CNN Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 393 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Which role are you interviewing for?
30 roles · 393 reportsCandidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at CNN.
CNN
News Associate
Entry Easy Neutral experience Decline offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
Be ready to go, but don’t overthink it. The people interviewing you are usually friendly, and the atmosphere is more about getting to know you than testing you. Be prepared to discuss your background, ask smart questions, and show you grasp the job’s responsibilities — but keep it light and confident.
Confirmed questions1 question
- What stories would make up today's daily news if you were in charge of producing it?
CNN
Intern
Intern Average Positive experience Accept offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral
I had an interview for an internship. They asked me several situational questions. For example, they asked what I would do if I was the only person on the news desk at 7 am and an airline crashed. They also asked who I would call within the company or outside the company, which sources of information I would consider reliable, and how I would go about verifying the information.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- What would you do if you were the only person on the news desk at 7 am and an airline crashed?
- Who would you call within the company or outside the company?
- Which sources of information would you consider reliable?
CNN
Commercial Strategy Director
Director Difficult Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Case Behavioral
This interview is about being brief and bright, then you're out. You likely won't pass unless you had a really privileged upbringing – think elite schools and the McKinsey, Bain, or BCG analyst path. It's a strategy role, so deep industry knowledge or technical skills won't help. The interviewer seemed to decide I was a bad fit before we even talked. My advice: say as little as possible and don't get into specifics with the hiring manager.
Confirmed questions3 questions
- Tell me about a time you failed.
- Given that failure, how would you have corrected and done something differently in the future?
- What were the learnings from that failure moment?
CNN
Software Engineer
Senior Average Positive experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Technical Coding Behavioral System Design Other
The interview process started with a recruiter call. Then there was a technical screen with a staff and two senior engineers, focusing on resume discussion and two easy LeetCode questions. The final round involved the hiring manager, a dev ops engineer, and a staff & senior engineer (who were shadowing). The hiring manager led a resume discussion and posed a LeetCode-style/math brainteaser without coding. The dev ops engineer reviewed and discussed improvements for some provided bad code (focusing on SRP, formatting) and then talked about CI/CD. The last interview was a system design question, which was manageable if you're familiar with common system design resources. The team seemed great and had interesting projects.
Confirmed questions5 questions
- Can you solve two easy LeetCode string manipulation problems?
- How would you improve this badly written code, considering principles like SRP and formatting?
- What are your thoughts on CI/CD practices?
CNN Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from CNN interview reports.
“What are the top 3 news stories in the world at this moment?”
Read reports →“Who would you suggest to appear on Who's Talking to Wolf Blitzer this week?”
Read reports →“If you could have any guest on the show, who would it be?”
Read reports →“Can you tell me about five current news stories, covering both local and worldwide events?”
Read reports →“How would you improve this badly written code, considering principles like SRP and formatting?”
Read report →“If you could pick any two people, alive or deceased, to be on your crew, who would they be?”
Read report →“If you had the chance, what improvements would you make to CNN's mobile or Twitter presence?”
Read report →“What news story would you cover if you had the chance right now?”
Read report →“Which news story from this week would you choose to adapt into a video?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 393 CNN interview reports.