CNN's cloud of death in upper left corner -- WTF?

[KurtNYC]

I notice now when CNN goes to their Lebanon and Israel locations that they have this weird animation under their "Live" logo. It is a smog-colored cloud that kind of moves and expands.

Usually they have a shot of their guy, on a rooftop with hills behind him so the cloud is usually on top of some house or neighborhood. It makes it look like there is something on fire, or like there is a cloud of glowing crap there. This seems like a cheap gimmick. I am beginning to wonder if they do focus groups and see how high they can raise their blood pressure while they watch. They could test things like how fast to run that annoying crawl on the bottom of the screen, how to write things in that crawl that seem much more sensational if you miss the first part of the sentence and now, what kinds of animation can they sneak onto the screen that make it look like the war is raging.

How long before they just have an animation of something full-on exploding over and over in that corner?

[valerief]

1. CNN--ALL WAR, ALL THE TIME. n/t

[louis-t]

2. "This Week at War" is another example.

Disgusting.