A CNN opera is a contemporary opera taking news events as a theme or a classical opera transposed to a contemporary setting. The, somewhat deprecatory, term CNN opera alludes to Cable News Network, CNN.
Operas that have been referred to as a CNN opera include:
Perhaps because of his association with Adams and a record of modern transpositions, some of the output of director Peter Sellars has also been referred to as a CNN opera.
References
CNN opera Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA