CBS News.com
www.cbsnews.com Accessed Nov 6 2008
CBS News is the television news show run by the Corporate Broadcasting Service. It runs a variety of shows from morning talkshows to the ever-popular “60 Minutes.”
Extent of Community Involvement:
Many stories on the CBS News web site are able to be commented on. Even the lead story, “New Reports Further Dim Economic Outlook” has 21 comments, the number of comments available immediately above the headline. The site can evidently take a great deal of traffic, with the greatest number of comments, at 722, belonging to the post-election story “How Will Obama Govern?” It is at once obvious which stories can take comments, as the site utilizes a small speech bubble icon, which is present beside the headline of each story that can be commented on.
The site also features a box on top of every page that showcases the stories and videos that are most popular among readers and viewers. This box allows viewers to see what others are interested in, and breaks it down by stories, photos, and videos. Because CBS News reaches a large amount of people over a wide area, there is no way for them to cover anything local for “local” readers, but they do allow viewers to have some choice in what they read and to have an opinion that is voiced on the site. Lower down on the front page, CBS News has three boxes for stock news, local weather, and local news. A viewer can enter his or her zip code in and get local information that pertains to their area. This is a very good way to support the reader's interests as an individual while keeping the focus on the CBS News site. Grade: A
Format of Stories:
CBS News began as television-only, but the Internet has allowed the company to branch out into other story types. For instance, not only do they have broadcast videos posted, but they have a very prominent written story section as well as photos. Even on the front page, videos, photos, and corresponding stories are linked to headlines as icons. For instance, the story “U.S. To Speed Up Troop Removals in Iraq” has two icons next to it, one for comments, and one for adjoining video. Within the story pages themselves, the accompanying photo or video has a tab above it for any extra media. CBS has in this way formulated an organized and linked-through method that ties together its videos, stories, and photos. Grade: A
Updates:
CBS News updates its site periodically throughout the day, more often when there is breaking news. There are no update times on the front page, and the stories themselves also do not have update times listed. While it is obvious that CBS News updates its site often (it updated twice while I was looking at it) some times to check from would be more optimal. Also, if a story is updated after being posted with corrections or more information, there is no way for a viewer to know that it has been updated except for it moving up on the front page list. Even a small timestamp would be preferable to nothing at all. Grade: C
Editorial System:
CBSNews.com is headed by the CBS itself under the name CBS Interactive, but the News section has its own editorial and producing staff. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/17/utility/main525997.shtml) The bios of the staff are listed alphabetically on the site, and there are a multitude of correspondents, writers, and editors. Like Time, CBS News obviously has a large and well-placed staff that edits site content. Under the CBS brand, CBS News is held to certain standards, outlined on the CBS corporation site itself. Reporters are to work under a Business Conduct Statement, available on the site at http://www.cbscorporation.com/our_company/ethics/index.php. This conduct statement holds all employees to work as ethically, legally, and fairly as possible. With this sort of leadership, CBSNews.com is held to very high standards that should show in its work. Grade: A
Blogs:
CBSNews.com has a designated blog section available from its home page and its sidebars. It has eight designated blogs available for reading. Some, such as “Couric and Company” outline the day-to-day happenings of being on the job with Katie Couric and her co-workers on CBS News. Others are overviews of the political standpoint in 2008, and there is even a travel blog called “Travel Guru.” These blogs are updated often, some multiple times a day, some every day, and some within a few days. The blog topics are current, commentated by the public, and the blog writers represent a wide range of writers from CBS sections. For instance, the “Couric and Company” blog has entries not only from Katie Couric herself, but from Eric Kuhn, a new young consultant for the group. Grade: A
Final Thoughts:
CBSNews.com is an example of a news source that has made the transition from its original media to the Internet with grace. It features a variety of story types, blogs from its staff, and ways to include its readership in the news. The site itself is easy to find information on, and it does a good job of being a separate part of the CBS corporation, but a representation of the whole. Grade: B