A CNN Obituary

For quite a while now I have been getting the growing impression that CNN and cnn.com have turned into a pop culture magazine rather than a serious news organization. There is room for both things in the world I guess, and ready audiences for each.

But no organization should be one, while pretending to also be the other.

Our family recently suspended our satellite TV subscription for various reasons, and one of the things I thought I would miss (but as it turns out I do not) is CNN.

Today I checked cnn.com for the top news stories, and unfortunately I think it may be time to write the obituary of the news organization that once was. If it once was, CNN no longer appears to be a serious journalistic effort.

CNN has become an 800 pound tabloid in the room.

In the "Latest News" section (the top-center prime real estate of the home page) there are links to 18 stories. Here are 7 of them:

Athlete says steroids forced sex change
'Detective' asks store for free porn
TV golf in a tailspin without Tiger
Pole dancing helps strip off the pounds
Miley spills on Jonas brother romance
Bush hugs bikini-clad U.S. Olympians
Pelican stops Golden Gate traffic

Like an afterthought, the very last of the list of 18 is "Russia hits U.N. cease-fire draft". Today's important events (such as Russian troops and tanks actually invading Georgia; news about Zimbabwe's Mugabe; Jordan's king visiting Iraq for the first time; the Olympics; the U.S. presidential candidates; updates in Darfur; and MUCH more) have true significance in our world -- but on cnn.com these are buried below Miley Cyrus, which is ridiculous.

So tonight, almost HALF of the so-called Latest News top stories on the CNN home page are about juicy tabloid headlines, specific to the U.S., titillating stories which don't warrant this attention, especially to push aside all other significant news today. (Besides the ones I listed, others in the "top 18" are fringe as well.)

An incredible news organization, CNN is able to put a crew on location almost anywhere in the world within a few hours to beam live news coverage and snag interviews with top diplomats, experts, and world leaders. They've got localized CNN broadcast in many parts of the world. The international version runs in most airports around the world.

What does CNN do with all this muscle? They post (on their website but also broadcast on their 24hr cable news station) sensational sidebar stories about pole dancing and pelicans and sex and celebrities. How do you define malpractice in journalism, and does CNN belong in the same sentence?

Even Larry King, for decades a brilliant interviewer, has either lost his own way or is following orders from people who seem to have lost their journalistic compass. While important news happens elsewhere in the world, you can often find Larry interviewing someone who knows something about Anna Nicole or the like.

I do try to keep an open mind, but for now, aside from periodic health-checks of cnn.com, I'll be finding real news elsewhere. That has been the case already for many months, because I wasn't finding it at CNN, but today's CNN check was a little more blatant than usual.

"Do not let anyone lead you astray."
("Don't let anyone divert you from the truth."  / The MSG)
I John 3:7