Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Re: U.S. Media (NMOC)

Jeremy Oviatt joviatt@bowg.com
Fri, 18 Oct 2002 16:56:09 -0600


This is a subject that has made me sick for some time.  News and media
in general. It is impossible to find a real source for real news.  So
much of what we see in the news is not news at all.  Being in the
advertising industry (evil, I know), it is so blatelantly obvious the
much of the news shows and newspapers are "purchased." It is Public
Relations spun to sound like news.  So much time is spent on this
because of the money it generates for the media companies.  It's no
secret that there big $$$ are in the media.  Guerilla Marketing has been
all the rage for the past few years and a big part of that is to find
way to "trick" the consumer into getting a commercial when the think
they are getting something else.  From product placement in a sitcom to
businesses buying time on local television news.  Locally, the morning
news programs has 15 minutes of  a live remotes at a local business for
every 3 minutes of actual news stories.  It's so bad that tv & radio now
have sponsorships for different parts of the news, where you can have
your companies logo flashed across the screen while you sponsor the
local weather forecast.  


The other sickening factor is the sensationalism.  Because there are so
many sources out there vying for our attention, only the most
sensational and "attention getting" stories make the news.  The one that
hits closest to home and guarantees that the average American will tune
in to hear the story. Why because the media companies get paid based on
viewership.  Another way to do that is to "expand" their coverage of
more than "world events".  Now you can tune in to find out how much Tom
Cruz is getting paid for his next movie (which is most likely a PR stunt
by the Movie companie to generate "buz" about the movie), or to hear
about the latest toy craze that is sweeping nation (which is most likely
a PR stunt by the Toy maker). The more consumers they reach the more
they can charge for Advertising placement in their news. They promise
that when you run and ad with them, you will get to reach x amount of
consumers.  This may be oversimplified, but The only real goal for them
is to reach more consumers so that they can charge more ad dollars.  As
you can see none of this has anything to do with news or dispelling
useful information to the public.  These media conglomerates basically
sensationalize to get attention and then waterdown their content till
they are everything to all people and as such they become nothing to
anyone.  

So we are left with commercials in our news programs and attention
given to the hottest and most close to home event regardless of what
else may have happened that day.  We see more time spent relaying the
money made by a movie than informing the public of the latest events of
the middle east.  We are informed of the latest breakup in hollywood
while a virtually unknown bill is rushed through congress and passed
into law with obscurity.  

I'll shut up now..........Thanks for reading my rant.