SC

What’s Driving The MSM? It Isn’t “News”

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…

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

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52 comments

Bible Thumper January 29, 2015 at 1:48 pm

Will, your Mom looks like a nice lady.

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idcydm January 29, 2015 at 2:32 pm

No, that would be Will’s grandmother.

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Bible Thumper January 29, 2015 at 6:45 pm

Those Depends bladder control under garments are so sheer, you can hardly tell she’s wearing them.

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GrandTango January 29, 2015 at 2:02 pm

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…

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E Norma Scok January 29, 2015 at 2:31 pm

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.

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GrandTango January 29, 2015 at 3:14 pm

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?

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E Norma Scok January 29, 2015 at 8:07 pm

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.

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GrandTango January 29, 2015 at 8:31 pm

I’d be nice if you contributed something of substance, aside from your hate and ignorance…

E Norma Scok January 30, 2015 at 10:37 am

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?

The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 2:04 pm

NBCABCCBS• Total Viewers:9,444,0009,125,0007,732,000• A25-54:2,311,0002,191,0001,919,000

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FastEddy23 January 29, 2015 at 2:42 pm

Got cable totals?

Got internet totals?

Got hard copy print totals, too? ;~}

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The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 4:34 pm

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…

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E Norma Scok January 29, 2015 at 8:10 pm

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.

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The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 8:18 pm

Then explain why O’Reilly is number one?

9" January 29, 2015 at 9:19 pm

Assholes love other assholes.

FastEddy23 January 30, 2015 at 12:50 pm

Takes one to know one.

guest January 30, 2015 at 10:08 am

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.

FastEddy23 January 30, 2015 at 12:50 pm

“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.

FastEddy23 January 30, 2015 at 12:48 pm

… smart ones, too!

Jackie Chiles January 29, 2015 at 3:15 pm

Average age of those 26.5m viewers?

53

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euwe max January 29, 2015 at 4:46 pm

Faux has more than those “combined”

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The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 4:53 pm

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.

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euwe max January 29, 2015 at 5:06 pm

Are you saying the motherfucking talking heads aren’t “news reporters?”

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The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 5:11 pm

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,

euwe max January 29, 2015 at 5:14 pm

So you’re a fan of old splotchy, eh?

The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 5:20 pm

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)

euwe max January 29, 2015 at 5:23 pm

You’re forgiven.

whew! January 29, 2015 at 6:47 pm

Always knew you had a God complex. Thankfully The Colonel isn’t seeking your forgiveness.

euwe max January 29, 2015 at 9:27 pm

I must be more merciful than you – I forgive without being asked first.

Odd January 29, 2015 at 5:25 pm

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.

The Colonel January 29, 2015 at 6:01 pm

pinhead beats the hyperbolic names many of our other talking heads use.

9" January 29, 2015 at 6:52 pm

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?

9" January 29, 2015 at 7:06 pm

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…

nitrat January 30, 2015 at 9:00 am

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.

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euwe max January 30, 2015 at 9:06 am

cable…

You’d think people watching faux would be getting antenna tv in trailers.

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FailNews January 29, 2015 at 2:26 pm

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.

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Uh huh January 29, 2015 at 5:20 pm

“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?

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Timmy January 29, 2015 at 5:57 pm

“What’s driving the MSM?” Revenue and clicks…same as FITS.

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Gregory Geddings January 30, 2015 at 6:16 am

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!”

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FailNews January 30, 2015 at 8:55 am

Sounds like FitsNews headlines. I guess you can’t blatantly kiss Tea Party ass on TV 5?

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E Norma Scok January 30, 2015 at 10:35 am

TV 5 is the blake channel..no tea parties going on there.

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E Norma Scok January 29, 2015 at 2:30 pm

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.

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FastEddy23 January 29, 2015 at 2:41 pm

Mean Scream Media changing? … To be more mom friendly?

TV “Experts agree! Everything is just fine!” – t-shirt

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9" January 29, 2015 at 2:57 pm

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

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erneba January 29, 2015 at 3:15 pm

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.

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Rocky January 29, 2015 at 3:23 pm

Whaaaaaa?

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Gregory Geddings January 30, 2015 at 6:17 am

Double Whaaaaa?

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guest January 29, 2015 at 3:29 pm

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.

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hack January 29, 2015 at 3:33 pm

It’s propaganda for the sheep, nothing more. Got to keep the unwashed in line and thinking correctly. Ignorance is strength. Bahhh.

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euwe max January 29, 2015 at 4:45 pm

Is that Santorum’s wife?

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Tunes'n'News January 29, 2015 at 10:23 pm

Wspa is sensationalized no depth click bait news. It’s like a twitter feed with weather.

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nitrat January 30, 2015 at 8:53 am

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.

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