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Video of Lewis Black Demanding CNN To Take Down Banner... & They Do It

rawstory.com — nterrupting his interview with CNN's Miles O'Brien and looking toward backstage, Black demanded, CNN to take down the banner from the bottome of the screen. CNN promptly removed the banner and the ticker from the screen for the remainder of Black's interview.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 13, 2006

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  • Pluckie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+107It's amazing how much cleaner it looks without that banner and ticker...
  • TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+63If you want to see just that segment, skip to about 4:30
  • david76, on 10/12/2007, -2/+44If you think the scroller is bad on CNN, try CNBC. They have this graphic at the bottom that's constantly moving. It's the most distracting thing I've ever seen? Don't they know the human eye is DESIGNED to see motion slightly outside of the center of focus? Don't they know every time we see something flash our primative reflexes say "OH *****! TIGER!" and we look at the pretty moving graphic?

    News anchors spend YEARS perfecting the motionless talking head, and then they come along and make everything else on the screen move.
  • GyroLC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+41Jon Stewart and Lewis Black: Reformatting CNN since 2004.
  • djfoci, on 10/12/2007, -1/+42beautiful
    that lower third can really get annoying and worse is when it blocks other things out and they don't remove it in time.
  • mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -6/+45Here's Maddox's take on CNN: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=cnn_sucks

    "Just look at the layout of CNN's Headline News. I guess someone forgot to tell their design department that it's not supposed to be a web page. On the left they have a giant static image taking up 30% of the screen. It usually displays a huge graphic or "fact" about the story that could be summarized with an additional spoken sentence by the reporter. The bottom rectangle displays scrolling news bites and a half-assed weather report (displaying two cities at a time so that the probability of your living in any of the cities listed is next to nothing). What I don't understand is why they repeat the news so often if they supposedly have so much news to report that it's necessary to scroll additional news across the bottom."

    (from 2002)
  • cogsprocket, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36"Mr. Turner, take down these banners!"
  • wistar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32Well, yes, eventually.
  • ClassicJBC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33When they first took it off, it looked a little strange, but after a second you just gotta say, "Damn, that's better!"
  • echo1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27if you want to just see the part the headline speaks of, skip to almost the end.

    the interview takes up the first 4 out of 5 minutes (although it is a good one)
  • modpancake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25Didn't CNN International or something remove their crawl a few months ago? It was a major story on Digg, if I remember correctly...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24FINALLY! Somebody thought of an Adblock for CNN :D
  • CrimsonBlur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22That is awesome! He should have said that way earlier in the interview! The fact that they ACTUALLY took that stuff down is great. I wonder if it's because they didn't want to piss off their guest, they actually respect him, or because the guys in the back in charge of the screen graphics (or the show producers) are Lewis Black fans and thought it'd be funny.
  • Kickboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20From the context, I don't think he really expected them to do it. He was trying to make a valid point that the ticker on the screen is distracting from the news at hand.

    But it was a good interview, so +digg
  • snapcase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Amazing they actually removed it... even if it was only for a moment or two. They really need to cut that ***** out. There is no reason for them to be taking up that much of the screen.
  • jcidiotashram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19i used to watch cnn headline in the morning from 6 am till i go to work. that day it was the weatherman's birthday. he gives weather report every 15 min. so he said that it was his birthday at 6.00, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00 and he was still doing, when we had to watch cnn headline during lunch in the cafeteria. that was the last day i watched cnn headlines.
    same news repeated every 15 minutes and most of the time it is about some one missing or a car chase. we can learn a lot by not watching cnn headlines
  • briguyd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18They simplified their page, still a bar, but much cleaner. It's really only black text on white now. It looks great and I hope to see the same on the other news channels. Take a hint from Google/Apple/any good simple web design on the net.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23"If you think the scroller is bad on CNN, try CNBC. They have this graphic at the bottom that's constantly moving."

    Are you kidding? CNBC is a business/finance channel, and the information at the bottom is live stock market data. They have ALWAYS had that. Moron.
  • wistar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16No but it isn't a common occurence, either.
  • INHUMANITY, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Good for him! That takes balls. I bet his publicist/agent took a ***** when he saw the interview.
  • truebullfan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8CNN should follow what CNN International did when they got rid of the ticker and changed the layout to something simple and clean. Who actually reads the ticker? It gives me a headache
  • econofast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I was a little disappointed though- on his CD, he makes it sound like he sat there silent until they removed it, and replaced it with "The crawl will return after Mr. Black's interview." Comedic exagerration, I guess, but his remembered version of it is funnier. Either way, Lewis rules.
  • AtHomeBoy2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Sadly, i read it. Then I think "what the hell? I dont care about any of this stuff" then i change the channel.
  • sephiroth965, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8See I don't mind the ticker(it's useful sometimes), but the top thing (the part that said ANGER MANAGEMENT) takes up and covers a huge part of the screen! We can see what's going on better on the screen without that huge bar telling us what's going on. Counter productive it is!
  • adminmatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8its funny, he mentions this on his new CD
  • BrandonRadford, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9That was really awesome. If Lewis Black was yelling at me I'd take down the banner too.
  • ckirsch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Obviously they are, he just made CNN his b*tch.
  • Loyaleagle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Wow, what a great interview unto itself. The ending makes it diggworthy, but even still I enjoyed watching it.
  • SuperOmegaSlack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@thefirstenemy
    Thanks for stating the obvious, I don't believe anyone said that what he did was "magical".
  • Kalluas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I totally agree. I don't like CNN very much, but when they got rid of the ticker you have to go wow that does look a lot better.
  • joelmole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's one of those things you don't really realize how much it bugs you until it's gone. Check out how BBC news does it if you can. The minimalism they practice is a huge breath of fresh air.
  • mightymouse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8This should be in the videos section.

    Anyways, I only read the ticker when whatever's on get's boring but I want to keep on watching it.
  • timdorr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This is the 2nd time they've removed it. This was recorded just today or yesterday (based on the Haliburton thing).
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Yeah when they say for the "rest of the interview " about 2 minutes in I'm thinking is he going to say something about the freaken banner.
    4 minutes in i am wondering why i am watching this. Then finally the banner goes away. very climatic.. It was cool though.
  • pacdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Wrong article. You look like a douche.
  • speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Here is the shortened version cut to when he starts saying to remove the banner:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=FwZ-I-bJJwc
  • CaptainMidnight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Saw it this morning, at around 9.

    I was amazed that I could see the anchorman's feet.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Hell, the only time I watch the ticker is if I'm in a bar and they don't have closed captioning enabled on the TVs. Otherwise, it's just frackin' annoying.
  • kazem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3One again, he's my hero.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There is a reason why the news-tickers and lower thirds are crammed in there.

    The magic words are "information overload".

    No matter what people on screen may be talking about there is always
    information scrolling by and/or written in the headline that keeps people
    worried and/or stressed, just as they mention in this show.

    Keeping people stressed and worried are core components if your goal
    is to control people. This works both in how people recieve the "news(sic)"
    and also how long they remember details in the same "news".

    A stressed mind is less likely to remember important details that may have been
    percieved as "odd" or "fishy". A stressed mind is more likely to remember details
    that are related to danger and safety. This is how the big media brainwashing works.
  • dignon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I hate the way they use the tag at the bottom of the screen to take some quote from the guest, completely out of context, that frames the way that the viewer is going to perceive the guest. They do it constantly - usually attempting to make anyone that is in the least bit liberal to look stupid - its so obvious and infuriating. Even in this rather benign interview they use "Lewis Black - "Nothing's sacred" ", for example. Seriously, is that valuable?!? Lose it. Permanently.
  • minerva43, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Lew is a great guy, I just met him at a book signing this Monday. I like how CNN *immediately* took the crawl off the bottom of the screen. Don't want Lew to freak out any more and scare their 8 morning viewers. Nice vid.
  • colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Wrong thread buddy.
  • deltwalrus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4After the interview was over, the sound you heard was millions of Americans turning the channel back over to Comedy Central to get their daily dose of news.

    ...Lewis Black kicks ass...
  • netMASA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That was way too long. Thanks for the short version though
  • speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I cut the video down:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=FwZ-I-bJJwc
  • knobwrangler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Miles O' Brien was being a smartass when interviewing Lewis. I did not appreciate his tone. He should go work for Fox News, ahem I mean Satan.
  • easyfrag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeah, I think that was an earlier interview (probably for the hardcover version of his book). He mentions on the CD that CNN put up a notice like "The ticker will return after the interview with Mr. Black". Now THAT I would love to see.
  • p5ychop3nguin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Why would you give someone's private phone number out online anyway? Would you like it if people kept prank calling and spamming you for no reason? Ok, so he got angry for no reason but that's no excuse for you to get him spammed.

    Also, wrong thread dumbsh*t.
  • Vironex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The interviewer was such a massive tool.
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