The others in this space are political talk channels, and so even when they're talking about these stories, they're talking about the politics of the stories.
CNN has its share of political talk, especially on its increasingly opinionated prime-time lineup of Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon.
During the breaking stories, CNN responded by assigning more of its top people, like Wolf Blitzer, to weekend work.
It has simulcast the CNN International network overnight in the U.S., Zucker said.
The ratings of the past three months proved those viewers still return to CNN when there is important news, he said.