Tuesday, November 07, 2006

CNN no news updates

CNN Breaking News: "Britney Spears files for divorce from her husband Kevin Federline, citing irreconcilable differences."

First of all, didn't we all know that was coming? And secondly, since when does that (I refuse to call it "news") deserve to be urgently shipped to my inbox with headlines such as Saddam Hussein's death sentence or a plane crash in New York? Last I checked, Britney is a used-to-be pop star and her husband was only famous for being Britney's husband.

Every day young men and women give their lives in Iraq and that never makes it to my inbox.

10 comments:

Donecia Pea said...

I'm so glad you posted this! That's just ridiculous, hilarious and sad all at the same time.

Adam Kealoha Causey said...

Unfortunately, though, some people around here probably care more about Brit and K-Fed (oops, did I really just call them that?) than who the next mayor of Shreveport is!

Donecia Pea said...

I can't lie, it did totally get my attention when I heard it, mainly because I couldn't believe something we all knew was inevitable from the beginning was FINALLY happening! lol. But still - CNN breaking news level? That's a bit much.

Jacob said...

CNN.com (and the cable channel for that matter) has been slipping further and further into the tabloid abyss during the past couple of years, but lately it has gotten ridiculous. I used to be able to rely on the site to at least find out the day's legitimate headlines, but now it's so crowded with celebrity gossip, it's almost impossible to navigate.

Joel Anderson said...

Allow me to disagree here for a second. Diane, you're absolutely right ... except that you're not.

Look how many comments your post has already generated, including mine. People, whether its worthwhile or not, actually care about Britney and K-Fed.

Another post about dying or dead soldiers (and I say this not to be flip at all. I come from a family full of men that served much of their lives in the military) would probably have been greeted with a yawn - or would have been ignored completely.

It doesn't make us frivolous or ignorant or childish. Like most people in most nations, we care about our celebrities.

CNN is in the business of making money, and presenting the news - the more interesting news, not the more important - is part of that mission.

If more people started registering ratings that showed we care about Iraq, CNN would certainly give us more of that.

Donecia Pea said...

Good point Joel, BUT the mere reaction at the polls today and leading up to today indicate that people DO care about dying soldiers and what not, probably moreso than celeb gossip and this is coming from someone who loves celeb news. I'm just saying, yeah, this post is an indication that people are interested, but I still don't think it's in the top 10 of American concerns. I bet you most folks are watching election coverage today more than anything else.

Tom said...

Who is K-Fed?

Anonymous said...

Have you looked at your news updates? You’re just as bad. I really don’t need you to tell me that the sun is shining every day of the week. I can get that by looking out the window and it dosn't take as long to boot up.

Diane Libro said...

You have a point, anonymous...

Then again, our updates aren't billed as urgent, must have news. It's just news that you get before the paper comes out in the morning.

Anonymous said...

The updates on CNN are not billed as urgent either. They just say Latest News. When you call yours updates that would imply that you’re updating a previous story but you’re not. It’s not news that you get before the paper comes out either. The weather story today was at 7:22 am. I would hope that your paper would be out by that time. All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be so quick to criticize someone else.