NJ Common Sense

By Alonzo Hosford

Friday September 25, 2009 shortly after 5 pm EST, the FOX cable channel Glenn Beck program featuring a citizen audience was preempted by a President Obama G20 professorial news conference.

Fox Cuts Beck Viewers For G20 Tripe

Ordinarily you would expect a brief burp with the “more news at 6″ refrain but it did not happen. Only choice was to turn off FOX and that is death if you lose audience members you plan to lead on through to other shows on the evening schedule.

The UN and G20 Zoorama Same Old Same Old Decades Old News

All week long viewers were subjected to the world leadership Zooarama at the United Nations and the G20. It did not matter if it was Drudge or ABC, you had your pick of international animals to watch at a safe distance and their sounds to hear or read. Most of us tuned it out other than to be reminded of the danger these attractions present. We have the gist and have had it for decades. The UN and G20 is a platform for those abhorrent to US citizen central values and goals and thus not interesting. Make it go away!

The Ugly Tube Of The Irrelevant

The tube and photos were dominated by dictators, mostly ugly, who run countries smaller than some of our States. These rouges lack competence to run a US township but are treated as having content that is relevant. Media worked hard to make it all meaningful and failed, FOX included. A week wasted diverting attention from the real threat in DC.

There were story attempts hinting at incompetence and the dash of world order fears hidden in speeches and in particular President Obama’s speeches. Even trying to make a story from Iranian strong man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trading barbs with the Professor like President Obama over secret nuclear programs proved ho hum. No story. No news. We already know Iranian leaders will lie like Iraq leaders did. Why give Mahmoud air time. It does not matter if they are making nukes or rattling they are making nuke material. Unless strong action is taken, you live in fear and they persist.

Why Is FOX so Hot Recently?

We read almost daily on Drudge and hear on O’Reilly regularly how the FOX channel is beating all the rivals in the large corporate media world. Yet it is a world becoming irrelevant as media widens through the Internet where it is free of a narrow supply.

Its Hot Because of the People Stupid!

Beck’s Friday show kicked off with an audience of people in the current grassroots movement. He appeared to relinquish his bully pulpit time to the people working to make a change. They were there in person out of their daily lives to speak! They exposed their identities and went really on the record. They represent everyday good people who are offended by the international Zoorama reruns. They are the people who have helped FOX blow ratings through the roof in August into September. The rest of us are glued, like nothing else on, to hear them speak because they are us. They want to see their actions validated in the media and FOX played to that need in a filtered manner over the August Tea Party events. So folks tuned in to see if their actions were making stories and in the process faced with filtering a lot of meaningless content branded as fair and balanced.

Along Comes the Breaking News

Then in a blink and in the middle of great live viewer stories, FOX cuts to breaking news. The breaking news was a new face, the latest US President, on an old old story, the annual annoyance of the international follies with dictators heading the billing. Both needed the glory rush of their view of world order aired for those who fawn over them. The media gave it too them and we all yawned. Some expressed disgust at the interruption hit the clicker. I did after it was apparent the interruption was permanent. I checked back 5 minutes later and still the same. Click. Off. Wrote this.

FOX acted at the expense of its growing listeners who were on the air.

Media Dancing Into A Black Hole of Irrelevancy

The traditional corporate media is dancing at the threshold of a black hole. FOX has the best record holding back the pull using the gravity of people looking for validation of what they believe. Other channels are slowly disappearing into the void of irrelevancy. The media has a difficult time making the stories about the people because they do not fit their business model requirements. The people made the stories in the last few months and they want to hear them reported. FOX gives them some attention, the others did not at a high cost. That makes FOX a winner and listeners took what they could get.

Beck had the top story of Friday: the viewers live in the audience.

These stories about people taking action are in abundance. They are fresh and each offer unique slants unlike the world leader anti American refrains. Use them and you can pull away from the media void. Give them token attention and you orbit the media void. Ignore them, you fall into the media void.

Action You Need To Take

You can click on the contact link at the bottom of the FOX page and post your request to balance the news to be more about you and less about the irrelevant. Maybe be blunt about you, us, being pulled on Beck’s Friday program.

A better approach is to use your ultimate weapon over corporate media. This is turn it off and only turn it on if you find a reference from other sources such as radio, your favorite internet sites or social networking like Yahoo groups, Twitter and Facebook. Then selectively follow those leads and avoid being trapped in for the remainder of the programming. Beck runs a radio show. He tells you what will be on the air and so do others on FOX. Start there and if it seems irrelevant skip it. Working hard to get your attention like a web site needs to is how they improve at meeting your needs.

If you watch without selectivity or with the expectation of validation, you  are always going to be disappointed and angered. The media has many agenda’s to fill because the large corporate structures and interactions with government and sponsors. That ultimately is who they do need to serve.

Selectivity has already occurred with the media nearest to the void like CNN, ABC and MSNBC. You saw no validation in your views and turned them off. Do you sit in seats at the airport furthest from the many CNN tubes of nonsense? I do. You miss nothing and have a more pleasant trip.

Now I am not saying that FOX audience advocates like Beck and Hannity are to be turned off. You make that choice. However do not assume the entire FOX channel understands you the viewer that is making them great. They don’t but they show hope. Their agendas are motivated by business models that cannot be relied upon. Cutting to a Presidential news conference on old news about the ugly over you the viewer should be enough evidence that even the best like Beck are powerless to avert your disappointment and dashed expectations. Go figure out why they did it and you will find it was not for your interests.