I’ve long been amused by CNN’s wacky mixture of “human interest stories” and “real news” — neither of which are interesting to humans, or in any way real. They have a real knack for the most inappropriate segues. Yesterday, while at the dentist, I saw them segue from a mass-murder trial to a story about siamese tortoises.
Today’s “Top Stories” from CNN.com don’t disappoint. As my friend Isaac puts it, “somedays i think they just make them up - to see what people would believe”.
You just can’t make stuff like that up.
Comments
Daniel Burka - February 11, 2004 11:16 am
Added in the last half hour since you made that post:
- FBI releases pizza bomb note
- Reba missing from 'Reba' set
CMax - February 11, 2004 12:18 pm
As I work at home, I am able to watch CNN quite regularly - especially in the morning. Yes, they are a crazy bunch of Yankees. They do, however give a panoramic view of "how's it going, eh?" in the USA. I keep close watch on our news, yes. It is important to keep an eye on our southern neighbours, who for better or worse, influence us so significantly.
Dan James - February 11, 2004 1:18 pm
And more from today:
- AOL: Women over 40 doing most online gaming
- Comcast makes $54 billion bid for Disney
Re: Comcast bid. They were only off by 12 billion the first time they reported it...
Ben - February 11, 2004 2:08 pm
Everyone else was reporting the $66 billion figure too. I think it came from the AP wire and everyone picked it up. That one's not necessarily CNN's fault.
Will Pate - February 11, 2004 2:08 pm
What are you guys doing reading CNN anyway? Google news seems to offer much better variety.
Geof - February 11, 2004 5:15 pm
'Twould seem to me that they're actually just using AP feeds. AP has long done "wacky news" with funny headlines; it's just now that people are seeing them.
I remember working in radio news back in 1997 and always getting a chuckle at the feed heads that would come across the teletype. :D
Martin - February 11, 2004 7:39 pm
This isn't uncommon in the media (i.e. making up filler stories), especially newspapers.
I spoke to the editor of the Dundee Courier (popular newspaper in the city of Dundee in Scotland), and he said it was a common occurence to make up filler stories to plug gaps in the newspapaper.
In fact, they have drawers full of them, in case it's a slow news day.
The Dundee Courier is famous for it's Dundee-centric headlines, and once ran a headline when the news of the Titanic sinking reached the UK:
DUNDEE MAN DROWNS AT SEA
DB - February 15, 2004 11:55 am
I remember CNN had a story of a man that burned his penis via laptop :P