History Main / AlphabetNewsNetwork

One of the most common go to names for a fictional TV news program is to add a usually-random letter to "NN" (or in some cases, ''two'' letters to "N") as a reference to CNN ("Cable News Network"). Popular choices for the first word in the acronym are a reference to the area the network covers (such as Galaxy or Global) or a reference to the work. Often the logo will be inspired by the CNN logo as well.

Subtrope of BrandX. Can overlap with FunWithAcronyms.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' had JNN. May double as ProductPlacement in that JNN is a ''real world'' network, as it is the news division of TBS, the broadcaster for the series.

* Originally appearing in ''Series/LoisAndClark'', Lexcorp's news station is sometimes named as LNN in ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' comics. (It's also been WLEX and [=LexCom=] at different times.)
* ''Comicbook/{{Grandville}}'' has CNN, but it's the main news channel of the French Empire, and stands for Canal des Nouvelles Nationales.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, the Home Galaxy (of ''Star Wars'' fame) has the Galaxy News Network (GNN), Galaxy News Service (GNS), and Nova Network (NN).
* ''Fanfic/TheNextFrontier'' has the odd reference to KBS News, the initials standing for Kerbin Broadcasting Service.
* Jacqueline Lichtenberg's longrunning ''Star Trek'' fanfiction series ''Kraith'' had Newsnet. It only becomes important in the ''Kraith'' novel ''[[http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/kc002/kc02_01.html#FEDERATION Federation Centennial]]'', where conspirators agitating for a Klingon-Federation war use interviews with officials to stir up anti-Fed sentiment.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'' has BNN (Bee News Network) airing Bee Larry King (do you see a pattern?).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' has ZNN. The anchors are a female snow leopard and [[CulturalTranslation (depending on the region)]] a male moose (US, UK, Canada and most of Europe), jaguar (Brazil), koala (Australia), panda (China), or raccoon dog (Japan).

* ''Film/TheFlintstones'' plays with this. They use the CNN initials, but it's called the Cave News Network.
* ''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' uses GNN, "The Gotham News Network" to provide exposition.
* Buck Williams in the 2000-2005 ''[[Film/LeftBehind2000 Left Behind]]'' films works for Global News Network, also GNN.

* Helen Hannah in the Film/{{Apocalypse}} film series works for World News Network, WNN.

* ''Film/CountdownToLookingGlass'' has CVN.
** "CVN" is the U. S. Navy designation for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Appropriate, given the subject of the film...

* In ''Film/{{France|2021}}'', the fictional television channel the journalist played by Creator/LeaSeydoux works for has a "i" as symbol.

* The Creator/RosemaryWells picture book ''Emily's First 100 Days of School'' is presented by BNN, or the "Bunny News Network."
* ''Literature/TheKrakenWakes by Creator/JohnWyndham: The protagonist and his wife work as a correspondent and scriptwriter respectively for the '''E'''nglish '''B'''roadcasting '''C'''ompany, a commercial radio and TV network that's implied to be a fairly recent development.[[note]]Which doubles as a minor case of RippedFromTheHeadlines, because when the book was first published Parliament was still debating whether or not to permit commercial television networks at all.[[/note]] Interviewees mistakenly believing that they're from the BBC instead is something of a running gag.
* The Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse has the Federation News Network, [[RetCanon later seen]] in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''.

* ZNN on ''Series/{{JAG}}'', ''First Monday'', ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' and everything else [[Creator/DonaldPBellisario Bellisario-produced]].
** In the very first ''JAG'' episode it appears in, "We the People", it seems to inexplicably stand for "Satellite News Network".
* ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had LNN, Luthor News Network.

** "The Daemons" has an interesting variation when everyone's watching news on BBC 3. It's worth pointing out that at the time it was made BBC 2 had only been around for seven years.

* Creator/TheChaser called their fake news network ''Series/{{CNNNN}}'' (Chaser [=NoN=]-stop News Network).
** The final episode of the first season had a look back at the station's 40-year history: originally, it was CNNN (for Chaser Nonstop News Network), but inexplicably added a fourth N: the extra N is "explained" in an [[TheUnreveal unreveal]].
* ''CANAL International'', a [[NewsParody parody]] of CNN imagined as a 24-hour news channel set in the FictionalCountry Groland, for the needs of a satirical show on French television that lasted from 1994 to 1999.
** The "CANAL" wordmark was literally spelled "C-A-N-A-L" and pronounced with an American accent so that it sounded like "C-N-N"; the shape of CANAL International's logo also parodied CNN's.
* ''Series/BrassEye'' would air broadcasts from affiliate station 10NN in all news stories from the United States, as did the preceding series from the same writers, ''Series/TheDayToday''.
* On ''Series/BabylonFive'' they have ISN, the "[=InterStellar=] Network News". While at first an independent--if blatantly sensationalist and ratings-driven--network, it becomes [[spoiler:the dictatorial Clark Administration's PropagandaMachine starting in Season 3.]]
* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' has DNN, the Dinosaur News Network.
* Website/TheOnion is the owner of the Onion News Network, or [Onion logo]NN.
* Casseta & Planeta, a Brazilian group of comedians, had NNN, aimed for the nasal-voiced viewer. It was never stated what the first "N" stands for.

* Since ''Series/TwentyFour'' aired on FOX, it often showed news broadcasts from FOX News, but also sometimes used its own version of CNN called CNB. This also appeared on ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' and ''Series/Tyrant2014'', both also by ''24'' showrunner Howard Gordon.
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': At the start of season 2, Trish Walker's boyfriend Griffin is a war correspondent at ZCN, who have a CNN graphics package with slightly altered logo.
* ''Series/TheMorningShow'' is all about- who would have thought?- a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin morning news/talk show]] on the fictional UBA network.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'' has RNN where the R stands for Ridiculous. Hence the name, Monty reports this with he wonders to do and Big Bird can't seem to define.
** GNN: the G stands for Grouch and the network is all dirty. Oscar reports the stories about him before his lover Grundgetta gave him a Phlegmmy Award.
** VNN: the V stands for Vegetable. reported by a Cucumber named Anderson.
** MNN: the M stands for Monster. Elmo is the chief anchor, Cookie Monster as a sound mocking science reporter, Prairie as a special commentator, and a slew of special international correspondents. the motto is where 2 monster mascots cover its globe.
* Parodied in the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' crossover parody between ''Film/Joker2019'' and ''Sesame Street,'' where Guy Smiley is the anchor at ABCDEFG News.

* One of the playable factions in ''[[TabletopGame/{{Netrunner}} Android: Netrunner]]'' is NBN, which changed what it stands for so often that NBN became its whole name.
* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' makes a mention of the irreverent news review cast MRGCNN, the Monster Raving Goblin Cock News Network.

* ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' shows a TV displaying INN.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fandom knows CNN as "Cirno News Network", thanks to some pretty bad CowboyBebopAtHisComputer.

* ''VideoGame/DesertStrike'' and its sequel, ''Jungle Strike'' both feature EANN, Creator/ElectronicArts News Network.
* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' in the Kremlin has GNN representing News from American sources. It is never stated in-game what it stands for.
* ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' has procedurally generated News from GNN readable on base computers, mostly concerning space fights between factions, with occasional mentions of {{Privateer}}s' help, that is completed PlayerCharacter missions.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova'' has the Hyper News Network (the Federation's news service). Interestingly, it is actually the ''only'' news service shown in the game whose acronym ends in "N" despite every one being built on a three-word structure with three-letter acronyms shown -- there's two News Services, two News Corps, two Info Commands, one Info Service and one Intel Corps. The two earlier games had their news[[note]]it was only in Nova that the engine allowed the news image to be different for different governments[[/note]] fit the basic model of the trope, though with the acronyms not quite being what one would think from looking at the full names -- ''Classic'' has the Interstellar News Network using the acronym ISN, while ''Override'' had the United Earth News Network with the acronym UEN.
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series had DNN.
* ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' has [=GalNet=], which doesn't have an abbreviated form but serves as the game's primary source of exposition for many events that happen in the Galaxy that players can actively influence (unless it's detailing the clout surrounding the president of TheFederation or TheEmpire's succession crisis).
* ''VideoGame/TheHorde'' has the Franzpowanki News Network (FNN), which broadcasts on CrystalBall.
* The ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' universe has a Galaxy News Network (GNN). Although "Galaxy News Network" appears in the first Fallout game, the acronym "GNN" doesn't appear with any prominence (other than a single note in Fallout 2) in-universe until ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', where it is featured on banners and billboards.
* ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' also has GNN, with a logo blatantly satirising real-life American news channel CNN.
* The camera in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' is operated by Lakitu, who is an employee of KNN- Kingdom News Network.
* In the world of dragons in ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998'' there is DNN (Dragon News Network).
* ''VideoGame/EarthDefenseForceIronRain'' has UNN, Universal News Network, as what seems to be the sole surviving news broadcaster after an alien invasion wrecked the Earth. The broadcasts serve as a sort of GreekChorus giving a view of the player character's squad's actions in the larger war, albeit with a strong dose of cheerleading and propaganda.
* ''VideoGame/StarShiftSeries'': In all the games, the story will occasionally cut to a news network pumping out news pieces [[StrawmanNewsMedia in favor of their own side]].
** In ''Origins'', Carol Everson and Magnus Archer can enter the Novus Broadcasting Network building (NBN), which does their best to make Novus Federation sound like the heroes fighting the evil ESA. There's also an opportunity to slightly increase Novus reputation by watching and complimenting a documentary one of the employees made. Unfortunately, Novus Federation is secretly run by ESA spies and is effectively controlled opposition.
** In ''Rebellion'', the ORC will watch the Interstellar News Network (INN), which is pro-Earth Systems Alliance and paints any oppostion as terrorism.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The webcomic (later the graphic novel) "Shooting War" had GNN: Global News Network.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has the [[SubspaceAnsible HyperNet]] News Network, or HN[[superscript:3]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Website/TheEscapist'' has ENN.

* ''WebVideo/StarWarsUncut'': ENN the "Empire News Network" brings you TalkingHeads discussing the Imperial Senate being dissolved.

* [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com Anime News Network]] (ANN) was named after this trope.
* [[https://sonic.fandom.com/ Sonic Wiki Zone]], the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' Fandom wiki, used to be named "Sonic News Network" from 2005 to 2023.

* The ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' episode "Sumo of the Opera" is Japan-themed, and has ESN (Emperor's Sports Network), a cross between CNN and ESPN.
* A ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode had it revealed that Atlanta's bigshots would eventually move the town into the ocean. CNN was then renamed [[PunnyName ''SeaNN'']].
* In the episode "Terry Unmarried" on ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', there's an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. After [[spoiler: Cleveland figures out Terry's gay]], he freaks out and his babbling becomes scrolling details with a headline. At the bottom left, you see CNN and directly under it, you see '''''C'''leveland '''N'''ews '''N'''etwork''.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' ChristmasSpecial has CCN.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' has FNN.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' has [=DNN=].
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'' where one of the two political news networks Cognito runs is called MSCNNBCNBBC.

* If a ''Website/GoAnimate'' video features a TV news report, it'll probably be on GNN.

* ''WesternAnimation/LibertysKids'' has LNN.