The program was the latest step in the evolution of opinion journalism on cable news.
The work of these remarkable journalists was available to more than 60 million American homes because the quality of their journalism impressed cable operators.
CNN, which sometimes struggles to gain notice for its journalism in a cable news environment that prefers political talk, has capitalized on the advance attention around "The New Promised Land".
The social and political effects of a 24-hour news cycle in journalism (begun with cable news services and greatly expanded online) began to create expectations that print and broadcast news editors should provide near-constant updates and headlines.
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said that cable programs relied more and more on people who can analyze campaign developments, rather than just report them.
On Monday, Media Matters released a study which showed that, just like Sunday talk shows, and newspapers, and basically all of the journalism industry, primetime cable news shows are heavily weighted towards white men.
Last week, CNN joined forces with Buzzfeed, looking to that startup to turn its brand of cable news journalism into the more shareable kind.
Each received significant training before being thrown into the deep end of political journalism and heading to cable news studios.
It's tense, clever storytelling, grounded in the realities of cable-TV journalism — the kind of thing that makes you wish all of "Being Mary Jane" were this nuanced and vigorous.
Today, broadcast and cable television, print journalism, taxi cabs, and (over the longer term) oil and gas are among the industries facing formidable challengers determined to co-opt their purpose.
