CNN foolishness
: Kevin Sites, CNN correspondent, has been told to stop blogging. Others have decried this and now I’ll join the chorus.
I’m a big media executive type — in a suit, even — and I have to say that this is short-sighted on CNN’s part.
I have no idea what CNN’s problem is. I can imagine a few scenarios — e.g., some editor worries that Sites won’t do his work (he’s in a warzone; what else is he going to do?) or some editor worries that they’re not editing what he writes (if you don’t trust him, don’t hire him).
Bottom line is that CNN proves it is out-of-date.
MSNBC has weblogs.
FoxNews has weblogs.
My big media company has weblogs. Knight Ridder has weblogs. USA Today has weblogs. The BBC has weblogs.
But CNN doesn’t.
CNN is not only disrespecting Sites, it is disrespecting his audience, and it is disrespecting bloggers as a whole — which is a mistake, since we, fellow bloggers, are now influencers. Ken Layne says CNN is the old fart network. We’re quoting that. It is a meme that can take over — unless some wise CNN executive sees the trouble and slaps some bureaucratic underling on the wrist and begs Sites to begin again.
CNN used to be the cutting edge network. It is no more. It needs blogs to get back to the future again.
