summaries/rundowns in media

i've been noticing a trend in media lately....
- cnet has been doing it a while...
- i just read a scotsman article that does it...
- msnbc seems to do it incessantly throughout the day...

...giving a summary of an article or schedule (cnet uses "what's new"/"bottom line", scotsman "key points"/"key quote", while msnbc a story "rundown").

while these are basically media standard 'tease(r)s', sometimes i simply take in these bullet points and move on. i imagine these must be effective in gaining and maintaining audience (otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it)...

but couldn't it also be counterproductive?

¶ - nitish @ 6:04 PM