Saw the News, Bought the T-shirt

I am all for news organizations finding a way to stay financially viable. Mostly, I believe if they can remain relevant to their readers, they’ll make it. (I know, overly simplistic, but that’s the core for me – stay relevant.)

While poking around CNN.com today, I saw an extra little icon at the end of a couple of story headlines. I was used to seeing the video icon, telling me this was a video story instead of a text one. But the new icon looked like, well … a t-shirt.

And it was.

Next to the following stories, you could click on a link and order a t-shirt with the headline printed on it:

• DUI gizmo might’ve been wrong for 2 years
• Principal sets up drug sting on student
• Prince drops copter in galpal’s yard
• Weird fish leave sea, spawn on beach

We wonder why our readers don’t turn to us? Maybe it’s because we’ve given up hope on being news sites and are now entertainizing everything, trying to make it palatable.

I thought the “spotted” idea was bad … now this.

There should be a rant right here about how JOURNALISTS need to take their news product back. How we need to fix this before a bunch of business-school drop-outs try to entertainize all that we do in a search for unrealistic profit margins, but if you’re reading this, you’ve probably got your own rant going.