Critique of CNN's New Look

Not everyone likes the new look of CNN's set...

CNN's new angle can be dizzying by Richard Huff, NY Daily News

CNN changed its onscreen look this week.

After watching for a few days, I'm certain that someone there must own stock in Dramamine.

That's because it's hard to watch CNN for any length of time without getting seasick.

Almost every segment starts with the camera taking a long shot of the anchor, then zooming in and occasionally swirling around the side and over the anchor's shoulder. None of this is smooth, either.

Factor in the changing backdrops - the weather folks work the map, while the camera is moving in and out - and the result is like riding a Tilt-a-Whirl with a bad stomach.

That's not all. White House correspondent Ed Henry does his daily reports outside before a constantly moving camera. It's hard to focus on what Henry is saying because the screen is moving.

CNN is the latest news outlet to use movement as way to look different. Locally, stations have been toying with visuals for some time.

Watch local news and you'll see anchors standing and walking across sets. You'll also see correspondents in the field darting in and out of the picture.

It's as if someone decided the way to keep people watching is to look busy. Forget the stories, movement will get those eyeballs.

Crooked camera angles? Giant words onscreen? Image manipulation to make clips look like old movies? Anchor's heads popping off the screen? (Tune into WPIX/Ch. 11 some nights and it looks like Jim Watkins is coming through the screen.)

All that and more can be found nightly, and none has resulted in significant ratings gains.

What's sad is that every conversation these days between people in the news business defaults to how the audience can be maintained or grown.

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