LEGACY PRESS WANTS AD REVENUE … NOT INFORMED VOTERS
|| By FITSNEWS || Are you a South Carolina woman between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four? If so, you are the be-all, end-all of the local television market … which evidently exists to cater exclusively to your perceptions (at least as represented by a cardboard cutout).
“When you pitch, pitch to her,” an internal memo from a Palmetto State TV station reads, referring to a cardboard cutout of a woman representing this demographic. ““When you write, write to her. This is who we need watching in February. Women 25-54 is her demo.”
Wow … we knew South Carolina’s mainstream media was bought and paid for. And totally in the pocket of the state’s status quo.
But this? This is ridiculous … it’s pure “fluff fabrication,” a manufactured product in pursuit of an audience, not truth in pursuit of the public interest.
The TV memo – discussed at length by reporter Corey Hutchins in an excellent post for Columbia Journalism Review – once again highlights the elemental, internal biases and self-serving motivations inherent in “journalism.”
To explore the subject a bit deeper, Hutchins interviewed Stanford professor James Hamilton – who has extensively researched the phenomenon of “newscaster pursuit of marginal female viewers.”
“What I’m most concerned about is what economists would call a market failure: that there are certain stories that people need to know as citizens, but they don’t want to know as consumers,” Hamilton said.
Ya think?
Can anybody say “rainbows and unicorns?”
Here’s how it breaks down: Either you’re on board with the whole “government is good” (a.k.a. “everything is awesome“) narrative – which is the mainstream media’s modus operandi – or you are by definition some radical, agenda-driven malcontent. You know, the kind of voice Barack Obama wants to erase from the debate as he pursues “a better politics.”
And his idea of a “better country.”
Our question is simple: How’s all that fluff working out for you?
Wait … don’t answer that.
For the record, we don’t have any cardboard cutouts in our office (well, except this one of Charlotte, N.C. TV vixen Dianne Gallagher). And we don’t cater our “pitches” or “writing” to anything other than the truth – especially when it involves children being stuck in failing government-run schools. Or your pockets being picked. Or rampant dependency being portrayed as “conservatism.” Or media outlets providing cover for self-serving politicians.
Also, we think the notion that women aged 25-54 can’t handle the truth is profoundly insulting … especially coming from a media establishment that pretends to be “pro-woman.”
Don’t listen to us though … like our masthead says, we’re “unfair, imbalanced.”
UPDATE: For those of you keeping score at home, the station using the memo/ cutout is WSPA TV-7 (CBS- Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.). It’s one of several South Carolina news outlets owned by Media General.
RAPID REACTION
Because it is. "We think the notion …women aged 25-54 can’t handle the truth is profoundly insulting" http://t.co/ATzLDL6tS1 via @fitsnews
— Amy Lazenby (@Mrs_Laz) January 29, 2015
@msynan Serving agendas while garnering profit generating ratings is the goal of national news networks.Plenty of $ in lobotomizing punditry
— Christopher Whelan (@OrlandoCountySC) January 29, 2015
52 comments
Will, your Mom looks like a nice lady.
No, that would be Will’s grandmother.
Those Depends bladder control under garments are so sheer, you can hardly tell she’s wearing them.
Corey Hutchins is a Huff-Po insurgent. And you’re quoting him, and claiming angst w/ the MSM…
FITS, you are laughable…You think you can harness the disgust people have w/ the subversives in the Democrat Party, who have commandeered so much of our society…and use it to exalt yourself…
One BIG problem…you are JUST AS Disgusting as the liberals…You ARE them…You were borne of the current left-leaning political machine, and you’ve done nothing but become fat and happy as their lap-dog…
IOW: Triangulate much…???…LMAO…
Seriously..are you really laughing your ass off right now? If sos, why do you seem so angry?
You just don’t seem to be very smart.
Hmmm…you’re the one who seems a bit angry…LMAO…
But instead of always directing your comments toward me: Do you agree w/ what I said about FITS? He accepts “MSM” premises as gospel, and reacts as if everything they tell him – all of their push-poll observations – are true. He never presents original thought, or applies his own reality that would dispute the Establishment media (or “MSM”) as he so cliche-ly calls them…
FITS is just as mundane as they are…yet he tries to sell himself as some sort of counter-culture maverick…do you agree?
I didn’t even read it. In fact, I didn’t even read everything you wrote.
But in what I did read that you wrote, you seem angry, arrogant, and unhappy. Why are you so unhappy? Sometimes, ugly, fat, dull people can have a good life if they just try. You should try harder.
I’d be nice if you contributed something of substance, aside from your hate and ignorance…
I’ll give the hate part (cause I dislike your troll A LOT), but I’d really like you to explain what my ignorance is. What am I missing?
NBCABCCBS• Total Viewers:9,444,0009,125,0007,732,000• A25-54:2,311,0002,191,0001,919,000
Got cable totals?
Got internet totals?
Got hard copy print totals, too? ;~}
Fox News wears all of the rest of the “cable news outlets” out as usual:
https://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/254026504?extension=pdf&from=embed&source=embed
BET beats MSNBC. The Weather Channel beats CNBC and headline News…
Don’t fool yourself that it’s the quality of the crap they repeat every 20 minutes.
Its the women. If there is one thing Fox news does right, they cast some really hot women to be their talking heads.
Then explain why O’Reilly is number one?
Assholes love other assholes.
Takes one to know one.
Because the median age of his viewers are 72 years old. The younger population isn’t watching a news show at 8pm on a week night. Also I suspect that there are more conservatives in the over 65 crowd than liberals.
“Because the median age of his viewers are 72 years old. …”
You are making that up. The median age of the Orally Factor viewers is 45 to 49, average age is 46.
… smart ones, too!
Average age of those 26.5m viewers?
53
Faux has more than those “combined”
Not really, that’s numbers for their “news reporting”, Fox does beat the big three for general viewership.
ESPN is the hands down 24/7/365 winner, followed by USA network for some unknown reason. During the prime time hours, FOX comes in at number 3 (behind ESPN and USA). The rest of the day they’re #6. CNN is number 22.
Are you saying the motherfucking talking heads aren’t “news reporters?”
Of course not, O’Reilly and Hannity are info/opinion not “news”.
However, Reilly gets it right more often than CNN and MSNBC. Hannity “exaggerates” and stretches the point to breaking and beyond a bit to much and his interpretation of events leaves something to be desired,
So you’re a fan of old splotchy, eh?
I catch his show about once a week at 11 when they replay it. I watch very little television and even less TV news. When I do watch, it’s either “boys behaving badly” a la Fast and Loud, Top gear on the BBCA or something on the Military Channel. The boob tube is often on when I’m tying flies or writing but it’s just “white noise”.
When “la merde frappe le ventilateur” or “die Kacke am Dampfen” or “la mierda golpea el ventilador” I generally watch Fox or NBC (NBC out of habit from the days when you had four choices, ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS)
You’re forgiven.
Always knew you had a God complex. Thankfully The Colonel isn’t seeking your forgiveness.
I must be more merciful than you – I forgive without being asked first.
Don’t you ever get tired of him defaulting to “pinhead” when he disagrees with people, or various other insults?
That’s one of the reasons I can’t stand “Judge Judy”. There’s no sense of decorum with those types. Just kind of a self righteous, know it all attitude that seems to demean those holding different opinions even if those opinions are of little import. Rudeness for the sake of rudeness itself, ostensibly to feel superior.
I find it to be low self esteem on display. A life long yearning to prove superiority(at any cost), probably driven by shitty parents.
Oh well, to each their own.
pinhead beats the hyperbolic names many of our other talking heads use.
Exactly.What a bitch.It’s a bad idea to let cameras in the courtroom,much less turn ‘justice’ into entertainment.Same thing goes for Cops and Nancy Grace,although she’s so over the top,you can let off a little steam just hating her.This isn’t the country I grew up in.We’re in the Hellenistic period of America’s decline and fall…;when do we get swallowed by China?
I remember when you had TWO choices,and you had to get up to change the station.Those bunny-ears would make you crazy,and putting an antenna on the roof(God rest their souls).When the TV quit,you pulled all the tubes out,and took them to Zayre to test and replace the bad ones…These kids,today…
Fox News highest rated show had less than 3 million viewers just last fall. The name of it slips my mind
Fox News ratings are pretty much never reported except in comparison to other CABLE outlets, i.e., CNN and MSNBC.
That may be part of the propaganda that the MSM misses, too.
cable…
You’d think people watching faux would be getting antenna tv in trailers.
Funny, when somebody can’t make it in mainstream media or is ignored by the mainstream media, then the mainstream media isn’t serious somehow.
“when somebody can’t make it in mainstream media”
That assumes someone was in ‘it’, to start.(or wanted to be)
The first question to ask is, how do you get in?
“ignored by the mainstream media”-so this assumes that the MSM is “aware”…that’s dubious…but let’s say that’s the case. How would we know they were deliberately “ignoring” a non-MSM outlet?
“What’s driving the MSM?” Revenue and clicks…same as FITS.
Yup! Willie could make it in the MSM local TV in Charleston if he were willing to forego actual investigative reporting and delight his audience with actual TV 5 teasers such as: “Which fast food restaurant makes the best smoothies?” and “Two-headed snake found in South Carolina!”
Sounds like FitsNews headlines. I guess you can’t blatantly kiss Tea Party ass on TV 5?
TV 5 is the blake channel..no tea parties going on there.
Well..from what I read on here, bored “business” (lulz) women aged 25-54 are the greatest consumers of overpriced, bad food and 3 martini lunches in a wannabe cultural setting.
So there is that.
Mean Scream Media changing? … To be more mom friendly?
TV “Experts agree! Everything is just fine!” – t-shirt
Who cares? All porn.All the time.Straight,Gay,etc.It’s all good.Who cares about the stupid news? It’s all a pack of lies,anyway.When I’m watching Dick Nasty fuck yet another bitch,nothing else in the world matters,except the guy sucking my dick.If he’s good,he gets a cheeseburger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyV41-tFPcQ
The MSM has become the propaganda wing of the Democrat party. Everything distributed and heard there should be treated as though it was either produced or approved by the DNC.
Whaaaaaa?
Double Whaaaaa?
What I gather from the links within the entry, is it is all about the $$$. Ratings and age range. The women in this age group spend the most money. This happens a lot with TV shows. Longmire was a hit and was the second most popular show on A&E, but they canceled it because the audience was too OLD.
It’s propaganda for the sheep, nothing more. Got to keep the unwashed in line and thinking correctly. Ignorance is strength. Bahhh.
Is that Santorum’s wife?
Wspa is sensationalized no depth click bait news. It’s like a twitter feed with weather.
OMG. You consider a local TV station ‘MSM’?
This station is just getting back to its roots in a really obvious, desperate way, the roots of radio, TV and Facebook – to sell advertising and promote business for the companies that buy it.
You understand how advertising works, don’t you?
Now, a really interesting SC media story is that Wednesday – I haven’t checked since then – almost every SC paper on the web was running ads paid for by Haley for Governor campaign on a variety of subjects Trikki is lobbying the legislature about or bashing unions which barely exist in this state.
Except, in Charleston and Beaufort counties where the privatized school bus companies are unionized.
And, why don’t you list some links to ‘government is good’ stories?
I would say that since Watergate, the vast majority of stories about government on the local and national levels have been about malfeasance of government officials and ineptitude of agencies like DSS.