Why does today’s media put their very costly and influential
focus on losers? And, not just losers but sore losers, the playgroundbully-type-loser that uses threats and violence to dominate the contest.
Today’s “free press” no longer tells people about the who, what, when, where,
and why of news. It must create a feeling, an emotional connection to the
person, place, or thing under the spotlight to keep readers and viewers coming
back. Years of consumer and voter research reveal that strong emotions,
especially anger, fear, disgust, sell. The emphasis on selling emotional news
vs. reporting factual news has created a vital instant “clickbait” readership that
is good for algorithms and marketing but bad for trust in America’s Fourth
Estate. The media manipulators labor daily to hook consumers and voters into
their sphere of influence without spending millions of advertising dollars.
How much does an average 30-second advertisement cost on
American TV? The answer varies, but each ad is estimated at $100,000 or more.
How about print ads? What’s the average cost of a full-page print ad in a
national newspaper? Again, the answer is hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both
forms of advertising are one-time-only events. So, repeated paid promotions of
the product or brand can cost millions of dollars over time.
Realizing the high cost of just two forms of traditional
marketing, I understand why producers of saleable items use relatively free press
outlets and digital social media platforms. Daily rants on X (Twitter),
Facebook, Instagram, etc., and the relentless press reporting of outrageous
behaviors of politicians and celebrities are worth hundreds of thousands of
advertising dollars.
Marketing and its sister, “branding,”
is king in today’s political world. Getting free press and thousands of “likes”
on social media is the goal of campaigners everywhere. Informing voters of
their plans and goals for bettering the communities they seek to represent are
secondary if they even exist. These media outlets are hungry for sizzling
stories that sell the products of paying advertisers and will slant the
messaging to create drama, outrage, and addiction. Yes, addiction to fear and
anger. Russian troll farms, who have cultivated a wide range of online media sources from the least prestigious “influencers” to respected pundits, influenced the approach to reporting information. The internet trolls and flamers dominate by repeating the
same spin and lies until the messages resonate in mainstream
media outlets such as Fox Corp., News Corp., Comcast, and high-circulation newspapers. A
recent example of this fear-mongering is the slanted report of the “disappearance”
of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. Misinformation trolls created a
frenzy, which turned out to be her one-day attendance at a Washington, D. C.
meeting about the border. Other examples include the constant spotlights on
2020 election losers and deniers such as Kari Lake and others in the republican
party too hideous to name.
Advertising philosophy has always been to ferret out the
habits and proclivities of consumers. The internet and its privacy sieves
deliver mountains of valuable information, and now Artificial Intelligence (AI)
algorithms parse the info so almost every person on the planet has a marketing
target on their backs. Despite the many categories each human falls into, there
are consumer categories that override all others. Convenient labels slot each
of us into how much we can spend, how much we influence others, and how easy or
hard a seller has to work to make us part with our power, otherwise known as
our time and money. Who has power over us, and what can be achieved by
convincing us to give up our power? Sellers try to gain power by convincing us
they have something of value we want. In the past, sellers expected consumers
to want goods and services that have value, are available, and are priced
right. One other component was recognized in the late 90s and early 2000s:
authentic experience.
According to author and business consultant Joseph Pine,
consumers have transformed from seekers of commodities to seekers of
experiences. In his 2004 TED presentation titled “What
Consumers Want,” he explains that we still need necessary,
reasonably priced goods with value, but our overriding desire is to experience
such things authentically. He clarifies this concept at the 12:10 minute mark
by using the Starbucks approach to selling coffee. Pine even co-wrote a best
seller titled Authenticity. Earlier
in his TED presentation, he delves into fake experiences that are often lies
and how betrayed consumers feel when saddled with an item or event dishonestly
promoted. He refers to such events as “fake fakes” but explains that people are
less upset when an item or event is advertised as fake or not authentic up front.
So many popular reality TV shows are now featuring “authentic,”
deception, backstabbing, and “hookups” that used to be far outside of common
decency and reasonable behavior but are fake enough to reassure watchers that
“no people were killed in the making of this movie.” I’ve watched one episode
each of the reality TV shows, “The Apprentice,” “Survivor,” and “The Amazing
Race”. What struck me was the harshness of the overall experience. Many
manufactured dangers throughout each competition and an unpleasant emphasis on
winning at all costs create fierce antagonisms. Good sportsmanship lessons are
jettisoned for a general every-man-for-himself-winning mentality. Millions of
viewers accept that the dirtiest game players do what it takes to win. Buying unethical and corrosive behavior makes it easy to swallow and
dismiss Trump’s political and business losses. His supporters like watching
train wrecks and waiting for the fantasy of Trump’s losses to turn into wins.
With the news and entertainment media promoting cutthroat
popularity reinforced by AI algorithms, consumers and voters are herded into pens
of familiar and comfortable content. When a Fox News pundit pushes his opinion
as fact, viewers accept that he is promoted or “branded” as a “straight
shooter.” Viewers are influenced by his persona, not so much by the facts
or lies of his reporting. He is the authenticity being sold, so viewers crave
him, not the news he’s reporting. Although Fox is the most prominent media
outlet for opinion-backed news vs. fact-based news, most of our media continue
to put the very costly and effective spotlight on the dysfunction of the
republican party headed by loser Donald J. Trump. Somehow, beating the drum for
the losers is becoming the norm in our news media. It is especially galling to
witness so many news stories about hypocrites getting paid by the US government
to represent, not rule, their constituents, who then turn around and tear down
the government institutions that support these voters.
In a recent PBS
Nightly News interview with newspaper editor and reporter Marty Baron, he said,
“The problem now is
that people can't agree on what's a fact, that we don't share a common set of
facts. We can't even agree on how to establish that something is a fact.”
The old “Who, What, When, Why” fact-finding journalism needs
to be reborn. Opinions are often found in our algorithm-reinforced bubbles and
should not overtake truth. Fantastic opinions, projections, and conspiracies
only promote losing. Staying in touch with reality, keeping a critical yet open
mind, and breaking out of our comfort bubbles can only help support the winners
in this world.
