Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Run Silent, Run Cheap-Shot

[peter mckellar <mckellar@earthlink.net>]

Hi,

I tried to avoid commenting here, but evntually had to throw my bit in :)

>It has always helped me to think of the media as selling advertising
>space before it transmits information.    That seems to explain a lot
>of what I see on TV and in the newspapers.

this is close.  in fact the 'content' is purely to lure the most viewers so they can charge the most for advertising.  there is a direct relationship between ratings and advertising rates.  i have also previously been offered a two page article (for free and written by them or me), if i agreed to run a full page ad.  so dont even think the 'content' is not some form of shadow advertising.  he who pays the piper calls the tune.

which comes to my point.  i reckon there's no such thing as bad advertising.  i thought the article was fine.  if it was a national geographic doco it would have a different slant to a national enquirer article.  depends on you, but i'd welcome both.  for the enquirer i'd wear my propeller hat (INSIST i was photographed with hat and sub) and mention, 'off the record' that i was about to salvage an alien spacecraft.  :)

the press once killed my ex-brother-in-law and sister in-law in a typhoon in the solomons.  both survived and most friends were not alarmed as the names were corrupted and misspelled and i believe a different island group was quoted.  thankfully the journalists had the assistance of a government press release.  who knows what would have been reported if they had only their own imaginations :(

i finally got sick of mis-reporting until i discovered the key.  they are bone lazy - even more so than me.  :)  write the story for them and send it to them.  softcopy or email is even better (cut and paste).  even give it a catchy headline - thats the final no-brainer to get it published.

the same for press releases.  i was amazed the first time i saw one placed verbatim in print.  dont expect or seek credit (or payment) if you take this approach.  

I agree re not doing phone interviews unless you dont care what is reported.  TV reports(unless you are the feature of a doco etc) will typically only run for a few seconds (maybe commenting or providing 'expert opinion' on some topical submarine event/disaster?)  think up a catchy phrase or 2 (ahead of time) and drop them somewhere in the interview.  they will pick out the bit they want anyway, generally what you wanted :)  it doesnt even have to really be related if it has some appeal.  expect to be taken out of context, so try to make anything you say concise and self-contained (like the catchy phase above).

if you dont feel comfortable with the way things are going, be really boring, pause a lot and casually insert extreme expletives that will ensure it gets cut, hopefully only leaving what you want :)  mumbling some words or using a barrage of technical terms will also ensure it gets editted out.  of course, the classic, when confronted with a difficult question is contemplate it a while and reply enigmatically with those time honoured, sage words of wisdom:

'in mud are eels, in clay are none'

try these on a friend.  they are almost incomprehensible, even when repeated slowly :)  end of interview - hehehe :)

cheers
peter