9.24.2009

Nitpicking the News Vol. 2: CNN.com

I go to CNN.com for a quick synopsis of the big events across the country. In the last few months, CNN.com has increasingly let me down. It's becoming more and more tabloid and celebrity-driven. The headlines are sensationalistic and not at all journalistic. They belong in Ok! magazine or some other drivel. They suck you in by making the top bar and main picture newsworthy, then bash your head in with pointless stories throughout the rest of the page. Some examples:





This last one is my favorite: senior citizens pagaent, golf ball-eating puppy, tranny, Will Smith as Mr. Mom, Obama's tv series loves, Tetris as an Olympic sport. Mixed in with real news... GIMME A BREAK!!!!!!!

When your celebrity and "feature" stories outpace your actual news stories, as a NEWS organization, you have a problem. Because really, I don't care about what Jessica Simpson or any other celeb is doing. They can live their lives while I live mine!! Please let 'em!! Or at least keep that mess at People.com. UGH!!!! I don't want to be propagandized, or have to listen to the Fox News message, MSNBC's website is too convoluted so guess what? I'm stuck with CNN when it comes to hard national news with video (because it's too painful to look at video on newspaper websites). Why me???

6 comments:

Rashan Jamal said...

tetris as olympic sport? for real.. how about Madden. I can go to the london in 2012 for that one.. Yeah, these "headlines" are wack...

Adei von K said...

yeah, 'sensational' is the PERFECT word for CNN.
senior citizen pageant... LOL

I so could care less abt jess simpson... or that her dog got snatched and killed by a coyote!

Cynthia said...

I'm sorry...golfing puppy...I can't help but laugh:)

Not So Anonymous said...

And, Cnn used to be the most sensible...I wonder what happend?

You can always go for talk radio...cspan is the bomb, or for a more obvious liberal slant...NPR is the business.

Serenity3-0 said...

I never go to CNN anymore. I do however watch CNN a lot. I think they are my preferred news channel. I realized about two weeks ago that my habit is to watch CNN and I can't even tell you any of the news personalities of my local people. I have to fix that b/c i do need to know what's going on in my area.

Jameil said...

rj... exactly.

adei... we are ushering back an age of yellow journalism where you sensationalize and put a headline that's misleading but "technically" true. LAME.

nap... LOL

nsa... i don't listen to the radio and i need my news more quickly digestible than either of those offer. i read the front pages & whatever articles catch my eye of NYT, Houston Chronicle, LA Times, Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & every once in a while the St. Petersburg Times just because it's close. The only paper I regularly hold is the student paper on campus, the Alligator. My biggest pet peeve w/broadcast "journalists" is the amount of opinion. I really don't care what you think about the news, just gimme the news.

serenity... i rarely watch tv anymore which is bad to say since i'm assisting tv news courses, but i get almost all of my news online, print and broadcast. the local news irks me a lot.