CNN anchor raves about Jacksonville

[duvaldude08]

I am at a lost of words. I went to CNN.com to watch the actual video and could not believe good positive things about us. This chick completey SOLD our city. This is the complete opposite of the Super Bowl. IMO this shows weve made progress as a city since the SB. I bet they cant say Jacksonville does not have quality hotels now. And hopefully, one day they sell our downtown like this.!

CNN anchor raves about Jacksonville airport, UNF and city after debate
Posted: January 28, 2012 - 1:45pm  |  Updated: January 28, 2012 - 6:55pm

CNN
Erin Burnett, who hosts a nightly CNN show, raved about Jacksonville after being in the city for the Republican debate.


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By Topher Sanders 
Jacksonville got a lot of love this week from Erin Burnett, who hosts a nightly show on CNN.

The host of “Erin Burnett OutFront” was in town for the Republican presidential candidate debate and because of a delay spent a little more time at Jacksonville International Airport than anticipated.

It was enough time for Burnett to say JIA is “what I think might be America’s best airport.”

During her show Friday night, Burnett raved about the airport’s open spaces, clean bright stores, live music, art gallery and “real live people offering help and smiling and actually inviting you to talk to them.”

Watch the pro-Jacksonville clip here.

Michael Stewart, spokesman for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, called Burnett’s comments “the greatest commercial in the history of the Jacksonville airport.”

She said JIA “does pretty much everything right.”

Burnett also praised the University of North Florida, which hosted the debate, talking about its “beautiful campus” and growing global logistics training program.

John Delaney said CNN crewmembers and personalities were complimentary of the university throughout their stay. Several crews stayed on campus longer than intended to shoot their shows because of their fondness for the campus.

“For UNF it was a bit of a coming-out party,” he said.

Delaney said he was chatting with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer right before Thursday’s debate when Blitzer praised the university.

“ ‘This has got to be the prettiest campus I’ve ever been on,’ ” Delaney said of Blitzer’s comments. “ ‘You guys have to increase your marketing budget because you’ve got a great story to tell.’ ”

Jerry Mallot, executive vice president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, said the city couldn’t buy the type of publicity Burnett’s comments provide.

“It’s helps people to want to know more about Jacksonville and hopefully those are people who want to move to Jacksonville or do business here,” Mallot said. “Overall it helps to develop our reputation which helps the city become more successful.”

All in all, Burnett said, Jacksonville is “a pretty neat city to discover.”

Stewart couldn’t agree more.

“It’s a testament not only to the airport and the Aviation Authority but to Jacksonville as a whole,” Stewart said. “A lot of people that come from out of town recognize Jacksonville as a true jewel of a city in so many aspects.”

Burnett, whose show airs at 7 p.m. weeknights on CNN, joined one of her network colleagues in praising all things River City.

Blitzer, who hosted the debate, earned cheers and social media shout-outs when he described UNF as “beautiful” and “fabulous” just before the candidates faced off.



Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-01-28/story/cnn-anchor-raves-about-jacksonville-airport-unf-and-city-after-debate#ixzz1ko2OyqgU

[tufsu1]

so much for "the national media all hates us" theory

[Keith-N-Jax]

You really are lost for words, lol

[duvaldude08]

You really are lost for words, lol

I dont know what you talking about Keith 

[Dashing Dan]

Andy Rooney said some very nice stuff about Jax after the Super Bowl.  As I recall, he especially enjoyed the fireworks show.

[jerry cornwell]

Words out! And now, the deluge!

[I-10east]

so much for "the national media all hates us" theory

The key left out word is 'sports'. Make no mistake, most of the sports Nat'l media does hate us. There are just TOO many examples of it, I can yammer on and on and on again until I'm blue in the face, but yall all know them; From the many disses since we first got the team, to the SB, to Florio's constant ongoing propoganda like "Rams to LA, and Jags to STL" to PFT showing an empty Everbank Field pic with NO GAME taking place as if a game was taking place. There was a recent Sportsnation poll saying "Where will the Jags be in 5 years" and an overwhelming number of people said LA, because of the constant Nat'l media propaganda drilled it their heads; Many of those people aren't actually foolish to believe that we're going to LA, but they HOPE that we go there.

I don't wanna get all Debbie Downer as I glad that CNN gave us props concerning the debate being held at UNF. Now if only the sports Nat'l media can turn over a new leaf, because as of now, I effing despise them, and I don't trust them on hardly anything that they say!

[Jaxson]

Having graduated from UNF, I am glad that the national media are giving good reviews to our local public university.  For all of the Gators and Seminoles in this area, we tend to take UNF for granted as an important institution in its own right.  As a previous poster said, there is a difference between national media coverage of our sports and of everything else.  For example, we did receive positive coverage from national media outlets when Alvin Brown was elected mayor.  It is important, in my opinion, that we remember that our city has a great many more assets than what happens on any given Sunday during the football season...

[Tacachale]

It's nice to see such comments about things we're doing right. It shows what strengths we can build on for the future.

[duvaldude08]

Having graduated from UNF, I am glad that the national media are giving good reviews to our local public university.  For all of the Gators and Seminoles in this area, we tend to take UNF for granted as an important institution in its own right.  As a previous poster said, there is a difference between national media coverage of our sports and of everything else.  For example, we did receive positive coverage from national media outlets when Alvin Brown was elected mayor.  It is important, in my opinion, that we remember that our city has a great many more assets than what happens on any given Sunday during the football season...

I agree. But at times the sports media drags the city in the mud too, which makes me furious. If you say the team sucks, and they actually did this season, thats fine, but leave my city out of it. This type of coverage helps us on all media fronts in IMO.

[urbanlibertarian]

I'll bet the media folks went from JIA across the Dames Point Bridge to Tapestry Park and UNF and completely missed my 'hood (DT).  The Jax they saw is completely different from what the SB visitors saw.  My point is suburb-wise we've got it goin on.  Urban-wise we're a bit behind.

[comncense]

^ Exactly. Imagine if the debate had been held at the Landing. I honestly doubt that they would be raving about Jacksonville. I know I'm not telling any of you guys anything that you don't already know, but it's sad how Downtown remains to be a last thought when it comes to the rest of the city.

[Tacachale]

Yes, quite so UL. I think comments like these give good perspective on what we're doing right and the importance of channelling that success to the areas where we're behind.

For what it's worth, a lot of the media stayed downtown, mostly because that's where most of the hotels are. And CNN had wanted to hold the debate at the Times Union Center, but they and the city dropped the ball. But by all accounts they really, really liked UNF when they scouted it after it looked like downtown would fall through.

At any rate good vibes for Jax are good vibes for Jax.

[jerry cornwell]

^ Exactly. Imagine if the debate had been held at the Landing. I honestly doubt that they would be raving about Jacksonville. I know I'm not telling any of you guys anything that you don't already know, but it's sad how Downtown remains to be a last thought when it comes to the rest of the city.

Sad. I cant for the life of me figure it out. I tried for years and thousands of dollars. I just left for Riverside and never regretted it (which i define as an urban neighborhood) . Maybe soon, things appear to look better than before, today. But its still terrible DT.
That said, these are opportune times for urban pioneers DT.

[urbanlibertarian]

"Maybe soon, things appear to look better than before, today. But its still terrible DT."

I've lived DT for 8 years now and IMHO it has never been terrible.  I like it.