When did CNN.com become TheOnion.com?
When it relaunched with a new design, CNN.com was generally praised for readability and clarity. Some designers held it as an example that news-oriented sites didn't need to be an patchwork quilt of information buckets.
So I checked back in on the site, mainly for some inspiration around how they manage to serve content to a diverse range of audiences--with equally diverse interests and reading styles.
But this time, what struck me wasn't the design. It was the headlines. I never thought that writers from TheOnion.com got promoted up to CNN, but that is evidently the case. I mean, check these headlines:
All Articles
© 2008 Capstrat
I look to CNN for news and clicked on a link for an article on 'theonion.com' and it took me a long long time to figure out if it was a joke. I suppose it's a joke but I kept looking on the site to find something that said - this is for entertainment purposes only; I didn't find it.
I am actually appalled that a link from CNN would lead to 'theonion.com' but then again, I guess it's all about Ad dollars!?
The line between news and entertainment has never been blurrier. The bad news about this is that the dull but important stories -- budget debates, procedural maneuvering in Congress, etc. -- don't get the attention they deserve.
It would be a good thing for reporters to take *themselves* a bit less seriously, but I don't that's what's happening.
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