CNN debuts hologram reporters

November 5, 2008

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CNN viewers saw double on Tuesday when the cable news giant used a hologram to “beam up” a reporter from Chicago to New York for election analysis.

Like a character out of the science fiction movie Star Wars, veteran political anchor Wolf Blitzer used a 3D hologram system to correspondent Jessica Yellin into his studio.

Yellin, a little fuzzy and appearing to glow, conducted a brief discussion with Blitzer before vanishing again.

“You’re a terrific hologram,” Blitzer told the image.

Yellin explained to viewers that her body was actually still in Chicago, with 35 cameras filming her inside a special tent.

“They shoot my body at different angles and I’m told that’s what transmits my entire body image back to New York,” she said.

“It’s like I follow the tradition of Princess Leia,” she said, referring to the “Star Wars” heroine.

Underneath - for what CNN said was the first time in television history - the screen announced: “Jessica Yellin via hologram from Chicago. Live.”

They chose to unveil the technology in the midst of CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage of the historic US election Tuesday pitting underdog Republican John McCain against Democrat Barack Obama, who is bidding to become the nation’s first African-American president.

AFP