CNN: Best News Site on the Web

CNN: Best News Site on the Web

If a person really cares about important events taking place in the world that affect people, that affect communities, countries, the environment and wildlife, you need to have a website to log onto in order to instantly become informed about any and all important issues and places. The CNN website (www.cnn.com) is my favorite place to get the news. There are many news organizations that have fairly good websites but CNN's website has more links to more issues, and www.cnn.com keeps political opinions on a separate link while other news sites, like Fox News, use the home page to promote political propaganda and to attack viewpoints that are not conservative. In fact www.CNN.com has the user-friendliest applications of any news site. The specific reasons why I prefer going to www.cnn.com will be presented in this paper.

Why I think CNN is by far the Best News Website on the World Wide Web

When did I first get interested in the news and in CNN television news? When CNN (Cable News Network) went on the air in Atlanta, Georgia, it was the first 24-hour news network on television. The date was June 1, 1980. There were no other cable channels that broadcast news from around the world on a 24-hour basis. CNN became a trusted name in news and it was the only network that carried the live launch and explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. While I was growing up in the 1990s, my parents were CNN junkies, watching the news before work, after work, and I became very interested in the way news was delivered so instantly.

There was no Internet in 1980. But technology has come a long way in its development since CNN first appeared on the TV screen, and now many people, including me, get their news and information mostly from online, including on iPhones (I have one). For me, I like to choose what stories I read and not have to watch what any television news network decides is what I should know about. So I go to www.CNN.com several times a day. On Tuesday, July 10, there is a story featured on the home page that interests me greatly. I am very interested in knowing how the new leader, Kim Jong Un, the son of controversial and combative Kim Jong Il, will behave. In the article (with photos) the new North Korean dictator is seen with a female at two events that that could signal that the new leader may be a kinder, more open person. What this indicates, CNN explained, is that fears that North Korea would launch a nuke may now be reduced.

When printing a news story from www.cnn.com, which I do for my research, it is easy to find the "print" button (it is not always easy with many news sites), and when the printable page comes up some very helpful links appear just to the left of the story. The user can change the size of the font, the can ask for "less ink" (really important with the cost of ink cartridges), the user can "add a note" or even "remove images" so what gets printed is just the copy. If a user decides not to remove the photos from the story -- after removing them -- he or she can click on "undo" and the page returns to its original format. On July 10, www.cnn.com offered 24 story teasers (brief phrases highlighting the crux of the story) on the left hand column, some straight news items ("Woman details life as a Scientologist") and others a bit more in the feature category ("Fish with human-like teeth found…").