CNN's homepage: Tabloid nonesense?

JMapleton

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2008
4,179
2
81
Ok, the news site I usually read is CNN. They are they slowly turning into an online tabloid? Is almost everything on their homepage link bait and other "hey look at this" type links? Do they ever post real news?

Right now on their video section of their homepage, they have...

Branglina
A twerking video
Lady with too much plastic surgery
Puppy reunited with solider (like we haven't seen these videos a thousand times)
Katy Perry music video
LG TV company prank
Troll website Ghetto Tracker
Alyissa Milano sex tape

Surely there are biggest news stories than this.

CNN, if you're reading, are you a news site now or one of those cheap linkbait sites found people accidentally click on like "10 things the airlines won't tell you!" or some other nonsense.

Seriously?
 

JMapleton

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2008
4,179
2
81
I'd hate to be one of those hippies who says "I don't read the American news, it's bias!"

But seriously, checking out BBC, and they really have mostly legit news on their homepage, from a global perspective.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Yeah, for online BBC is good, though I prefer Reuters usually, and whatever other news sources are in my Blinkfeed on my One (they have a good mix of sources).

Al Jazeera America (launched a few weeks ago) is much better than CNN. Some of the CNN people left for it because even they were tired of the entertainment-style crap CNN has been pushing over the past few years. Euronews and BBC are good for international news television, too.

CNN tried too hard to appeal to all reality TV consuming masses, so they ended up alienating both real journalists and the members of their audience who can think critically (or at all).
 
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Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
5,382
65
91
I just opened it but I didn't notice all that stuff you said.

Anyway I just read al jazeera english for international stuff (syria and stuff) and a local online news site (for local news relative to Switzerland and my canton, and foreign news relative to Europe).
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
You can thank stay home moms and teen girls for all of this. Many "news" sites now focus on celebrity and social media-type articles because that's what draws in viewers.
 

keird

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
3,714
9
81
I watched Al Jazeera news when I was in Afghanistan because it was better than CNN. Al Jazeera is really a better news source in that region. They deserve a table at U.S. news outlets because CNN, Fox, MSNBC, et. al. are so fuching pedantic.
 

rockyct

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2001
6,656
32
91
Here's the problem, it's what people want to read. They tailor the news for what gets people to click on the article and people don't really want to read about what's going on in the world. They want their pop culture and celebrity news.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,938
5,562
136
It's all about page views. News doesn't sell, gossip and innuendo are what people want to see.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,981
8,219
126
I get my news from the radio, and various individual articles from the web. The only site I specifically read is Arstechnica. Everything else is linked from reddit. I like the crowd sourced editorial control.
 

unokitty

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2012
3,346
1
0
I'd hate to be one of those hippies who says "I don't read the American news, it's bias!"

But seriously, checking out BBC, and they really have mostly legit news on their homepage, from a global perspective.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/


Since our local Public Radio and TV Stations carry the BBC, I don't go to their web site often.

Another new site to the BBC is Der Spiegel. Perhaps a smaller scope than the BBC. But you might find it interesting.

Uno
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,964
2
0
Yeah, CNN really sucks these days! They were king of the hill for a 15 years or so but Foxnews has been eating there lunch for quite a while now. It looks like CNN looked at what Foxnews was doing and copied the tabloidy aspects. It's just a matter of time before all the older women at CNN are replaced by hot young women, again, like Foxnews.

Sadly, there is no TV news outfit in the USA that's worth a bowel movement these days...


Brian
 

pyonir

Lifer
Dec 18, 2001
40,852
312
126
Alyssa Milano sex tape? Off to CNN.com...

:thumbsup: I thought the same thing.... :hmm:


I stopped going to CNN for serious news...when I saw the same links 3 days in a row under their "top stories" that tells me all I need to know. That and forcing me to watch a Video for a new story...and that being the only choice? F that. I'll find a better written article elsewhere.
 

busydude

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2010
8,793
5
76
I just opened it but I didn't notice all that stuff you said.

Anyway I just read al jazeera english for international stuff (syria and stuff) and a local online news site (for local news relative to Switzerland and my canton, and foreign news relative to Europe).

CNN international and CNN USA are two different entities.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,568
9,937
146
It's all about page views. News doesn't sell, gossip and innuendo are what people want to see.

Which is why, even as one of dem dere libruhls, I can hardly stand HuffPo or most of Slate. I don't want someone else's shallow, slanted opinion on a story. I want, as best as possible, the facts of the story.

No news organization is perfect, and humans doing the news cannot help but contain some modicum of those particular human's bias, but the NYT and NPR do a far better job than most. And, I'm still gratified when a BBC reporter doing an interview actually challenges the interviewee.

Plus, as noted by others, Al Jazeera ain't that bad at all.

But, really, the only way to stay seriously informed is to go to a multitude of sources, including those whose slant you may disagree with. The devil is in the details.