4 ms·

First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. In this case, "Breaking" really just means - "latest development" so I do

First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. In this case, "Breaking" really just means - "latest development" so I don't really mind the word - the problem is the accompanying music and banner font and color scheme used make it seem like it's 9/11. So they say "Breaking", but make you think "Groundbreaking, earth shattering". Hopefully the next things to go will be * when they are interviewing someone that actually made a sacrifice to be on their program, like a civilian from a war zone, etc.. but you can tell the anchor is getting nervous because they have to go to commercial - I can't stand that. * the news you must hear after the break where it took longer to tell you it was coming up after the break than to just tell you the news All these cable channels probably have great reporters and news staffs but getting you the news is secondary to advertising, which is fine, I understand that, it's just the medium is not that well suited since it requires frequent interruptions and baiting you into staying through the break. If it has to be broadcast, the news hour with Judy Woodruff on PBS is the best in the US. Yes, it's curated, can't possibly cover everything, but they make decent editorial decisions.

philwelch 4y ago
> First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. I first started noticing this in 2016, when their promotions for their presidential debate coverage reminded me a lot of how boxing matches are promoted.
babypuncher 4y ago
> First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. I think this is a problem with all cable news, and is more or less directly responsible for the dramatic polarization of US politics over the last 30 years. Politics looks more like sports now. Irrational fandom and support for one's "team" is fine when it is over something trivial like moving a ball from one end of the field to another. It becomes detrimental when it's over things that actually impact our lives. Hell, before cable news, Republicans and Democrats didn't even get consistent colors on electoral maps. It used to be that blue meant "incumbent party" and red meant "challenging party".
- spaetzleesser 4y ago
  "I think this is a problem with all cable news, and is more or less directly responsible for the dramatic polarization of US politics over the last 30 years. Politics looks more like sports now. Irrational fandom and support for one's "team" is fine when it is over something trivial like moving a ball from one end of the field to another. It becomes detrimental when it's over things that actually impact our lives." that is probably true. And reporting about politics like sports brought out the worst of the US two party system. The talking head format did a lot of damage too. I came to the US in 2000 and when in 2004 they philosophized for hours about whether people would prefer to have a beer with Bush or Kerry I thought "WTF? What does this have to do with anything?".
52-6F-62 4y ago
Pretty sure 'breaking' meant 'late-breaking' and the colour etc were meant to inflect urgency (also a bit of a sales tactic, but different intent) rather than particularly large news. https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking
52-6F-62 4y ago
Pretty sure 'breaking' meant 'late-breaking' and the colour etc were meant to inflect urgency (also a bit of a sales tactic, but different intent) rather than particularly large news. It's just old newsy lingo. https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking
- jakub_g 4y ago
  Not a native but for a good while I thought that "breaking news" was TV specific term meaning "we need to break the regular things that were about to be shown because we've got this last minute urgent thing to tell" (think: 9/11, president died etc) Wikipedia seems to agree: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_news https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_news
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
eternalban 4y ago
Ted Turner's CNN was a news network. But then he fell in love with Hanoi Jane and she told him to sell it 'for a good cause'. Once the sale went through, she dumped him. (Watch for Turner's speech on why he made CNN - below CNN's first day on air): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqDopY5dMD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqDopY5dMD8 (short) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhgKuKvvPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhgKuKvvPE (long)
robonerd 4y ago
> the problem is the accompanying music and banner font and color scheme I hate the flashy animated bumpers they (all of them, all American television) use to segue everything. Stars and color gradients swooping around the screen, computer animated robots throwing footballs at each other like howitzers, animated channel logos exploding in fireballs, it's all completely insufferable. Typical examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0efQ5uuYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0efQ5uuYk https://youtu.be/Ou_9snb91lc?t=137 https://youtu.be/Ou_9snb91lc?t=137
- spaetzleesser 4y ago
  I basically can't and don't watch US TV. Everything is about raising the blood pressure of people.
  - bigmattystyles 4y ago
    Oh then you're in luck - most of the ads are for pharmaceuticals. One of them will undoubtedly be for blood pressure.

philwelch 4y ago

> First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. I first started noticing this in 2016, when their promotions for their presidential debate coverage reminded me a lot of how boxing matches are promoted.

babypuncher 4y ago

> First CNN the way it is packaged and broadcast isn't really news, it's entertainment. I think this is a problem with all cable news, and is more or less directly responsible for the dramatic polarization of US politics over the last 30 years. Politics looks more like sports now. Irrational fandom and support for one's "team" is fine when it is over something trivial like moving a ball from one end of the field to another. It becomes detrimental when it's over things that actually impact our lives. Hell, before cable news, Republicans and Democrats didn't even get consistent colors on electoral maps. It used to be that blue meant "incumbent party" and red meant "challenging party".

spaetzleesser 4y ago
"I think this is a problem with all cable news, and is more or less directly responsible for the dramatic polarization of US politics over the last 30 years. Politics looks more like sports now. Irrational fandom and support for one's "team" is fine when it is over something trivial like moving a ball from one end of the field to another. It becomes detrimental when it's over things that actually impact our lives." that is probably true. And reporting about politics like sports brought out the worst of the US two party system. The talking head format did a lot of damage too. I came to the US in 2000 and when in 2004 they philosophized for hours about whether people would prefer to have a beer with Bush or Kerry I thought "WTF? What does this have to do with anything?".

52-6F-62 4y ago

Pretty sure 'breaking' meant 'late-breaking' and the colour etc were meant to inflect urgency (also a bit of a sales tactic, but different intent) rather than particularly large news. https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking

52-6F-62 4y ago

Pretty sure 'breaking' meant 'late-breaking' and the colour etc were meant to inflect urgency (also a bit of a sales tactic, but different intent) rather than particularly large news. It's just old newsy lingo. https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking https://www.lexico.com/definition/late-breaking

jakub_g 4y ago
Not a native but for a good while I thought that "breaking news" was TV specific term meaning "we need to break the regular things that were about to be shown because we've got this last minute urgent thing to tell" (think: 9/11, president died etc) Wikipedia seems to agree: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_news https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_news

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

eternalban 4y ago

Ted Turner's CNN was a news network. But then he fell in love with Hanoi Jane and she told him to sell it 'for a good cause'. Once the sale went through, she dumped him. (Watch for Turner's speech on why he made CNN - below CNN's first day on air): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqDopY5dMD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqDopY5dMD8 (short) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhgKuKvvPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhgKuKvvPE (long)

robonerd 4y ago

> the problem is the accompanying music and banner font and color scheme I hate the flashy animated bumpers they (all of them, all American television) use to segue everything. Stars and color gradients swooping around the screen, computer animated robots throwing footballs at each other like howitzers, animated channel logos exploding in fireballs, it's all completely insufferable. Typical examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0efQ5uuYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0efQ5uuYk https://youtu.be/Ou_9snb91lc?t=137 https://youtu.be/Ou_9snb91lc?t=137

spaetzleesser 4y ago
I basically can't and don't watch US TV. Everything is about raising the blood pressure of people.
- bigmattystyles 4y ago
  Oh then you're in luck - most of the ads are for pharmaceuticals. One of them will undoubtedly be for blood pressure.