CNN 5 Things - Podcast Rankings and reviews

All of the hosts of this show are fantastic, and I sincerely do not understand other’s criticism of Ifeoma Dike. Her presentation and reading are professional and it is a GOOD quality to have a diverse set of presenters and inflections. Love everything about this pod, from the hosts to the top notch reporting.

I really enjoy and appreciate the efficient and (usually) fair roundup of the news, I listen to news from several sources and CNN usually hits all out at least most of the stories that are immediately relevant. I want to give it five stars, BUT Ifeoma Dike hosts so many of the episodes and she speaks with odd unnecessary pauses in the middle of her sentences which I find completely distracting and hard to listen to.

I am impressed by app’s weekday 5 Things, and weekend 5 Good Things and One Thing programs. 5 Things’ editorial stance is slightly left of center, and the show is delivered with an optimistic tone. On Saturdays, 5 Good Things provides a welcome break from the challenges and threats in the news.

I listen to this podcast every morning driving to work. It keeps me entertained and the news coverage is awesome. I also like the new five good things on Saturdays.

I had stopped listening to 5 Things here and elsewhere because inserting ads part way through a podcast that is LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES long is just insulting and abusive.

To be clear, I am fine with ads to support a program, but only within reason. INTERRUPTING such a short one is the epitome of greed, and is basically a big F-U to the audience. CNN could afford to put out a free five minute microcast that only runs once every three hours if it wanted to do so. Limiting ads to the intro and outro cannot possibly have a material impact on its bottom line.

Now, this one is falsely promoted as “ad-free” over on Amz Music. For the past two weeks, CNN has been interrupting every episode to play ads on its supposedly ad-free feed over there. I had only begun listening at Amz because it came without the obnoxious interruption. There are PLENTY of other micro newscasts out there that have figured out ways to support their programs without inserting ads right into the middle of their extremely short podcasts. And several others honor the ad-free format at Amz Music, including NPR, WaPo, Slate, and even Fox and WSJ.

So I will, once again, dump CNN. 👎🏻

I always listen to 5 Good Things with that sort of suspension of disbelief you need just for the good vibes. Today’s episode, however, really broke my heart. How can you report on Turkey’s “love and protection” of stray cats when they are rounding up stray dogs and either slaughtering them or strapping bombs to them and sending them into caves to kill and root out “undesirables”. Nope sorry. Y’all failed hard today.