The news is no longer the news. Scott G points out that we are in the midst of some bodacious blending: information & invention, data & political agenda, fact & fiction, actuality & publicity, and truth with whatever else comes to mind.
With the advancement of made-up news that is so prevalent at Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and far too many other places, the public is starting to take everything with a grain of salt. Actually, many who tune to the faux news channels are obviously taking it with bags of salt, after which they wash it down with Kool-Aid.
Please note: I’m not including The Daily Show in this mix because anyone with a conscience and/or an I.Q. above 85 can tell that this is a comedy program, not a news show. (That it happens to present more actual news in a half-hour than most news programming does in several hours is fodder for another column.)
Today, sponsors are able to place their names, logos, slogans, images, and messages in news broadcasts, editorials, feature stories, television programs, interstitials, radio shows, newspapers, magazines, blogs, ezines, Web sites, and even casual conversations in public places.
As reported here in “Advertising R.I.P.” and “Your Panties are Broadcasting on my Frequency” (and several other columns), advertising messages are now EVERYWHERE, including in the news. There are even entire cable news channels where most coverage is made up and everything is available for purchase.
So, what does this mean for advertisers? Well, it may mean quite a lot, including:
* Programming is more likely to be viewed at the same level of acceptance as commercials, and vice versa
* Corporate videos can be sent to news programs and appear as “content”
* Press announcements can show up as scripts happily read by automaton news anchor personalities
* Propaganda can be disseminated easier than ever before
Yes, it’s a fine time for the marketer without morals. As someone said to me the other day, “Everything in this story has been Fox-checked for accuracy.”
“You mean ‘fact-checked,’ right?”
“No, I don’t.”
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About The Author / Editor:
Scott G owns G-Man Marketing in Los Angeles (gmanmarketing.com), where he consults on marketing and sonic branding, creates cross-media advertising campaigns (print, broadcast, Net), produces radio commercials, and composes music and aural IDs for radio and TV spots. He's also partner in Golosio Publishing (songsandsoundtracks.com). © Scott G. (Note: The opinions expressed by The G-Man do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of this site or its publisher.)» Learn More About Scott G
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Scott your comments bring to mid the current disgraceful television broadcast news disease of filling the nightly news program with canned health and beauty aid stories. Then when they run out of this type of story they feed us a three minute story about the pain and suffering a family is going through.
Add these to your above mentioned advertising, and old guys like myself turn it off.
As one who spent twenty years directly working in broadcasting and continues to experience the industry first hand as a sports announcer, at times it makes you want to scream.
Comment by Roy Coffman — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 @ 20:06:16 -0800 PST