From late nights running a student game show at Elon, to writing breaking news segments at CNN –Ryan Buckley’s journey is all about taking chances, seizing opportunities and being open to learning new things.
The moment Ryan Buckley ’03 set foot on Elon University’s campus, he knew it was home.
“This, this is it,” he said to his dad, solidifying his decision then and there.
Elon was the only school he applied to and what followed was a college journey filled with creativity, experimentation and initiative that would ultimately shape his path into one of the fastest-paced and influential spaces in media.
While at Elon, Buckley made an effort to stand out, helping to co-create “WIN Stuff,” a campus game show born out of ingenuity and a couple of borrowed laptops.
“We were essentially running PowerPoint on 12 laptops and had someone behind the wall hitting the space bar to advance the graphics,” he recalls.
The project became a crash course in running a show, live coordination and producing content under pressure, all skills that would prove invaluable years later in the newsroom. “WIN Stuff” still airs today on campus and is a testament to all the hard work Buckley put into the program.
That hands-on, do-it-yourself energy never left Buckley. Today, he is a senior writer for “Erin Burnett OutFront” at CNN, where he crafts the show’s nightly monologue — Erin’s take on the top story of the day. One of his proudest achievements was when he was a part of the Emmy award-winning team recognized for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage during the Israeli conflict.
“You’re flying by the seat of your pants, but that’s what I love about TV news– creating news as it unfolds,” says Buckley about breaking news coverage. “The coverage on the Israeli conflict was especially challenging, requiring live updates to the script, with rockets flashing across the screen and the control room shouting, ‘I’ve got something new!”
He recalls updating the copy moments before everything aired. But, he says it’s in this fast-paced and adrenaline-fueled environment of breaking news that he truly excels.
Buckley didn’t stop at the writer’s desk. He saw an opportunity where there was a void– CNN’s lack of presence on TikTok. On his own time, without institutional backing, he launched a TikTok account for “Erin Burnett OutFront” that racked up thousands of followers in just a year. “It was important that people who don’t watch CNN on television still see our work,” he says.
One TikTok that did immensely well, the first to make over one million views for them, was coincidentally one of his favorite stories to date. The California wildfires had picked up pace in the news, and many people were already devastated by the damage, losing their homes and belongings. In the video, Erin Burnett returns to one of the homes, owned by a fireman and his wife, that was destroyed. Upon arrival, the fireman begins sifting through the debris, looking for anything remaining. Suddenly, the fireman miraculously pulls out a wedding ring from the rubble and runs to show his wife, and they both break down in tears.
The control room where Buckley and the other staff were sitting broke down in tears as well, so touched by the emotional event — a brief glimpse of something good amidst heartbreak and tragedy. Buckley recalls feeling inspired and fortunate to have been able to witness such a moving event.
Even with his many successes, Buckley remains humble about the challenges he’s faced. Producing segments on unfamiliar topics, like economic policy, requires a sharp learning curve, and the added task of making that content digestible for everyday viewers can be demanding. But he embraces it all, crediting CNN’s global reach and his team’s dedication to the success of the show.
As for the future, Buckley is all in: “News will always be important,” he says.
Whether it lives on cable or flourishes through new digital channels, Buckley remains optimistic about CNN’s future.
His advice to the next generation of storytellers is simple but powerful: “Be versatile. You need to be the person who can write, produce, and also clip that moment for TikTok. Don’t be afraid to try everything.”