WND: Have you ever wondered why Christians worship on Sunday?

Why do Christians worship on Sunday? Learn the history of what happened to the Sabbath

Have you ever wondered why one of the Ten Commandments seems null and void – notably the one calling on believers to observe the Sabbath? Ask your pastor or priest and you will probably hear it's because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday – which is not even a certainty if you read the Bible carefully. And then there's the little problem of this switch of worship days not being mentioned in the Bible – and the historical fact that most Christians continued observing the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Jesus rose from the dead. So what happened? What caused the switch? The WND Superstore has compiled treasure trove of literature and video documentaries that trace the history. Some of what you will find is nothing short of shocking for Christians who take Sunday worship for granted. First there is the classic, scholarly work of the late Samuele Bacchiocchi in "From Sabbath to Sunday. Bacchiocchi earned his doctorate in church history at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for his summa cum laude class work and dissertation, "From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity." His studies gave him unique access to Roman Catholic historical archives that shed much light on the transition from Sabbath to Sunday. The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birthplace of Sunday observance," he concluded. In one of his last interviews before his death, he told WND: "Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday." He says evidence of anti-Judaism is found in the writings of Christian leaders such as Ignatius, Barnabus and Justin in the second century. He notes these three "witnessed and participated in the process of separation from Judaism which led the majority of the Christians to abandon the Sabbath and adopt Sunday as the new day of worship." Bacchiocchi also explains the influence of pagan sun worship provides a "plausible explanation for the Christian choice of Sunday" over the day of Saturn. Its effect wasn't just limited to Sunday. It apparently led to the placement of Jesus' birth in late December. "The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of sun worship's influence on the Christian liturgical calendar," Bacchiocchi writes. "It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date." One of the Roman names for this "Invincible Sun" god in the days of the apostles was Mithra. There are striking similarities between the ancient worship of Mithra and today's Christianity, leading some to think early Christians adopted Sunday worship from heathen customs. Another extraordinary resource for study of the issue is a 5-part DVD documentary narrated by actor Hal Holbrook called "The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History." The made-for-TV miniseries traces the history of the Sabbath through the ages and around the world. The meticulously documented series features interviews with over 50 experts, classical art, animations, and dramatic re-enactments. Richard Rives offers a book and 5 part DVD teaching series called "Time Is the Ally of Deceit" that also focuses on the history of the lost Sabbath.In addition, his book "Too Long in the Sun" reveals the way pagan practices influenced church practices beginning in the second century. Part 1-Flee to the Mountains (53 min.): First century believers, based on the warning by Jesus, fled Jerusalem prior to its destruction in 70 A.D. Part 2-Baal Comes to Rome (70 min.): During the third century, Roman emperors brought the worship of Baal to Rome. This consolidated the worship of all the sun gods under the title “Sol Invictus.” Part 3-The Persian Sun God Mithra (58 min.): Historians report that during the 4th century the worship of the Persian sun god Mithra mysteriously vanished as Christianity was established as the religion of the empire. Was it Mithraism that vanished? Or was it true Christianity? Part 4-Constantine and the Nicaean Council (51 min.): While his coins state that he was committed to the sun god Sol Invictus, Constantine became known as "the First Christian Emperor." Presiding over the Council of Nicaea, the date for the observance of Passover was changed from the biblically prescribed timing. Part 5-Remember the Sabbath Day (93 min.): Many theologians would tell us that Sunday has replaced the 7th day Sabbath: that in fact the law has been "nailed to the cross." Jesus said that until heaven and earth pass away not even the slightest aspect of the law would change. There's a new book called "Sabbath" that focuses on the fact that Christians do not observe God-ordained Sabbath practices even on Sunday. "The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath" by Mark Buchanan dwells on the spiritual necessity of a day of rest. The subject is also dealt with in Joe Kovacs' "Shocked By the Bible," one of the WND Superstore's long-term best-selling books. That's quite a library on a largely misunderstood spiritual issue. It's a great subject for an in-depth Bible study you probably won't get in your adult Sunday school class or midweek service in a Sunday-worshipping church. Click here to find out why millions of Christians still observe the Sabbath and would never forsake it.

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More WND Superstore items you'll love: "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" – a new two-hour documentary about the parallels between ancient Israel's fall and America since 9/11 – is the No. 1 movie at Amazon in the category of "faith and spirituality." "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" DVD tops faith chart at Amazon.com It is also the No. 8 most popular documentary of any kind and the 247th most popular video for sale. Producer Joseph Farah said he is immensely pleased with the performance of the video, which is a documentary treatment of the message found in the best-selling book "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn, which has been on the top-10 New York Times list every week since the New Year. "We put our money into the production of what we saw as a very worthwhile movie and couldn't budget any more for marketing – but this video is apparently marketing itself," he said. In January, "The Harbinger," by Cahn, a messianic rabbi from New Jersey, exploded onto the publishing scene, immediately becoming a surprise New York Times bestseller, already read by hundreds of thousands nationwide. Last week, a video documentary exploring the central message of Cahn's thesis – that ancient Israel's experience described in Isaiah 9:10 is being relived by the United States today – was released nationwide by WND Videos. Click here to watch the trailer: Get "The Harbinger," the bestselling Christian book in America in 2012, plus the brand-new DVD documentary "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," bundled at a special low price in the WND Superstore. Get "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" video documentary from WND Videos in the WND Superstore. Get "The Harbinger," the New York Times bestseller that is the talk of the nation. Hitler, God, and the Bible In the years after World War I, as hollow-eyed Germans pushed carts of paper money over cobble-stone streets in the hopes of finding a stale loaf of bread at the market, one man emerged who promised to make it all better. Adolf Hitler, to that point a faceless nobody with no distinction whatsoever, rose to unparalleled power. Most of us know the rest of the story (though I doubt many young people grasp it much). Yet in the countless volumes that have been written about this diabolical dictator, few have explored how his twisted views of religious faith were used to subdue a continent. That's why Ray Comfort's new book, "Hitler, God & the Bible" is such a valuable addition to this field of study. So eager was I to read this book (I'm a major Ray Comfort fan), that I read it over dinner one evening, turning pages with one hand while using a fork at a local Bavarian restaurant with the other. Comfort, a keen observer of worldview in the teeming masses that bob and weave through our culture, has not only penned what I feel is an extraordinary book … but he also hints that this is the first in a series! Surely, "Stalin, God & the Bible" cannot be far behind. Click here to read more about "Hitler, God, and the Bible".

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Obama Gets Left Behind

From drone attacks to Wall Street regulation, President Obama has been unable to please the left wing voters of his party.

Come on now. Is Obama really a “psychopathic megalomaniac”?
I learned of Obama’s problems today.  Not from Ron Paul supporters.  Not from Glenn Beck‘s Drudge wanna-be news site The Blaze. I read about Obama’s psychosis from left wing Democrats.
Everyday I get emails from former members of Move On, a pro-Democratic Party group that was famously active during the build-up to the Iraq War in 2003. They’re complaining about one man: President Obama.
In these emails, one thing is apparent.  When it comes to the left wing liberals, Obama is being left behind.
The left was mostly raptured into political heaven four years ago when they elected Obama on bended knee.  He spoke about things dear to their hearts: closing Guantanamo Bay. Ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Getting tough on bankers.

Guantanamo is still open. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, but the military presence remains.  (Smacks of imperialism. That’s something the left hates as much as libertarians do.)  Then there’s the president’s bit about getting tough on bankers. Where has the White House come down hard on Wall Street? Fuhgeddaboudit. This is New York!
One anti-Obama Saturday in my inbox:
Re: Write-in Kermit the Frog!

If being a ‘pragmatist’ or a ‘realist’ means choosing only amongst evils, count us OUT. Obama betrayed the American voters who expected he would not gut the US Constitution. Both parties are the same. And, in a world of infinite possibilities we choose not between the lesser of two evils. In fact, those of us who are not into denial and work at the human rights front lines prefer to face the Republican snake head-on then the confused and gutless Democrat chameleon whining about being a progressive when they are NOT.” — Ezili Danto, human rights lawyer at the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network

Re: Obama is a psychopath; reminds me of Stalin

There’s a cancer in the presidency called Barack Obama.  We have a psychopathic megalomaniac occupying the White house who could be compared to Nero, Caligula, Stalin, or Pol Pot in his disdain for human life. He and his coven of other like minded DC psychopaths and sociopaths are on a murdering spree and like a third world dictator Obama can have someone and their family (including you) executed or blasted to smithereens with a thumbs up or down. This is sickening to me. They are so blase about murdering that they refer to the hit list photos as “baseball cards”. Killing is a game or a sport to them. There is a “cancer on the Presidency” and that cancer has metastasized throughout Washington DC. It was there before Obama arrived but he brought a whole new and virulent strain with him. Every time there is a shameful incident or embarrassing event perpetrated by “a few bad apples” we hear from the  DC psychopaths that “That is not who we are”. They are incorrect.  It is who they are in DC. It is not who we the real everyday thinking feeling Americans are. I certainly am not one of the people to be included in their cumulative we.” — Alexander Cockburn, writing for his online publication Counterpunch. Alexander is also a columnist at The Nation, though I have a hard time believing this missive will make it passed Katrina Vanden Heuvel. Alex is a firebrand. I’ve written for him once or twice, and he was kind enough to comment on my reporting about the Iraq War for The Boston Globe in 2003 in his Beat the Devil column. This sounds like Alex being Alex, alright. Gotta love his fire.

Re: Bush mighta been better.
Hello!

“Why should the public believe what the Obama administration says about the people being assassinated by drones? Especially since, as we learn in the New York Times, the administration came up with a semantic solution to keep the civilian death toll to a minimum: simply count all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants. The rationale, reminiscent of George Zimmerman’s justification for shooting Trayvon Martin, is that “people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good.” Talk about profiling! At least when George Bush threw suspected militants into Guantanamo their lives were spared.” — Medea Benjamin, CodePINK

Obama’s dealings with the working stiff, or the perceived lack thereof, plus his foreign policy has caused much of the anger against him among the left wing of the party.
I’m not a blue dog democrat.  I’m a hard hat Democrat from Massachusetts; like the guys who climb telephone poles after hurricanes that vote for Kennedy.  That’s where I cast my lot.
I voted for Obama through the U.S. Consulate in São Paulo.  Obama was different. He was inspiring.  I watched the votes unfold on two laptops — one on CNN, one on MSNBC with emails from my American friends flooding in every minute. My Blackberry was on my lap, blowing up with texts – can you believe North Carolina? It never happens! 
Obama’s winning was like a moon landing.  You noticed it more when you’re overseas.  America did it again, Brazilians told me.  The world can elect women presidents. It’s happened before. But what advanced economy has ever elected a black man? None. Not Europe. Not Latin America. Not Australia. Not even close. They’re not even on the ballot. Only in America. What a country.
Yes, You Can My #@$%!…
Yes, You Can!
It made so much sense.
My former Chicago-based editor from Dow Jones even mailed me a T-shirt with Obama’s slogan on it.
I wore it to bed.
Until I got sick of it.
The shirt. Not the slogan. Or Obama, necessarily.
Thought I have to say that I think the truth, once again, is not yes or no, it is more like maybe.  Maybe, You Can.  That doesn’t sound right. But it’s true. I understand that’s not very optimistic. Americans like to believe we can do anything we want, so long as we work really hard. Yes, we can! We tell ourselves that.  Oh, no…some can. Most can’t. But hey, maybe you can.
That’s a different argument.  I’m talking about equality. A fair shake.  I’m talking about people working hard and having something to show for it, rather than a life of lowering expectations, of moving one step forward and one and half steps back.  Medea and Alex are talking about drones.  Most Americans probably don’t care about drones. But most care about equality and fairness.
I think Obama would win on fairness versus any Republican.
The left is a lot like the right. Bombastic. Deeply ideological. Never happy with their politics.
A liberal environmental activist explains how the left and the right are actually quite similar.…


Know where I learned that?
Antioch College.
You don’t get any more left wing than Antioch College.  When I entered the school in the 1990s, they required male students have a signed contract from female students before they had sex.   The Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender students once hung a sign painted on a white sheet they hung one floor above the cafeteria door. It was for the hetero males. It read: “Don’t blame us if you can’t get laid.”
That was my liberal school.  One adjunct professor with environmental activist blood in her veins, and whose name I cannot remember, explained to me how the left was like the right.
It was one afternoon after class, during the Newt Gingrich Contract With America years, when she drew a basic diagram to explain it all.  When she drew it, she purposely didn’t connect the start of the circle to the end. There was a hairline fracture in this otherwise perfect basic shape .  Where she started drawing the circle, she said, that was the right wing.
Where she ended, she pointed out, was the left wing.  You see how close they are together?  Incredibly close, of course.  In their political angst, they are close neighbors.
The right left Bush behind, too.
They got their wars. They didn’t get the Second Coming.
They also didn’t get to end abortion, or a gay marriage amendment.  When Bush left office, he had around a 33% popularity rating.  He essentially left Washington with his puppy dog tail between his legs.  My bet is he doesn’t miss Washington one bit.
The right doesn’t miss him either.  They think Bush failed them.  Just like the left thinks Obama has failed them.
Another email from Saturday.  This one about George Carlin. Not from Carlin, of course. He is dead.
Re: Voting is meaningless!!!

“You’ll notice there’s one thing I don’t complain about. Politicians. Everyone loves to complain about politicians. They say politicians suck. But where do they think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky….they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. This is the best we can do: garbage in, garbage out.  Maybe it’s not the politicians that suck. Maybe it’s the public. The public sucks. Now there’s a nice campaign slogan for someone. I solved this little problem for myself…on Election Day, I stay home. I don’t vote. It’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. People say if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. But hey, I on the other hand, who did not vote…have every right to complain about the mess that you guys voted for and therefore created.”  — George Carlin. See it on YouTube.

Obama paying the price in Black community for gay marriage support

Ralph Alter

Obama 's dissipating support among Catholics, women, the young, suburbanites and Jews has been copiously noted, even in the lap-dog palace media. The unintended consequence of B.O's calculated, cynical cash-grab from Hollywood types and wealthy gay hold-outs appears to be the diminution of his support, even in the black community.

At Thursday's meeting of the National Conference of Black Churches, the resistance to B.O.'s pink outreach plan was palpable:

The nine denominations of the Conference of National Black Churches, which reach 10 million people, all oppose gay marriage, said the Rev. Dr. Franklyn Richardson, the group,s chairman.

While conference members profess their love for the shrinking President, Hillary Shelton of the NAACP duly noted that George W. Bush received much greater support from the black community in states with gay marriage referendums on the ballot in 2004. The black ministries are concerned that B.O.'s latest bumble may keep many blacks on the sidelines in November.

How is it possible to come up with a brainstorm stupid enough to keep black Americans on the sidelines in the attempt to re-elect the first black president? Leave it to Barry. The Punahou Puffer is providing Americans with a display of political toxicity never seen before.

No wonder Democrats avoid Toxic Barry like the plague. The Democratic National Committee should start sending out garlic necklaces to its constituents to wear in the event they happen to run into B.O. on his way to a fund-raiser. Who hasn't this political dunce offended yet?

It will be a considerable hill to climb to gain re-election with only the support of illegal aliens, felons, the Sierra Club, the ACLU and Code Pink.

Protestors Unite Behind Alex Jones at Bilderberg 2012

WND News Alerts

Civil rights advocates aim to 'shoot down' drones

You've seen the video ... the line of Taliban marching on a mountain path ... the insurgent planting a roadside bomb to kill and maim Americans ... the order to launch the Predator drone's Hellfire missile ... the explosion that takes out the murderous enemy. So, perhaps it makes you uneasy when Virginia's Gov. Bob McDonnell says the use of drones in American skies is a “great” idea and “the right thing to do.” He even cites their effectiveness on the battlefield of Afghanistan as a selling point for their effectiveness here at home. Since we don't have a lot of Taliban marching on mountain paths in the U.S., nor have there been reports of insurgents planting roadside bombs along America's highways, just who does Gov. McDonnell plan to target with drones? That's what a leading civil-rights group is asking ...

Read the latest now on WND.com.

Plus!

For decades, science books in America's schools have taught the earth is billions of years old, with the Big Bang bursting through the universe some 14.3 billion years ago. They teach children that bacteria has been around a billion years or so and that the "Precambrian Explosion" some 500 million years ago launched some of the earliest forms of life. But what if the evidence doesn’t support that? What if scientific observation suggests that the Bible’s literal account of thousands of years is right?

Click here for details.

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The Cowboy Byte

Today's Featured Article:

DOJ to Florida: Don’t You Dare Clean Up Your Voter Rolls

Today's Cowboy Headlines:

• ‘Anything goes’ now in campaign financing?
• DHS Warns Of New Terror Threat From. . . Hurricanes…
• New Mexico crews race to corral largest wildfire
• GOP plans to call attention to healthcare law with tax repeal votes next week
• Mass Democrats Require (Gasp) Photo ID To Enter Their Convention…
• Romney Up By Four in Presidential Poll
• Obama Snubs Freedom Fighter, Lech Walesa
• Wisconsin Officials Predicting Heavy Turnout in Tuesday Election
• Numbers Reveal Truth About Obama Economic Success Claims—and GOP Condemnation
• Farmer panic! Crops die as gov’t blocks wells

Headlines you might have missed:

• Barack Obama: A Legend In His Own Mind
• Keeping Nature Exactly as Is … Forever
• Monsanto commits $250,000 to Illinois Ag Communications program
• USDA states policies protecting consumers from foodborne illness
• Newt Gingrich Suspends GOP Presidential Campaign
• Ethics watchdog asks FCC to revoke Fox’s broadcast licenses
• Bachmann set to endorse Romney
• Industry official: Interior to release ‘fracking’ rules by Friday
• Gov. Rick Scott rejects request to ban concealed weapons outside GOP convention in Tampa
• How the U.S. could influence China’s coal habits — with exports

 

Mike Adams Exposes The Zombie Conspiracy

Dennis Priebe: Adventist History Roundtable Discussion. - The Final Gene...

Credentials 2012: Criminal Coercion & Captive Committee Seats hundreds of illegally elected Romney Delegates

by Doug Parris
 

Wednesday afternoon, the State Credentials Committee held a surprise meeting at the Tacoma Convention Center, 24 hours before the date and time announced at the Moses Lake meeting. The tricky schedule and lack of notice did not deter Republicans across  the State from attending the meeting thanks to “leaks” from the ethical minority, but the leadership’s determination not to allow any testimony or any evidence unless it was hand-fed by Kirby Wilbur continued unabated.

[Ed. note: An observer present at the meeting reports that at one point, the committee decided it wanted to hear from Whatcom County representatives, but no challengers had been invited to testify, thus no one from Whatcom was available to answer questions of the committee and instead, Whatcom resident and Credentials Committee co-chair Charlie Crabtree was fetched from his work at the state convention credentials desk, and predictably, assured the committee that all had been well in Whatcom County.]

Kirby Wilbur continues to act as a Romney Campaign surrogate, and as if he had authority to change State or National Rules at will. Whether or not the RNC Committee that will hear challenges to Delegations from the States agrees with this approach or decides to salvage some legitimacy for a Romney nomination remains to be seen.

The old adage, “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” was in full operation as the committee continually changed its standards to seat whomever they wanted, asserting alternatively, that the (false) allegation of missing a filing deadline by three days could disqualify an otherwise legitimate challenge when it helped Romney, but missing a crucial and substantive deadline by THREE WEEKS made no difference at all when it could have hurt him by disqualifying FIFTY illegally-elected Romney delegates and three illegally-elected Romney Convention Committee representatives from the Kitsap “Klown Konvention.”

But as if to make the point that no device is too unethical, no tactic too evil for the Romney supporters within the WSRP, Kirby colluded with Lori Sotelo in what I believe was a criminal act to prevent me from attending the meeting:

1. Sotelo, by making false statements, under oath, and without notice or hearing obtaining a court order barring Doug Parris from being within 100 feet of “her place of employment.”
2. Tacoma Convention Center Staff said they had been told Lori Sotelo had been hired by the WSRP [read Kirby Wilbur] as a “presenter” and that therefore  the State Convention location was her “place of employment” for the duration of  the convention.

What a pair!

Sotelo has been skirting the law for years, but you would think that regardless of the politics of the situation, Kirby, at the very least, would be embarrassed to engage in such infantile skulduggery.
Not so.

Apparently, Wilbur loves Willard. Romney’s presidential nomination appears capable of motivating Wilbur to pull out any stops, to twist, fold, spindle, and mutilate any moral precept in the pursuit of Romney delegates.

RCW 9A.36.070

1. A person is guilty of coercion if by use of a threat he or she compels or induces a person to engage in conduct which the latter has a legal right to abstain from, or to abstain from conduct which he or she has a legal right to engage in.

Based on the false representation that Lori Sotelo was an employee of the WSRP, the Staff of the Tacoma Convention Center, albeit apologetically, told me that if I didn’t vacate the premisses they would have to call the Police.

I called my attorney. The best attorney in the state.

He said that although the action was improper on its face (even though we did not yet know whether or not Kirby had actually hired Sotelo for the plan), the action of the officers responding could not be relied upon to conform to the law, that I might be arrested and he said to leave the building immediately.

There is no question that this was an act of  criminal coercion by the collusion of Sotelo and Wilbur to get Doug Parris “to abstain from conduct which he or she has a legal right to engage in,” to wit, attend the Credentials Committee meeting, “by use of a threat,” to wit, the threat of arrest.

So while Kirby’s agents, by crafted prevarication and parliamentary cheating, seated HUNDREDS of illegally-elected Romney delegates, and while the challengers who were being cheated and looked to me for leadership, sat alone, I was engaged in consultations, first, with legal council and then, with Tacoma Police to eventually determine that, because the claims were bogus there was no threat of arrest. 

But by the time I returned to the Convention Center, the meeting was over, the damage done, the trap sprung.

The Cable News Nightmare: CNN (and Piers Morgan) in audience crisis

Viewers are turning off in droves, lured by brash rivals and popularity of internet news sources

Guy Adams   

VIEW GALLERY

Stories aren't the only thing that high-profile studio anchors at CNN apparently know how to break. Judging by the latest TV ratings, they also seem to be uncannily successful at destroying the loyalty of viewers.

Figures from ratings agency Nielsen show that America's most famous rolling news brand has just experienced its worst month for almost 20 years, parting company with more than 50 per cent of its audience in 12 months.

The development follows years of unrelenting decline for the network, which pioneered 24-hour news in the 1980s, and was for years the top-rated news channel. It has in recent years suffered intense competition from Fox News and MSNBC, which both now outperform it in almost every time slot.

The figures also raise questions about the future of Piers Morgan, hired to shake up its prime-time schedule with an hour-long weeknight interview show. He drew an average of 417,000 viewers, a fall of 50 per cent and the network's worst figure for the slot since the early 1990s. Morgan's show is largely admired by critics. But his audience is volatile, and seems to vary according to the calibre of guests. In early 2011, when he took over from octogenarian Larry King, who boasted around 600,000 viewers, Morgan said his show should be judged "by how we settle down in between six months and a year". By that measure, he's in trouble.

May saw CNN's average audience fall to 388,000, of which a mere 113,000 are adults in the 25-54 age bracket that advertisers covet. The figures represent an exponential increase in the rate of decline for the channel, which is also undermined by the internet's rise in popularity as a breaking news source.

They also suggest that CNN is losing viewers quicker than rivals. For Fox, comparable figures (1.65m and 319,000) are down just under 10 per cent annually. MSNBC (658,000 and 213,000) is declining by around 20 per cent.

"It's really a bloodletting; there's no other way to describe it," says Robert Thompson, professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "The biggest problem is inherent in their brand. They are trying to stick to old-fashioned, unbiased news broadcasting when their rivals have worked out that to draw an audience when there aren't major stories breaking you need to do the opposite."

CNN, based in Atlanta, retains an expensive network of overseas bureaux and is still regarded as the nation's most reliable TV news brand. It has resisted the temptation to follow Fox and MSNBC in using partisan anchors.

As a result, CNN remains a go-to destination only when major breaking news stories unfold. May 2012 was particularly tough because it was a relatively quiet news month – whereas May 2011 saw the killing of Osama Bin Laden and major tornadoes in Missouri and Alabama.
CNN is hoping that two high-profile hires, the chef-turned-TV-star Anthony Bourdain and ABC News star John Berman will help to stem the bleeding.

Turn-offs: CNN's flop presenters

Piers Morgan
Hired in a blaze of publicity almost 18 months ago, the former Mirror and News of the World editor brings Fleet Street bombasity to his 9pm slot. But ratings for the show are highly volatile and on one night recently hit a low of just 39k in the all important 25-54 bracket.

Erin Burnett
"Smart, entertaining, and ahead of the news," is how CNN describes its 7pm anchor. The public must see things differently, given this respected (but perhaps monochrome) former financial journalist's prime-time show draws only 409,000 viewers – of which a woeful 46,000 belong to the 24-54 demographic that advertisers covet.

Anderson Cooper
Famed for his black T-shirts, perfect quiff and the live-on-air takedowns of public figures (on a slot he calls "Keeping 'em Honest!"), Mr Cooper is a cable news institution and the unofficial "face" of CNN. That hasn't stopped him managing to lose a quarter of his viewers in the past 12 months.

Wolf Blitzer
Bearded, bespectacled, and a fixture of CNN's line-up for more than 20 years, the ever-reliable Blitzer should be required viewing in an election year. But viewing figures for his 4-6pm Situation Room, billed as a "raw, unfiltered, and live" breaking news programme for the just-got-home-from-work crowd, are down more than half.