CBS News joins the 21st century
Posted by Mark Winegar on September 10, 2008
CBS News now publishes their reports and editorials online.
I think its the most user-friendly news site on the net today. Videos are categorized and easy to access. The player well designed and facilitates sharing. There is currently an error in their embedding code which renders that functin useless but I’m sure they will have it resolved shortly. The video is crisp and can be resized to fill the screen with a single mouse click. The sound is clear and the volume is easily adjustable. I found the default volume setting plenty loud enough. The offerings are complete from the evening news to 60 Minutes. There are even reports made especially for the web!
CBS is paying its way on the web though advertising. Each report begins with an advertisement. I watched a 44 minute episode of a 48 Hours and saw 6 advertisements. That’s far fewer than you’d see on broadcast television and a small price to pay for quality information.
Video on the World Wide Web is approaching a critical mass where paying for cable broadcasting will become unpopular. Why view your programming on the networks schedule when you can pick and choose your programming at will and for free?
This is an important new tool for educators. We can show relevant reports in the classroom and embed them into our web courses. These reports can help learners ground new information presented in our classes because they are timely and reflect the world we live in.
