Packaging the News
As I go across some of my favorite web haunts on the web, I keep seeing reports, stories, and accounts of how the traditional news and media outlets are steadily losing their support base to that evil entity generally referred to as “The Internet”. Every time I read these things I hear a big “DUH!” sound go off in my brain. As I always do, I have been analyzing things and started to look at why individuals are migrating to the web for their information.
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As I’m searching around, I’m finding that cable and network news channels are focusing on the interests of specific groups of people based on polling and other forms of collection for such data. Further more, they tend to deliver content to these groups in a way they think those groups want to receive it. In other words, they have gotten away from reporting the facts as they happen and have begun interpreting and presenting selected information geared toward what they perceive as their target audience. The product is no longer the news, but rather the packaging in which it is presented.
.This is not my own original theory and I’m borrowing from many sources, but they seem to have some validity. Look at Fox News and how they have connected with the so called ‘Conservative’ consumer of network & cable news. They are doing the same things as the other guys, but tend to defer to ‘experts’, ‘researchers’, and ‘think tanks’ of a more conservative background than the other outlets. Since they are the only ones following such a format, their base is consolidated and they consistently have the highest ratings over every other individual channel. The key point here is that they are successful because of their marketing skills in packaging a product and not because of the content that they are delivering to their consumers.
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I don’t know about you, but I am not interested so much in fluff and delivery. I want facts, figures, and consensus and the internet is the best tool in the world for getting me the information I want. Granted, the amount of useless information on the net is something to be considered, but just like anything else in life, you learn who you can trust with experience and time. Apparently I’m not alone on this. Regardless of your interests, it is almost certain that you can find a reputable source of news and information for it on the internet.
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Is there any wonder newspaper sales are the lowest they have been since the Great Depression? Hey, uh, newspaper guys – here’s a clue: get online and stop wasting paper. We consumers will decide if what you are posting is worth printing and will do so from our own printers.
.Overall this has got to be a good thing. Since there are so many sources for news, and there are so many places to find facts, truth and opinion on any given topic, the best sources will tend to rise to the top – but only as long as they continually provide timely and valuable information. Gone are the days of the network broadcasts being able to control the content of what you will see. Now we as the consumer can determine what level of complexity, depth of coverage, censorship and specific topics that we choose to see. Those that adapt will be around – those that don’t might wind up as a bullet item in someone’s blog.
Ong Bak - The Thai Warrior
The guys I am learning Kenpo with have been telling me this movie called “
Ong Bak”. I have tried to get it at Blockbuster but they are constantly out of stock. I happened to see it at Best Buy this weekend and just bought it. Whoa!
As for most low budget Martial Arts type films, the acting on this one was less than spectacular… almost comical really. But that’s ok because stellar acting would have detracted from the real performance in the film – the
Muay Thai skills displayed by a newcomer named
Tony Jaa.
Tony Jaa was doing things with knees and elbows that I simply have never seen before. This one simply had my attention from the first time he displayed his skills with some basic movements toward the beginning. In the first fight scene of the movie, I was a little stunned – enough that I had to back up the DVD and see the move again just to appreciate the physical movement of the strike, a knockout strike – with the knee – from a standing position!
Another very cool thing about this film is that, in the spirit of Jackie Chan and others prior, Tony Jaa does all of his own stunts. Further, there were no special effects or wire work in the movie. Having this knowledge ahead of time and then watching the movie just made me appreciate this guy all the more. He wasn’t doing high falls and crazy stuff like that – he was doing things that took real flexibility, coordination and balance – not to mention the skills of Muay Thai.
If you have a couple hours and are looking for something fun to watch, check this one out. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing more of Tony Jaa.
Oktoberfest at Mercedes-Benz
We have been gearing up for an “Oktoberfest” car clinic for the last 6-8 weeks or so. This is the first time I have been involved in such an event but still wound up coordinating part of it; specifically the advertising to our clients.
The network connects all of the dealerships of my company (about 26 in all) to a central server that keeps track of customer information and more. I was given the task of collecting names and addresses from the server of customers owning at least one Mercedes-Benz. Ok, no problem. I create and run a report and promptly download over 9000 names and addresses. Ugh! After ‘purifying’ the list, I wound up printing and mailing over 6800 letters to clients via snail mail and another 3500 or so emails as well. My boss asks me after they are all sent out: “Where did you get so many names? We have only ever sent them to about 3000 or so in the past.”
Well, after some digging I figured out what happened. My predecessor ran a similar report but only for customers from our dealership. I however ran a report against all 26+ dealerships – including the other Mercedes dealer (who wasn’t happy about this). I was surprised at how many other customers in the system have a Benz but get it serviced elsewhere. Anyway, it all panned out. Saturday rolls around and the cars start showing up early. The weather was rainy but not pouring, so it was enough to get these people off the golf course and into the dealership – and boy did they!
We broke the previous record for number of cars half way through the event. Shortly after that, we had to start giving out Rain Checks and turning people away because we simply couldn’t accommodate the amount of traffic we were getting. The caterers had food for 500 – and wound up nearly doubling the food as the people just kept on coming in. It was crazy – but successful. The boss was happy and I got a pat on the head. Great.
