Download.com site feedback: Cnet becoming Political Site

Not really a change...

by John.Wilkinson  - 11/19/08 9:31 AM

Cnet's main focus has been technology, but that has never been its sole focus. For instance, Cnet's news.com (now news.cnet.com) has long covered political, environmental, social, and economical topics which relate to technological issues, and that content has been referenced elsewhere on Cnet as part of the intra-site network. Back in 2004 there were references to and images of George Bush on cnet.com and in Cnet newsletters largely due to his policies on intellectual property, environmental concerns, etc, which directly affect various aspects of technology. One of the featured download.com applications at that time was related to the presidential election, accompanied by a red-, white-, and blue-striped banner, much like the recently-themed Halloween downloads. (Featured downloads have long been chosen largely based on national holidays and major events/issues of the time.) And for several years there have been textual advertisement links in the header of all Cnet websites referencing articles about Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, etc. due to Cnet's ownership of tv.com and mp3.com. Thus, the same types of content are still being presented and displayed; the only difference is that now some of the links go to cbs.com rather than cnet.com.

John