Your Opinion Counts At CNN — But Should It?

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Your Opinion Counts At CNN — But Should It?

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday November 12, 2009 @02:20AM from the no-no-no-no-no dept.

theodp writes "Some people love how CNN employs Twitter to engage its audience. Not Steve Dahl. 'I am not interested in the take of @stinky on the Fort Hood shootings or any other current events,' complains Dahl of the access the media gives to Internet know-it-alls. 'I am watching CNN because I expect them to gather the news, not act as a clearinghouse for any bonehead with a computer, a cable modem and a half-baked opinion.'"

12 of 383 comments (clear)

Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · 2009-11-12 02:22 · Score: 5, Funny

I am watching CNN because I expect them to gather the news, not act as a clearinghouse for any bonehead with a computer, a cable modem and a half-baked opinion
Yeah! That is slashdot's job!!
1. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · 2009-11-12 02:31 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's what I was thinking as I read the blurb.
  
  If I want solid information I head over to a site like PhysOrg. If I want to see what others are thinking I head to Slashdot.
  
  News services have become such an opinion mill that it's starting to make it hard to take them seriously. There is a time and place for people to banter on but I don't want it from a news outlet.
  
  I've seen far too many people around here armed with little more than a high school education think that they have a better understanding of the universe than engineers who are in the field. I know the public opinion on just about anything is 10 times worse. We already have a half a million forums for these people to spout their crap on. Do we really need another?
2. Re:Yeah! by conspirator57 · 2009-11-12 03:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  but that will take away the righteousness I feel when down-modding things i don't agree with^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H err... when down-modding useless goatse.cx comments. that's it. yeah.
  
  --
  "If still these truths be held to be
  Self evident."
  -Edna St. Vincent Millay
3. Re:Yeah! by OakDragon · 2009-11-12 03:27 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So browse at 3 or 4.
  Sorry, I took your advice and now I can't see your post.
  
  --
  Dark Reflection
4. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · 2009-11-12 04:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Eliminate the weapon, and you make it a choice: either post something insightful, or don't get modded up.
  Eliminate the weapon, and you make it a choice: either mod 500 posts in a 1000-message thread up, or all 500 posters' signals are lost in 500 posts of GNAA noise.
  Because it takes less effort to downmod a post to -1 than it does to post at 0 or +1, Slashdot's actually readable, even at 0 or -1.
  Taking away downmoderation would require work on the part of every legitimate reader. Most legitimate readers aren't willing to work if they have to click/mod to make everything readable (on a large thread, you'd wind up with carpal tunnel syndrome after the first hour), but the trolls are more than willing to put the time in to make everything unreadable.
  If you want a system where only the "blessed" are heard and the moderation system goes out of its way to emphasize the article and de-emphasize the comments (even to the point of requiring Javascript and multiple mouseclicks to read anything, and putting the comments in the wrong chronological order so that only the most recent few are ever visible), there's Gawker. It makes Digg look useful. Me? I come to Slashdot (albeit in classic mode :) to get away from that sort of thing.
No it should not matter. by i_want_you_to_throw_ · 2009-11-12 02:25 · Score: 5, Informative

I agree. News in America is dead. It turned into entertainment a long time ago. It isn't so much about news anymore as it is about yellow journalism or picking a station that validate one's political views. I stopped watching American news when I discovered BBC news.

I would say that Edward R Murrow is rolling in his grave, but he was cremated.
The ironing is delicious by greyhueofdoubt · 2009-11-12 02:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

How funny is that: A guy airing his opinion on a public medium about how other people's opinions shouldn't be aired on public media...
We need a CNN story on this (complete with tweets) to bring things full circle.
-b

--
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
whoops by metamechanical · 2009-11-12 02:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

I am watching CNN because I expect them to gather the news [...]
Yeah, that's definitely where you went wrong.

--
If I had a nickel for every time I had a nickel, I'd be richcursive!
Re:Who's Steve Dahl by jdpars · 2009-11-12 02:29 · Score: 5, Funny

Some idiot with a computer and a cable modem.
Re:Comments by skgrey · 2009-11-12 02:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

If I'm watching CNN from TV, I'm looking for intelligent, fact-checked news and opinions from professionals
Yes, but unfortunately that's not what you are getting most of the time. CNN is better than most IMO, but what we tend to see is entertainment, not news. How many times do we see these channels making news rather than reporting the news? I'm so sick of seeing this kind of behavior.

A great example was on Fox recently where they were asking people on the street what they thought of Sharon Osbourne's comments on Susan Boyle. Most people hadn't heard it, as it happened on an Sirius radio show, but Fox was constantly reporting on it. Then Fox tracked down Susan Boyle at the airport (at the same time as Entertainment Tonight and a few other programs) and asked her how she felt. This isn't reporting the news, this is making the news.

News organizations should be held to reporting the news, being fair about what they are reporting, and being held to a standard. They are worried about ratings, and unfortunately that affects content.
Re:A simple solution by vondo · 2009-11-12 02:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

CNN, not CNN.com. They put these comments on the air all the time. When they should be, you know, reporting the news. Or better yet, investigating the news.
Re:Comments by parcel · 2009-11-12 05:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

Except by every means, The Daily Show covers more news than the typical mouth-breathing news casters, and does so in a funny way. They don't lie, make shit up, or spend thirty minutes covering Madonna's booger incident via twitter: they show news footage, give a quick 60 second real news blurb, then make a joke.
Totally agree. The Daily Show makes news entertaining. Fox makes entertaining news.