On the 10 year anniversary of September 11, 2001 and the week leading up to it, CNN.com provided a multitude of stories exploring different aspects of the day. While most content focused on stories of survivors and their family members, and America remembering the people killed in the attacks, several stories took different approaches.

A story on Monday, the main story on the homepage, stated "Why Muslims are Still Mad at America." I was surprised by the timing of this story. While the 9/11 attacks were the responsibility of a small group of Muslim extremists, many in the country struggle to differentiate the two, especially in regards to 9/11.

A good illustration of that is all of the hoopla surrounding the proposed mosque and community center being built three blocks from Ground Zero, and all of the anger and resurfaced emotions that it brought forth. So for CNN to do a story the week of 9/11 about "them" being mad at "us" was surprising. However, what better time to talk about this difficult subject then when it has been brought to the forefront of our minds because of the anniversary. The nature of the tragedy (i.e. thousands were killed) would hopefully force us to speak in a respectful tone as well.

The website used its iReporters as well to tell several stories of religion, lost loved ones, and calls to serve.

CNN.com offered a unique perspective of that tragic day through the eyes of President Bush's personal photographer. CNN.com also did a piece on the Jay-Z album released the morning of September 11, 2001. Jay-Z's album hit first-week sales that albums by Bob Dylan and Mariah Carey didn't come close to, and the article takes a look at why this was the case.

On September 11, 2001, CNN.com's homepage was devoted to coverage of September 11, as could be expected. However, CNN.com did not run any stories that seemed to have a unique edge to the story, something to make it stand out from every other news organization's coverage. It had an article that covered the various ceremonies and rememberances taking place throughout the day, and it also had a live feed to the ceremony taking place at Ground Zero, but these were things I found at most other news organization's websites.

The one piece that I did find interesting on CNN.coms homepage that offered a unique look at the anniversary was an article about how the Sunday Comics sections in newspapers would be honoring 9/11.

On September 12, CNN.com had all but moved on from 9/11 anniversary coverage, with an article about the Ground Zero memorial opening to the public, and a general recap of the previous day's happenings.

CNN already had a well-established 24-hour news network, but it was not satisfied with that. It added a website where news junkies can find almost everything they are looking for, combining classic journalistic reporting with entertainment news and even helping the average joe become a reporter.

Anyone who wanted to be a reporter but never received the chance to do so now has that chance with CNN.com's iReport tab. Simply make a CNN account and you can post your own reports on CNN.com for everyone to share. CNN will not even edit what you write, so long as it is not reported as offensive. Traditionally readers can only leave comments on news websites or send letters to the editor to get their voice heard.

CNN.com has a U.S. edition, an International edition (which offers you news from six different regions of the world), and a Mexico edition, so whether you are visiting from a foreign country or just want to read the news from a global perspective, or prefer reading Spanish text, CNN has you covered.

The traditional row of tabs can be found on the CNN.com homepage. These tabs include U.S., World, Health, Living, Politics, and Entertainment. I found the politics tab very interesting, with stories about or updates on just about everything going on in Washington D.C. The Tech tab helps keep you abreast of the latest offering the tech world has for you (and we all know that the tech world comes up with something new every day).

While many newspapers, such as my Chicago Tribune, get most of their online content from their paper edition, which has a limited space and where much of that space is devoted to local goings-on, CNN is able to explore almost any topic it wants to, because it is not trying to sell its content to one certain area like newspapers, but to the whole country (and world).

However, if you want local news, there is a bar on the homepage where you can type in your zip code and find stories from local papers. CNN also has a bar where it shows stories that your Facebook friends have shared, helping CNN take advantage of social media and helping you find stories your friends are looking at.

The tabs at CNN.com will also take you to SI.com for your sports fix (I'd recommend ESPNChicago.com for everything you need to know about sports- but if you are by chance interested in other teams, SI is a good website) and CNN Money for the latest on your customized stocks (again, just set up an account to follow live updates of the stocks you want to follow).

While I was not suprised by the wide range of topics that CNN.com covers, I was suprised with how in-depth that material was. CNN definitely will have plenty of quality stories and content for us to look at, so I hope you check out my weekly updates.

Hello, everyone. I am Ben, and I'm a sophomore at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I set up this blog for my Digital Journalism class, and this is my first blog posting for this class and ever. Hopfully we can have some fun with this blog but still look at some of the problems that CNN.cMy instructor for this class is Mr. Herbert Lowe. He has a blog too that you might find interesting, so check it out.

Usually when I am looking for news on the television I will turn on CNN, and I often check out CNN.com on my iPhone between classes. I will be blogging at least once a week based on topics on CNN.com. Hopefully this will be informative for you as I blog about various hot-button topics such as politics and celebrities. 

In my blogs, I will try to give my personal comments on the subject of the articles on CNN.com but also how CNN chose to cover the information and how it might differ from other news sources. I will try to have some fun with it as well. I will have plenty of links in my postings that will take you to even more information as well.