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Topic: News Media
| Author | Message |
| roshob2003 | Posted – 1/2/2008 10:26:10 PM | show profile Have a hypothetical question - Is it possible that broadcast (cable, big 3,etc) news organizations will report/cover (favorably and air time) those presidential candidates who connect with younger voters more than other candidates who don't connect with younger voters in order to garner ratings and to secure a new audience in the 25-54 market to supplement older more established audiences? Bear in mind that age of the candidate and their ability to connect to a younger audience is an underlying assumption here. This is strictly hypothetical and I am intentionally not naming names because I want to try and avoid an O'Reilly vs Olbermann type of discussion. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/2/2008 10:33:00 PM | show profile No. The NEWS divisions of the broadcast networks do not concern themselves with "demographics" when covering major stories like politics. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 1/2/2008 10:33:15 PM | show profile I don't think many young people pay attention - other things to do. There's the occasional get out the vote trying to connect with the MTV crowd but there's not much passion for candidates. Obama may attract the most attention if he gets past the primaries. |
| roshob2003 | Posted – 1/2/2008 10:46:59 PM | show profile Crimedog, you make a good point when you say that younger people are not always the most reliable audiences. Figure how many people in their 20s get their news from The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, and The Colbert Report. Still though, I think it is possible that age group could be a potential audience for the broadcast networks if the message is delivered correctly. After all the above mentioned shows seem to have the right formula. Falling into that age group, I usually get my news from a variety of sources including internet, online print media (what some people would call conservative and liberal print media), and (don't laugh at this one) The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/2/2008 10:50:54 PM | show profile I'm reminded ... ... of a story about meeting between a newly-hired editor-in-chief of a major magazine and his publisher. Publisher: "What's your plan for reaching younger readers?" Editor: "Wait for them to grow up." |
| roshob2003 | Posted – 1/2/2008 11:00:37 PM | show profile ManhattanMatt, What gets me is that this potential audience is so easily written off by some in the media. I do not have a magic formula for attracting a younger audience but I think it is a little too easy to say "wait for the audience to come to you." I do agree with you that as most people age they do "grow up" and their tastes become more sophisticated. But what happens if they don't and people in their 20s continue to get their news from people like Jon Stewart And Colbert (his first name escapes me)? If the major broadcast and cable news outlets do that, won't they be signing their own death warrant? |
| melinyc | Posted – 1/2/2008 11:52:58 PM | show profile news media Is anyone responding to the original post in their 20s? I think tv news, which is seen by some as 'old news' (see also "old Europe") aims for inquiry/appeal outside their typical demo (see 'pharma crowd') by asking questions ('what do college kids think of the candidates?') based on the college days of the anchor's youth (see: 1960-70s) and get little back (Ron Paul rally), exceptions being Stewart and Colbert, but they are self-defined 'fake news' and dont fit the cope of your question. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 1/3/2008 12:21:06 AM | show profile Look at the age group of television anchors/pundits etc and you get an idea of the age group that votes. I know CNN tried to go young and engage the Wired generation with Internet reads - blogger opinions - but even that approach didn't really gain traction. I think for many young people the situation is hopeless for others the money markets are more appealing. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/3/2008 12:31:57 AM | show profile Roshob ... "I do agree with you that as most people age they do "grow up" and their tastes become more sophisticated. But what happens if they don't and people in their 20s continue to get their news from people like Jon Stewart And Colbert (his first name escapes me)?" What happens if people don't grow out of their own adolescence? As a network television news producer, that's not my problem. I'm not dumbing down my broadcasts to appeal to the intellectually lazy. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 1/3/2008 9:17:55 AM | show profile The civil rights movement and Vietnam War caught everyone's attention a short generation ago and young people became poltically charged. Not even Iraq can get people that engaged. I think to many the world situation seems hopeless and games more comforting. I'm reading Blood River an inside look at present day Congo and must say if this is the way of the world we might as well throw a blanket over the Sun. |
| roshob2003 | Posted – 1/3/2008 9:23:52 PM | show profile What will happen when people in their 20s "come of age"? Will they tune in to cable and broadcast or will they remain loyal to Colbert, Stewart, and MTV? |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/3/2008 9:47:55 PM | show profile Hopefully ... ... they'll do what their parents did when THEY came of age. They'll give up their Lucky Charms and Colbert and graduate to the more adult oatmeal and CBS. And if they don't, they're not viewers who would have been in our demographic anyway. |
| Olbypocrisy | Posted – 1/4/2008 9:09:02 AM | show profile This has already happen and failed. MTV get out the vote,vote or die,p-diddy??? Go back and watch CNN'S coverage of the 04 election . Huge numbers of young people where pose to comeout and vote Democrat.Some on CNN and MSNBC said this could push Kerry over Bush. Instead theses folks stay at home smoked weed and played their PS2. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/4/2008 5:21:42 PM | show profile Olby ... point please? It's not my job to try to go out and "reach" people who obviously don't want to be "reached". |
| MatureOne | Posted – 1/6/2008 5:45:40 PM | show profile No way would networks/cables slant their coverage to further their own interests and goals! Gosh, what kind of mass-control seaking freaks do you think they are? Next you will ask if one of them would blow up a truck to make it look defective, or plant someone in Food Lion to bleach meat so it appears that the grocer is negligent, or run stories about Buckwheat working in a grocery store YEARS after the real Buckwheat had died.... |
| JIMBO99 | Posted – 1/6/2008 7:38:23 PM | show profile And don't forget MatureOne.... the "ARAB" plants at NASCAR....thank God the MSM has no agenda. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 1/7/2008 4:21:20 PM | show profile Buckweat O'Reilly is still around - he just looks dead. |
