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Big stories packed in little boxes
By Aaron Rustom and Wade Medlock (CNN Headline News)
(CNN) -- We call it "the ticker," but it doesn't tick. Others call it "the crawl," but the news briefs at the bottom right of the CNN Headline News screen don't crawl, either. And those changing boxes of information that amplify the stories told from the anchor desk? They're called "dekos" -- pronounced deck-ohs. For CNN Headline News viewers, they are big stories in small boxes, all part of our dramatic redesign of the Headline News presentation. Thinking inside the boxWhile most of the news writers here are scribes for the ear, some writers compose solely for the eye. Studies show our 24/7 on-screen written information is very popular with viewers. Headline News pioneered news story presentation with the ticker, and has kept to the static and dissolving style instead of the widely criticized story "crawl," the text that scrolls by at the bottom of the screen. Ticker stories span the range of topics, from breaking news to showbiz, sports to business. In a day's time, as many as 200 separate stories will make 15-second appearances on the screen's lower third. The special challenge facing the ticker producers is fitting important information into an 80-character display and making it factual, easy-to-read and understandable. Oh, and the yellow headlines for the ticker stories have the unappetizing name "slugs." Many have been told their first time working the ticker, "These are the 'headlines' of Headline News." So "what," you may ask, are all the other graphics and text for? Gravy my friends, gravy... The deko box just to the left of the anchor, the banners at the bottom, and other supplemental data, are there to add to the on-air stories. We bring more information to the screen, all in an effort to meet viewer needs, wants, and give insights on earlier stories you may have missed. This is in addition to what the anchor is voicing and/or the video is showing; yet each part can stand on its own. Today's viewer doesn't necessarily spend half an hour sitting in their living room watching the news. Our audience may be standing in an airport line awaiting an X-ray of their flip-flops and the body-cavity search that's sure to come from the guard with the "bad attitude" and "big hands." The popularity of this screen-look lies in the fact that we, (the viewers), are sophisticated enough to absorb more information in short bursts and to even demand it from our news. "Tell me all and tell me now!" However, a lot of it may have to do with finding yourself in an, oh I don't know, let's say a bar per chance, where you're able to take-in the news, even without sound while you imbibe your favorite beverages and rap to your friends. And if there's one thing we know at Headline News, it's talk and bars. But believe us when we tell you, the "new look" has nothing to do with our personal needs down at the local watering hole. The greatest compliment we've gotten to date is being featured in the satirical publication The Onion. Playing off the bizarre requests we sometimes make of our outstanding graphics team, The Onion took an all-too-familiar scene in our newsroom and spoofed it: CNN graphic designer asked to combine dollar sign, syringe, fighter jets, pandaATLANTA -- Christine Kannberg, a CNN Headline News graphic designer, expressed befuddlement Monday when asked to create a story logo incorporating a dollar sign, a syringe, fighter jets, and a panda. "I can't even begin to imagine what this one's for," Kannberg said from her workstation. "Maybe, like, the Beijing Zoo was smuggling drugs into the U.S. inside pandas, and we bombed them or something." Last week, Kannberg was asked to create a graphic combining a football helmet, three DNA helixes, a rhubarb pie, and the state of Oregon. Now, while it may never be quite as inane as that, sometimes it hovers on the surreal. Our main attempt is to bring more information to the viewer. The extra text and graphics we provide are meant to enhance what the viewer may want to know, in addition to what the anchor is saying or the video is showing. Of course, we live for the stories that beg to be parodied. More often than not, our ideas don't make it past our editors. But on occasion, we are able to push the envelope just far enough to make our standards and practices folks sit up and take notice. In those instances of genius or depravity, depending on your job within the network, some of our deko requests have made the Hall of Fame. Or Hall of Infamy. One example is a story about a man who was summoned to jury duty. To show his displeasure, the man sent back the summons with excrement and the words, "Stop wasting paper." The deko depicted the "Lady Justice" statue with her mouth covered and holding a rolled-up summons. The headline? "Jury doodie." So if you happen to see a picture of Attorney General John Ashcroft holding a baby and a box of macaroni and cheese, with a marijuana leaf on his shirt -- and the slug "That Just my Baby Daddy" -- you might want to sit a spell to figure out what that could possibly mean.
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