E-Mailbag: Riled Up About Pop-Ups
Ever get annoyed when that SUV ad drives right through the article on gas prices you're reading online? We received this e-mail from Greg E., who was irked about pop-up ads on the CBSNews.com Web site.
"Why do news Web sites go out of their way to circumvent pop-up blockers? If a pop-up blocker is enabled the user obviously does NOT want to see them. I understand the advertising standpoint, but these are reputable news organizations, and I would think they would respect a user's wishes. I also realize you can't speak for all networks, so why does CBS do it?"
We asked Michael Sims, director of News and Operations at CBSNews.com, to field this one:
"Web sites are very expensive to produce, especially those sites that produce original content. There are only two ways to pay for production of this site, through advertising or subscription. We have chosen to be a free, advertising-supported site (after all, we have to be able to pay those Public Eye people!). We always take into account the user experience when considering new ad formats and presentations. We put strict limits on rich media and pop-under ads (we don't accept pop-over ads). We constantly monitor user feedback and make changes based on that feedback. After all, we want to build a loyal readership, and we can't do that with a bad user experience."
There was a second part to Greg E.'s inquiry, which quite clearly applies to us here at Public Eye:
"In general, if most/all news organizations are doing something that upsets people, who do we (the consumer) complain to, to make it a 'story'? Who watchdogs the watchdogs?"
Welcome to Public Eye, Greg, that's one of the reasons we're here. For example, on Tuesday, we addressed some criticism that had been floating around about a segment on last Sunday's "Face the Nation." We discussed it again yesterday after a significant amount of criticism was still rolling into our inbox.
While we can't respond to every e-mail, one of the fundamental aims of Public Eye is to address the concerns of CBS News consumers, so keep the criticism (and even the commendation) coming in.