CNN's stupidity: tracking CNN's sellout to crap journalism

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CNN has been pissing me off these days. They are really turning up the stupid, from their weekly "6 degrees" games (which just aren't news by the largest stretch imaginable) to their "soft" journalism such as coverage of Guitar Hero high scores and Twitter and Facebook minutiae. So I've decided to collect their stupidity here and hope that they can be convinced to work on news, not pop garbage.

Today I found this in one of their articles:

CNN wrote:

Englishman Terry Herbert, who was using a metal detector he bought more than a decade ago in a jumble sale for only a few pounds (dollars).

Fuck you CNN. Pounds are not dollars.

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Breaking news!

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

CNN has been pissing me off these days. They are really turning up the stupid, from their weekly "6 degrees" games (which just aren't news by the largest stretch imaginable) to their "soft" journalism such as coverage of Guitar Hero high scores and Twitter and Facebook minutiae. So I've decided to collect their stupidity here and hope that they can be convinced to work on news, not pop garbage.

Today I found this in one of their articles:

CNN wrote:
Englishman Terry Herbert, who was using a metal detector he bought more than a decade ago in a jumble sale for only a few pounds (dollars).

Fuck you CNN. Pounds are not dollars.

Yeah that's totally wrong. But I can understand what they were getting at - they used the word 'pound' to describe weight just a few sentences before, and were trying to delineate the difference, and screwed up.

Not that CNN doesn't suck, I'm right there with ya bro. The only person I like there is Rick Sanchez and occasionally Anderson Cooper, when he remembers that he's got balls.

Cycloptichorn

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Seriously CNN, what kind of idiots do you have for readers these days? I'd even take the imperial system over your measurements.

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Not CNN but I stumbled across an article about Jaycee Dugard under the "Entertainment" heading of Google news the other day.

Yuck.

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@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Yeah that's totally wrong. But I can understand what they were getting at - they used the word 'pound' to describe weight just a few sentences before, and were trying to delineate the difference, and screwed up.

They didn't need to make any effort to delineate the difference to their audience over 10. We get it. You buy stuff for pounds (currency) and weigh stuff in pounds (weight measurement).

We're clear CNN!

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Cycloptichorn wrote:
Yeah that's totally wrong. But I can understand what they were getting at - they used the word 'pound' to describe weight just a few sentences before, and were trying to delineate the difference, and screwed up.

They didn't need to make any effort to delineate the difference to their audience over 10. We get it. You buy stuff for pounds (currency) and weigh stuff in pounds (weight measurement).

We're clear CNN!

I think you have hit a great point here - CNN's audience includes many, many idiots. And they play to them.

You get it, but the dude in my office next to me just now didn't. He just asked me 'what's so funny?' I explained it to him. He then said, 'What's a Pound Sterling?"

I tell ya, it's ridiculous that this mofo has his MBA, degrees don't mean shit when it comes to not being an idiot

Cycloptichorn

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@Robert Gentel,

I got disgusted with "news" reporting a long time ago and have found just turning it off actually helps. Their biggest draw is Larry King, and that's just gross.

News has become this drippy, sappy, cheerful infotainment crap. I find I'm way less crabby when I ignore the TV news media.

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@Gala,

I'm not talking about their TV news, which I imagine is much worse, I'm talking about their website.

There are still plenty of places like the NY Times where you can get news without losing IQ points in the process and CNN online wasn't always this vapid.

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@Gala,

Gala wrote:

I got disgusted with "news" reporting a long time ago and have found just turning it off actually helps. Their biggest draw is Larry King, and that's just gross.

News has become this drippy, sappy, cheerful infotainment crap. I find I'm way less crabby when I ignore the TV news media.

I saw Larry King interviewing Ann Richards last year (or the one before?) before she died, and the combined oldness of the two of them began to actually suck the youth right out of me, through the TV screen.

Cycloptichorn

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@boomerang,

That might have been untoward, and maybe "human interest stories" would have been a better category but that's a lesser gaffe to me and interesting that it was made by a computer not a human.

CNN's humans aren't as smart as Google's computers.

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@Robert Gentel,

How high is a fridge, exactly?

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@InfraBlue,

6 microwaves and half a toaster.

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@Robert Gentel,

Actually, their TV news has improved just a smidge since Wolf Blitzer semi-retired. Man, he was a hyperbolic blowhard.

This certainly won't be news to you, but the problem really does lie in the 24 news cycle. I also think it has something to do with technology overload.

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@Cycloptichorn,

Ha. Although, Ann Richards was pretty cool. Larry King is just plain gross.

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@Robert Gentel,

Oh goodness, I see what you mean, now. It's a lot like the yahoo page. Once a week the "news" offers "7 quick dinner recipes" , a variety of celebrity stories, and then human interest stuff...although after seeing the flood 3 fridges high I think CNN probably has yahoo beat in the stupidity category.

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@Gala,

Gala wrote:

Actually, their TV news has improved just a smidge since Wolf Blitzer semi-retired. Man, he was a hyperbolic blowhard.

This certainly won't be news to you, but the problem really does lie in the 24 news cycle. I also think it has something to do with technology overload.

Wolf recently went on Jeporady, and ended up with a grand total of $-4600 dollars. The worst I have ever seen anyone do.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Quote:

Wolf recently went on Jeporady, and ended up with a grand total of $-4600 dollars. The worst I have ever seen anyone do.

As you've further illustrated by this bit of information; there's something simply not right about him.

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@Cycloptichorn,

Man was that pathetic.

Andy Richter was on fire that night.

How ironic was that? A newsman absolutely whipped by a comedian (although, ever since I saw Richter on Late Night with Conan O'Brian, I thought he was a very bright guy).

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CNN's stupidity: tracking CNN's sellout to crap journalism

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