The mantra used to be ‘sex sells’. However, the business model for the press has evolved. Controversy, whether genuine or artificially created, sells even more. Earlier this month, Time Magazine, in order to sell more of its $30 subscription, chose as its cover an attractive single mother with a three-year old son sucking on her nipple – sending a Freudian stimuli to most men (and lesbians) who’d rather trade places with the child. Result? Time Magazine made money for its owner, Time Warner, Inc.
A media battle ensued. Newsweek, Time’s rival, responded with a photo cover of President Barack Obama with a gay-themed halo. Nevermind that Obama, who is up for a contentious re-election battle this year, has flip flopped on the same-sex marriage issue. He supported it in 1996 while campaigning to represent a very liberal Chicago suburb. Four years later, Obama – forced to appeal to a more conservative voter base throughout Illinois – switched his position and opposed gay marriage in his run for the U.S. senate in 2000. [ YouTube: Obama’s flip flop on individual mandate ] View slideshow: Newsweek gay Obama cover Advertisement
Controversy Sells
Being currently tied with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the polls, Obama now says he supports same-sex marriage. The president’s political calculus is as follows: distract the American people from the economy which has seen 39 consecutive months of 8-plus percent unemployment.
It’s the gay halo cover that sells, not the substance. Newsweek editors have a fiduciary duty to produce profits for investors, or get fired. It’s the son who sucks on her mom’s nipples that sells. The salesman’s acronym is ABC: Always Be Closing.
Video: Harvard lecture on gay marriage debate
Pacquiao’s Opposition to Gay Marriage
Attention span is the media’s currency, and there’s not a lot of it in today’s electronic marketplace. So when boxer Manny Pacquiao makes a statement that, in accordance with his religious beliefs, he opposes gay marriage, the media got its controversy. It was artificially manufactured. Writers and editors got an opportunity to make money in a shameful manner on a hot-button topic. Americans are evenly split 50-50 on the gay marriage issue, yet the media – for the umpteenth time – displayed its bias towards liberalism and leftist politics.
Here, the paparazzi created a fabrication to profit a few thousand. What ensued was a downward spiral into Dante’s frozen inferno. Pacquiao’s opposition to same-sex marriage got spun into a libelous advocacy for the death of homosexuals. Shock headlines is the new cash-generating genre for bloggers and mainstream reporters. In this case, USA Today and LA Weekly upped the ante into unethical salesmanship and/or distorted storytelling.
Readers should be informed that some entities made a few thousand dollars in two hours of copy-and-paste opinionating. And yes, Examiner.com, ESPN, Yahoo Sports! and all the blogs cashed in on advertising revenue from the spike in internet traffic. As a consequence, Manny Pacquiao was whipped and nailed in the crucible of public opinion so that struggling writers earn a few hundred, or even a few thousand, dollars from some fantastical headlines. It’s a sublime case study given that crucifixion is age-old symbolism in Mr. Pacquiao’s faith.
Content Marketing
I, as one of the columnists on this site, admittedly have published sensationalist content in order to generate traffic. As a business model, let me tell you that it works. In the past couple of years, I have gradually moved away from this method of ‘content marketing’. I am troubled that our information landscape is evolving into a dump for low value script, and that truth often appears undistinguishable from fiction writing.
It appears that the majority of daily bloggers and journalists are moved by the profit motive irrespective of traditional protocols, which is partly due to many media outlets and individual freelancers struggling to maintain their margins. It’s not just blogs who disseminate sensationalism. In 2009 to 2010, Philippine media corporations such as ABS-CBN, GMA, The Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin, SunStar – everyone – maximized their coverage of actress Krista Ranillo’s alleged affair with Pacquiao. Their individual correspondents may know Pacquiao on a personal level, but business is business. “I like you Manny, but I don’t want to lose my job.”
Ping Pong Blogging
Famous blogger Seth Godin recently published a piece entitled The Endless Emergency of Politics. News today, especially on liberal outlets like CNN, look more like a ping pong match. Writers, editors, correspondents, and producers induce audiences into being addicted to today’s (artificially manufactured) emergencies and shock content.
The scandals are as fake as they are ubiquitous. Producers press our buttons in order to forcibly grab our attention. Call it media gangrape or an orgy of infomercial nonsense.
There’s typically no mention of root causes or scholarly studies. It seems journalists spent years in college, and possibly grad school, only to spew manipulative stimuli upon the viewing public. They invent talking points. Opinions are conveyed as absolute reality. Desperate for ratings, they announce urgent “breaking news” of some local kid who got bit by a dog, or who fell on his bike.
Debate on Same-Sex Marriage
There is substance to the debate on same-sex marriage. We did not find it in the Pacquiao fiasco. And unfortunately, it seems we can no longer find it on outlets such as USA Today or CNN.
For an insightful read, Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post offers a review of Obama’s flip flop on the issue, and George Will, also of the Post, provides his take on individual rights, changing moral values, and judicial intervention under the U.S. constitution. Michael Sandel, professor of philosophy at Harvard University, engages his students about the fundamental issues of same-sex marriage in this lecture.
‘I now pronounce you husband and husband’.
Copyright 2012 Marv Dumon. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed. All rights reserved.
