CNN General Intern Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 139 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at CNN.
CNN
Intern
Intern Average Positive experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
It was a Hirevue video interview, where they asked standard questions like 'introduce yourself', 'what challenges have you faced', and 'what's your news diet'. The whole thing took about 15 minutes, but I'd still recommend doing some serious prep for it.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Tell me about a challenge you encountered and how you dealt with 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
Intern
Intern Difficult Negative experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call
Interview formats
Other
The first round of interviews is virtual and really awkward. You need to record yourself speaking and answering questions on a timer, and you can rewatch it once, but if you choose to record it again, you can't see your response and it just sends automatically. Not ideal if you are anxious or neurodivergent.
Confirmed questions1 question
- What makes you want to work for CNN?
CNN General Intern Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from CNN interview reports.
“Could you name the current officials holding 8-10 specific roles within the U.S. government, for instance, who is the Governor of Maryland?”
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 the Supreme Court and how you get your news?”
Read reports →“Can you tell me about the most significant news story from the past year?”
Read report →“What makes CNN a better choice for you than university or other media outlets?”
Read report →“What news story would you cover if you had the chance right now?”
Read report →“As a journalist, what kind of angle would you pick for judging news?”
Read report →“Who would you interview if you could interview anyone in the world, and why?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 139 CNN interview reports.