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CNN International is undergoing "incremental" improvements in its website to give it a more visual and human orientation, according to Peter Bale, CNN International's vice president and general manager of digital.
A greater prominence of comment and analysis, photography, video and "human curation" are all planned for the website over the coming months.
"All sites are, or need to be, in a perpetual state of improvement," said Bale, speaking to Journalism.co.uk. "Nothing should ever be static and this is a slightly bigger update to the page which puts us on a pathway to make some other improvements that will come through in the next few months."
In response to reader demand, a large part of the strategy is enhancing and emphasising the depth of content available through CNN International, said Bale, with a specific focus on comment and analysis. While longer-form content would feature more heavily at the weekend in "a slightly more magazine look", daily comment would be published to "make some quite early assessments about where things might go" without it being a "second day newspaper approach".
He highlighted a recent article by Simon Tisdall on the whereabouts of Edward Snowden, and Robyn Curnow's article on the ailing Nelson Mandela as key examples of relevant content produced quickly.
"It is a distinguishing factor for us to have so many good people in good places and that's what I want on the page."
This human element is another factor which CNN are looking to promote, with more visible bylines on the front page and the existing Editor's Choice bar of regularly updated articles chosen by regional editors and attributed accordingly.
"It's about 'there are humans like me behind this product, there is somebody who is prepared to put their name to it, there is accountability to the CNN brand and I know that these people have real people in these places and that they are CNN people'," said Bale, on what some of these changes bring to the reader. "And I think that's very important for us to emphasise."
This strategy will be joined in the coming weeks by an increased use of photography and video on the frontpage of the CNN International website, intending to combine CNN's human element with a stronger emphasis on visuals.
"A guy called Joe Duran has done some wonderful stuff from Syria, which was natural, sound reporting," said Bale of video content specifically made for online, "and we've also done some pieces where a really famous correspondent like Nic Robertson can explain in a non-mawkish way why he does what he does."
While it may seem "arcane", said Bale, the use of fonts and "design cues" to direct the reader would also play a bigger role on the site in terms of highlighting specific areas.
"We're on a journey here," he said, "and we're only at the beginning of it but I think there's an opportunity to redefine that in our own terms."
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