CNN Mobile doesn’t sit back and throw headlines at you all day like other news apps, it also calls all iPhone users to a higher purpose of collective journalism—for a marginal $1.99 fee, of course.
Don’t get me wrong, the app’s library of archived videos and photo-friendly interface alone is worth the reasonable price. Video news packages are nearly in real time and a search function will find your current location and breaking news nearby. The app requires a constant Internet connection to watch videos, which can look a little stretched when formatted to your iPhone screen, but it does let you select and save the text from your favorite stories for later offline reading.
That said, CNN Mobile is much more than a news app that regurgitates current events for the news junkie, it’s a tool that allows users to contribute through an updated citizen journalism function called iReport. This section puts out a half dozen daily assignments about top stories and asks viewers, “Are you there? Send us your images and stories.” It then lets you upload your own files straight to the CNN News Desk.
In a time of perpetual media downsizing, how else do you expect CNN to fill a 24-hour news cycle with inexpensive content and still have reporters everywhere?
Ad alert: Don’t be surprised if you see Chevron and Lexus banners all over your phone while using this app.
