It used to be CNN’c inane crap they’d try to present as “news”. Now I’ve noticed that all CNN articles with videos self-play when you open the article.
:smack:
First off, I never view the CNN video articles. I can glean the information from print a lot faster than sitting through some video.
Don’t they realize that 99.9999% of web users hate self-play video?
What’s next, MySpace era page backgrounds with crappy music you can’t mute?
(Actually, I hope it’s not just a browser setting that I accidentally enabled.)
I think the prevailing thought is that with the Twitter age, nobody bothers to read anything if it’s more than 140 characters. Og on a stick, not everybody uses Twitter! Social Media toys aren’t really that necessary, bitches.
One place I contracted with required us to learn how to use our phones, but instead of providing us with help cards and text files, we had to watch videos online. We had to watch them all the way through before we could gain access to the phone functions. I would have learned how to use the f*cking phone in far less time than watching the stupid video and navigating their clunky intranet!
Sometimes I think we’re being conditioned for the day when everybody becomes incapable of reading past hashtags.
If I see a video icon on a story that I’d like to read I open a new tab and google the story and find a site without video. I’m at work and can’t sit here playing videos all day.
If you don’t like auto-play videos, do what I do: install plug-ins like FlashBlock so that you have to click on the Flash widget to activate the video. I haven’t checked this on CNN recently, but it works on most sites.
I’m with you about the importance of text. As soon as I see any online video with a talking head in it, I start looking for a transcript. I can skim text and read as quickly as I want to. If I’m stuck watching someone talk, I have to go at their pace. So there are plenty of us out there who think that a page of text is the instant gratification option.
As for CNN sucking in general… ::sigh:: I’ve just given up on TV news altogether. *Nobody *carries actual news anymore. It’s all “Headline: ISIS did something yesterday. Don’t worry about the details or the facts, they’ll just confuse you. Instead, here’s our panel of ideological pundits who will talk out of their asses for five minutes in the hopes that you’ll buy their books.” It’s like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective became a news anchor.
This morning I was watching CNN when that story about the man who allegedly forgot his toddler in the car was being broadcasted. It was kind of sickening watching the reporter tell it with a gleam in her eye and a bit of a smirk. Ugh.
I subscribe to Upworthy, and I’m seriously unsubscribing because it would be a lot easier if they would tell me what their videos are going to show me instead of making me sit through an unexplained video.
CNN, MSNBC, FOX are in the entertainment business, not the news business. They know their demographic and pander to them scootergirl. Cruize by Aljazeera America sometime. Check out who works for them (on-air staff). A lot of seasoned American TV journalists.