’s location. Many broadcasters, including Peter Mansbridge and the CBC, are on rooftops on the south side of Via d. Conciliazione, the street that leads up to St. Peter’s Square.

Below is a small section of DigitalGlobe’s image that show’s CNN’s location/studio. The other picture should help you locate that location in relation to the Vatican and the rest of Rome. I think I even walked by it, from what I can trace from my visit two summers ago – not that it looked as it does now.

GlobalSecurity.org has a good collection of Vatican images where you can see that the CNN set is a recent construction.

Rome and the Vatican
click for much larger image

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