CNN & Editorial Review

By: Ryan, on January 12, 2010

Last night I was browsing CNN before going to bed and I clicked on the link to this article about upcoming blockbuster movies from the main page. I was surprised (as were the rest of the readers) to find out that Avatar 2 was going to be coming out in 2010, despite the lack of a script. The Book of Eli was left off the list entirely. The original Clash Of The Titans was released nearly 20 years ago instead of the more historically accurate nearly 30 years ago and would be starring an actor named “San Worthington” who seems to have gotten a pretty big break here. Finally the article also pointed out that Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time was going to be based on the original 1989 Prince Of Persia video game instead of the 2003 Sands Of Time installment of the franchise on which the movie is actually based.

San Worthington?

Post “Almost 20 years after the first…” edits.

Now, admittedly this is all pretty nit-picky. But five fairly large errors in one article (possibly more that I didn’t catch) speaks volumes about CNN’s editorial review process. It makes you wonder how rigorous their research is on more important topics and bigger headlines. Do they only bother to read the first few sentences of a Wikipedia entry when they’re reporting on world events as well?

I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of the mistakes observed in the comments had been edited this morning. However, the ones that hadn’t been pointed out were still sitting there clear as day, meaning no one at CNN actually bothered to go re-research the article and do some basic editing and fact-checking. That’s just poor journalism, even if it’s a fluff article.

The last thing, and this is probably an article unto itself, CNN’s profile management is completely broken. I struggled through trying to get my chosen screen name and profile image to show up in my profile last night, but sadly after 8 attempts I decided it was a fruitless endeavor and gave up. That’s a big usability fail, CNN.