Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

A little over a month ago, CNN.com announced a dramatic redesign of its Web site. Headed up by general manager KC Estenson and creative director Brian Martin, the site now has a tidied-up, stripped-down interface that uses lots of video to showcase the dynamic nature of breaking news. Simplifying news design is a bona fide trend--Reuters' revamp and Aol.'s pending relaunch are two more recent projects that come to mind--but CNN.com has three secret weapons powering the journalistic machinery behind the smart new look: a wealth of broadcast-quality video, brand-name journalists, and recently hired vice president and managing editor Meredith Artley. She's responsible for a way of thinking that aims to change the way both CNN.com and CNN reporters work.

Artley views the newsroom as a cohesive unit, or, as she calls it, a "giant candy store," where the knowledge of contributors from all corners of CNN can be creatively combined to produce comprehensive, multimedia coverage of any story. Joining the team just before the redesign, Artley encouraged reporters not only to use the latest streaming video technology and share resources but to actually tell stories in a different, often more personal way. "This is a place for journalists to really have an impact," Artley says. "I think we can change the future of storytelling."

I'm torn on CNN.com's recent redesign. Major headlines are belittled to the left while sexy news takes up the primary column. Never mind that boxes are boring, albeit easy from a number of content management standpoints. That said, I do like more reliance on embedded video and NewsPulse is simple and nice feature.

I'm glad that Fast Company chose to cover this. And wow, a media story not about the death of mainstream journalism which, IMHO, will reclaim the throne once the jesters are caught sleeping at their TweetDecks.