same set of news uploaded almost on every news site

[eproxy100]

I just noticed how most local news websites just re-post the very same articles from a few sources. Has anybody else noticed this? Has this been happening for a long time? Example:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Armed+unmarked+uniforms+patrol+Crimea+airport+Ukra ine+tensions/9561245/story.html
http://ckom.com/content/russia-armoured-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.tallmadgeexpress.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.kptv.com/story/24847648/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.thegatewaynews.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base

and there's plenty more. They're all from AP and it clearly states so.

It's pretty annoying. Seems like flooding the internet with the same articles is their propaganda strategy.

[V3n]

Local news affiliates don't have a presence in Russia, so it's impossible for them to report on what's happening there without getting the information from another source. I'm sure they each have local news stories that are different than each other, because that's where their staff is and that's what they are able to dig information from.

Yes, it's been happening a long time.

[acptulsa]

That only scratches the surface. Not only are they limited to what is 'approved', but they have to use the 'approved' way of talking about it.

Don't believe me? See how many hits your search engine gives you on the word 'quixotic' that aren't about Ron Paul...

[dannno]

You never watch Conan?

[Kelly.]

You never watch Conan?
just google "newscasters agree:" and you will see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ1mA1NeUmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ojS4UNn8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAkxR9T01pw

[angelatc]

I just noticed how most local news websites just re-post the very same articles from a few sources. Has anybody else noticed this? Has this been happening for a long time? Example:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Armed+unmarked+uniforms+patrol+Crimea+airport+Ukra ine+tensions/9561245/story.html
http://ckom.com/content/russia-armoured-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.tallmadgeexpress.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.kptv.com/story/24847648/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.thegatewaynews.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base

and there's plenty more. They're all from AP and it clearly states so.

It's pretty annoying. Seems like flooding the internet with the same articles is their propaganda strategy.


Associated Press is a news gathering outfit. They make a living off selling subscriptions to broadcasters and newspapers.

[angelatc]

just google "newscasters agree:" and you will see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ1mA1NeUmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ojS4UNn8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAkxR9T01pw


That isn't an indicator of a conspiracy - that's the indication of a well written press release that got picked up by stations al over the country. That's exactly what everybody who issues a press release hopes will happen.

[acptulsa]

Associated Press is a news gathering outfit. They make a living off selling subscriptions to broadcasters and newspapers.

Well, yes, Angela. We know that. And they have always enjoyed a big market.

But once upon a time, a newspaper might get the facts from AP and dig up some local interest to add to it, or apply some counterspin as a service to their readers, or somehow make the AP story their own. Does this still happen? Or are they afraid of offending corporate sponsors and those CIA overlords that we were threatened with but 'won't really happen' because 'it was just a trial balloon'?

And is UPI even still in competition with AP, or is it all just the same thing now?

This is attempting to be an in depth conversation...

[pcosmar]

That isn't an indicator of a conspiracy - that's the indication of a well written press release that got picked up by stations al over the country. That's exactly what everybody who issues a press release hopes will happen.

Ah,, the illusion of Independent Press.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FPAQlbmlSc

[Kelly.]

That isn't an indicator of a conspiracy - that's the indication of a well written press release that got picked up by stations al over the country. That's exactly what everybody who issues a press release hopes will happen.
i never claimed a conspiracy, nice try.

this is an example of propaganda, plain and simple.
if you cant see that, no one here will be able to show it to you.

[angelatc]

i never claimed a conspiracy, nice try.

this is an example of propaganda, plain and simple.
if you cant see that, no one here will be able to show it to you.

No, it isn't. It is an example of a well written press release.
If you cant see that, no one here will be able to show it to you. That because it isn't real. It's like witchcraft - nobody can show me that, either.

[acptulsa]

That because it isn't real. It's like witchcraft - nobody can show me that, either.

Then explain to us how it came to pass that so many allegedly independent 'news sources' faithfully transcribed the relatively obscure adjective 'quixotic' in so many 'press releases' about Ron Paul--an adjective which is not only obscure, but obviously intended to spin the man it was attached to. Is it natural for dozens and dozens of presumably 'independent news sources' to latch onto and faithfully import such an adjective with such monotonous regularity? Really?

And do we really not have the right to point it out and question it?

[VIDEODROME]

I had the experience of working in television and this is one of the many things that drove me crazy. News media is a total joke.

[HOLLYWOOD]

All one has to do is spend one day channel surfing and you can see the 'Same Poison' fed over the airwaves from the 6 media groups that control 90% of the propaganda.

[V3n]

Time is money and most local news stations and newspapers don't have the time or money to edit someone else's piece. They can throw an AP article up on the web with very little cost or effort.

I do believe in an MSM conspiracy, or at least all the big National players are acting in their own interests to sway the public one way or another, for ratings, political influence or what-have-you, but at the local level they're just trying to get viewers/web hits without spending too much.

Even Ben Swann said... (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?417877-Where-does-media-bias-originate&p=5074757&viewfull=1#post5074757)


most media bias, especially on the local levels isn't a conspiracy. I truly believe it is group think. people who have trained to be broadcasters and not journalists. when someone has the courage the stand up, they are met with a lot of resistance. that is why I want to help train journalists how to overcome those issues

...and remember he came out of local news.

Yeah, there's media manipulation going on, but I think it's at the CNN, MSNBC, Fox News level. The local affiliates are just trying to get advertising, not force an agenda. That's why it's so important to talk to your news, tell them stories, write editorials and submit them to your papers - the local level media can be used for good. They're just repeating stories because that's the stories they've been given.

[angelatc]

Then explain to us how it came to pass that so many allegedly independent 'news sources' faithfully transcribed the relatively obscure adjective 'quixotic' in so many 'press releases' about Ron Paul--an adjective which is not only obscure, but obviously intended to spin the man it was attached to. Is it natural for dozens and dozens of presumably 'independent news sources' to latch onto and faithfully import such an adjective with such monotonous regularity? Really?

And do we really not have the right to point it out and question it?

I didn't say that the news sources all operated independently in America. And I hate it when so-called "obective" journalists add words like that specifically to give an editorial slant to what passes for news.

But I do disagree that the word is only used to describe him. I posted it into Google news, and just in the past few hours, it has been applied to Joe Manchin, (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/internet-guffaws-at-senators-quixotic-proposal-to-ban-bitcoin/) John Kerry, (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/01/us-usa-mideast-idUSBREA1009I20140201) Henry Waxman, (http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-net-neutrality-waxman-eshoo-markey-20140203,0,495357.story) Ted Cruz, (http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/politics/tea-party-greatest-hits/) Larry Pressler, (http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/how-american-hustle-is-helping-one-former-senator-s-campaign-20140228) and Steve Stockman. (http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/how-american-hustle-is-helping-one-former-senator-s-campaign-20140228)

[CPUd]

The 'alt media' sites do the same thing, but sometimes they are even worse- stuff gets auto-posted from a RSS feed without the site operators even reading it.

[angelatc]

Well, yes, Angela. We know that. And they have always enjoyed a big market.

But once upon a time, a newspaper might get the facts from AP and dig up some local interest to add to it, or apply some counterspin as a service to their readers, or somehow make the AP story their own. Does this still happen? Or are they afraid of offending corporate sponsors and those CIA overlords that we were threatened with but 'won't really happen' because 'it was just a trial balloon'?

And is UPI even still in competition with AP, or is it all just the same thing now?

This is attempting to be an in depth conversation...

There used to be milkmen that delivered to your door every morning too. The guy at the shoe store actually measured your foot, and then brought out shoes for you to try on. This isn't your father's news media, and nobody is claiming that it is.

Television and newspapers are bleeding viewers, and the market consolidation is a reaction to that. Less viewers = less advertisers = less employees = more out-sourcing.

[Brian4Liberty]

They're all from AP and it clearly states so.

AP is establishment propaganda central, and they produce the majority of content, which is used by most "news" outlets.

[DamianTV]

I just noticed how most local news websites just re-post the very same articles from a few sources. Has anybody else noticed this? Has this been happening for a long time? Example:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Armed+unmarked+uniforms+patrol+Crimea+airport+Ukra ine+tensions/9561245/story.html
http://ckom.com/content/russia-armoured-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.tallmadgeexpress.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.kptv.com/story/24847648/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base
http://www.thegatewaynews.com/ap%20international/2014/02/28/russia-armored-vehicles-moving-outside-crimea-base

and there's plenty more. They're all from AP and it clearly states so.

It's pretty annoying. Seems like flooding the internet with the same articles is their propaganda strategy.

I worked in the news business so I know a thing or two about the internal happenings. Not a conspiracy, just laziness. I know quite a bit about the inner workings of Broadcast Television, hence the "TV" in my moniker.

First off, producers have almost zero time to put 24 minutes of content for a newscast. Certain segments are alloted time constraints. A few minutes here for weather, sports, top stories, the occasional "special report" or "weekly news segment" (like Ben Swann used to have while he was employed by MSM). I said 24 minutes because of an average of commercials that air during the shows. What the producers end up doing is scoping other headlines and pretty much repeating them. They dont have time to verify any of the facts as they come in. They are also allowed to listen to Police Scanners for topics of interest. Man pulled over for speeding is hardly newsworthy. Old lady calls ambulance for chest pains also not newsworthy. Emergency, All Units Respond: thats interesting, and they typically send out a Reporter / Cameraman when / if available.

Then you have Networks. Major News Outlets. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. Networks dont own every TV station on the planet. They have Affiliates. They make deals with smaller TV stations to retransmit information and rights and permissions to retransmit Network material. For example, going back and forth between Local and National News.

Other sources of information depend on Contracts. Reuters and Associated Press sell access to News Stories they publish. Its easier for the producer to do this when trying to reference something thats going on nationally than to try to "fill" with fluff bits like Kittens for Adoption by local family at local grocery store. A lot is just Copy, Paste, and reword so they dont plagurize.

Once in a while, an Affiliate TV Station will pick up on a news story that goes nationwide. Plane crash at Denver Intl Airport would be covered initially by Local Stations. The local Reporters are segmented short blocks of time and are picked up by Network and other stations also affiliated with the parent Network. It allows the Networks to maintain coverage of ongoing events while network employees travel to the location, especially if the story is going to draw interest for several days. Floods, Plane Crash, things of that nature are types of stories that are covered.

The consequence is that many stories are not fact checked. Local reporters get info from cops or people they interview, but the stories are very soon forgotten. People that watch the news dont fact check either. Not fact checking is how news stories like Plane Crash with Captain Sum Ting Wong, Ho Lee Fuk, Wi Tu Low, and Bang Ding Ow hit the air.

Local TV and Networks are both getting slaughtered by the internet.

Many are trying to transition from broadcast to internet based one way communications. They still control all the content, accurate or inaccurate. Theyre just moving to where the people do the majority of their news observations. However, as the economy continues to spiral down the drain, they have less and less revenue to employ reporters and anchors. Weekend Anchors also typically produce their own weekend newscasts, and often even do weather reports. Thats where you see the Anchor also doing the news, but not standing in front of the Green Screen where maps of the expected weather are provided. That news is typically done by the Weather Person on a Friday, and if there is nothing major to report, they dont even bother to come in. Something like a hurricane, they call in available personnel to report as thats considered a major incident. Tornados and what not also qualify, but they are all intended to provide maximum viewership with minimal costs to the station.

When the economy took a digger, you may or may not have noticed a transition in commercial content. There are still people out there that dont have the ability to "fast forward" through commercials, so they are still relevant, just not to the same degree as they once were. Now what you see is more Promos for local content. Stations arent paid for self promotion. There is some compensation for promoting a current Network show during "Local Time Slots". Such as during Local News and you see a Promo for a Network show that airs during Primetime. Other types of content you see on Local Stations would be what we refer to as Syndicated. Syndicated is typically a show that the local station purchases rights to retransmit and are at least one season old. For example, watching Star Trek The Next Generation is a "Syndicated" show that the local station bought rights to from the original producers of that show. Thats also how you see a CBS show on an NBC Affiliate station. Judge Judy. Law and Order SVU. Oprah Winfrey (mostly ABC related and favored) and Olympics covered by NBC.

I keep getting sidetracked here, sorry about that. Commercials, if you observe them, will not be for local advertisers. They will mostly be for National products like drugs or major distributers. Burger King. Toyota. Bayer. Movies. Almost all of the revenue from local advertisers is gone. Toms Auto Body Shop. Bill Mayer Ford Dealership. Uncle Junkys Bar and Grill. Mom and Pop Carpet Cleaners. No one has any money to spend on advertising, even if it is effective at drawing in new customers.

Then you get into "Paid Programming". The half hour annoying Infomercials about how great their latest Vegetable Juicer is, or George Foreman Grill. Other types of Paid Programming are what we call a "Revenue Share". These are the types of two minute commercials that typically require you to "Order by Phone" and sell such garbage as Hair Removal Device. Stations that air Revenue Shares are NOT PAID to air these types of spots and ONLY make money IF someone calls to order the product. What else you may not know is that those commericals are frequently "Branded". The phone number you call routes to the TV station itself and the station handles the sale of the product or service. There is NO CALL CENTER for that phone number in a lot of cases. When there is, there is a parent company that handles shitloads of products all at once, but these are becoming more and more rare. If you have a product that ends up on one of those shows, you might go as long as two weeks without a single call to purchase that product. Since it doesnt cost those companies anything to air, they dont pull the product, they just keep running the ads.

The TV stations are desparate. You can tell by the types of commercial content they are airing. Its also a strong indicator of how well the economy is in your area. Are you seeing commercials for any Local Businesses or is it all National and Promos? The more National and Promos you see, the worse your economy is. The more Local you see, the better your economy is. Very few know how many of what to expect. During an hour long Primetime show, on average, three minutes and thirty eight seconds is the typical Local Station Break time. These "Station Breaks" are broken up into allowances for 3 to 4 thirty second spots, followed by a Station ID, a 4 second identifier. "Youre watching Channel X, where (local slogan)". The rest of the commercials are run by Networks or Syndicators. Syndicated shows allow for a lot more Local Time, which is why stations show as many old shows as they do. There is still interest in that type of programming, but instead of a Network show where you get 3:38, you can get around 8 minutes. Many things factor in. Length of the show, formatting, variable length, type of programming and when it airs. If anyone remembers old Satellite TV, you may have noticed that shows came down on satellites at very screwy times. Entertainment Tonight came down around 1pm, but usually airs between 6:30PM and 7:30PM. These shows that came down on satellite also had a lot of "Black Air". Just no content at all for decent periods of time. Those "Black Holes" are the spots where Local Commercials were expected to go.

Local Newscasts are also formatted but ALL of the commercial breaks are structured for about 8 minutes of local commercial content. But as MSM continues to die, so will the fact checking, quality, and relevance of the material they transmit. Its where a lot of the "sharing" of news stories comes from. However, when MSM expresses severe Bias, like the way they did by never mentioning Ron Paul, that is definitely an indication of an agenda. The type of Bias they do extends itself to not talk about the people that pay the bills. MSM isnt going to do "Investigative Reporting" against GMO when GMO pays a good chunk of their bills. Same thing as everyone knows that car dealerships screw people. Since they buy (well, used to buy) local commercials, very little reporting on car dealerships screwing customers ever occured. Certainly not proportional to the number of times that the dealerships did screw people out of money. Buying commercials damn near guarantees MSM immunity from any wrongdoings that they could perform. But for bigger stories like Ron Paul, the intent of not mentioning him at all during the last election was done with considerable Bias, and those types of orders come from the TOP. Same thing happened to Leno. Leno recently got canned, we suspect, for being "too heavy handed" on Obamas numerous failures. Leno did not want to go, they kicked him out. Now, how many other celebrity reporters are also getting the boot? From Piers Morgan (anti gun right asshole) to Judge Napolitano (the one we like). Even Dan Rather (CBS) was fired for comments that painted Bush in a negative light. No one is immune to the orders that come from the top. And bias does exist.

The producers in the market where I live were paid about $10 bucks an hour and required a 4 year degree. I've personally observed a producer getting fired for airing a Pro Ron Paul news story after only working at the station for about two weeks. I've seen a lot more than that, but point is, they dont hire anyone who is not pro status quo, or simply disposes of them if there are any signs of not falling for the rest of the propoganda they repeat. Cops are heroes, people (especially blacks and hispanics) are criminals, you should be afraid of guns and support anti gun bills. Nothing to see at the Federal Reserve Bank, now pay attention to Justin Beiber. The people at the top make sure that any thought violations are dealt with promptly. They'll tolerate some not supporting the Status Quo as long as those people are kept out of sight of the public and stand no chance of tarnishing the companies image. There is definitely bias, but it is a battle they are losing because they keep trying to repeat the same message that most people no longer believe to be true, as well as many other influencing factors, many of which are quite complex and only a few have been addressed in this wall of text.

All in all, I hope this provides everyone with a better picture of the inner workings of TV stations. Its only done with my perspective of what happens behind the scenes and in no way is able to show the entire complex nature of the business side of why stations do what they do.

[devil21]

I knew a guy that worked on the local Fox broadcast station and he said all news items outside of the local area were provided solely by AP and CNN. All footage, all text, everything.

[DamianTV]

I knew a guy that worked on the local Fox broadcast station and he said all news items outside of the local area were provided solely by AP and CNN. All footage, all text, everything.

For the most part, he would be quite right. So now you know two people that know about Broadcast.

[tod evans]

Proud to say I haven't watched an MSM "Newz" broadcast since the '70's....

[fr33]

A few years ago the largest newspaper in our county changed owners and it turned into an AP reprint rag with very few local editorials. Many of their former writers were hired for a new free newspaper and that free paper is just so much better by having actual local news. The old paper is just fooling the old folks who don't realize they can get all those AP stories for free online.

[Antischism]

The 'alt media' sites do the same thing, but sometimes they are even worse- stuff gets auto-posted from a RSS feed without the site operators even reading it.

This is very true. They also fail to check sources or make sure there are even reliable sources in the first place.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Well, yes, Angela. We know that. And they have always enjoyed a big market.

But once upon a time, a newspaper might get the facts from AP and dig up some local interest to add to it, or apply some counterspin as a service to their readers, or somehow make the AP story their own. Does this still happen? Or are they afraid of offending corporate sponsors and those CIA overlords that we were threatened with but 'won't really happen' because 'it was just a trial balloon'?

And is UPI even still in competition with AP, or is it all just the same thing now?

This is attempting to be an in depth conversation...

Did this yesterday.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Time is money and most local news stations and newspapers don't have the time or money to edit someone else's piece. They can throw an AP article up on the web with very little cost or effort.

I do believe in an MSM conspiracy, or at least all the big National players are acting in their own interests to sway the public one way or another, for ratings, political influence or what-have-you, but at the local level they're just trying to get viewers/web hits without spending too much.

Even Ben Swann said... (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?417877-Where-does-media-bias-originate&p=5074757&viewfull=1#post5074757)



...and remember he came out of local news.

Yeah, there's media manipulation going on, but I think it's at the CNN, MSNBC, Fox News level. The local affiliates are just trying to get advertising, not force an agenda. That's why it's so important to talk to your news, tell them stories, write editorials and submit them to your papers - the local level media can be used for good. They're just repeating stories because that's the stories they've been given.

Pretty much agree with everything you said. Some in the liberty movement act like total ass clowns to all newspeople and turn them off. The best way to get your point across and hopefully have influence is to be civil.

[CPUd]

I worked in the news business so I know a thing or two about the internal happenings. Not a conspiracy, just laziness. I know quite a bit about the inner workings of Broadcast Television, hence the "TV" in my moniker.
....

Here's a local Maryland commercial- they don't make em like this anymore:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I worked in the news business so I know a thing or two about the internal happenings. Not a conspiracy, just laziness. I know quite a bit about the inner workings of Broadcast Television, hence the "TV" in my moniker.

First off, producers have almost zero time to put 24 minutes of content for a newscast. Certain segments are alloted time constraints. A few minutes here for weather, sports, top stories, the occasional "special report" or "weekly news segment" (like Ben Swann used to have while he was employed by MSM). I said 24 minutes because of an average of commercials that air during the shows. What the producers end up doing is scoping other headlines and pretty much repeating them. They dont have time to verify any of the facts as they come in. They are also allowed to listen to Police Scanners for topics of interest. Man pulled over for speeding is hardly newsworthy. Old lady calls ambulance for chest pains also not newsworthy. Emergency, All Units Respond: thats interesting, and they typically send out a Reporter / Cameraman when / if available.

Then you have Networks. Major News Outlets. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. Networks dont own every TV station on the planet. They have Affiliates. They make deals with smaller TV stations to retransmit information and rights and permissions to retransmit Network material. For example, going back and forth between Local and National News.

Other sources of information depend on Contracts. Reuters and Associated Press sell access to News Stories they publish. Its easier for the producer to do this when trying to reference something thats going on nationally than to try to "fill" with fluff bits like Kittens for Adoption by local family at local grocery store. A lot is just Copy, Paste, and reword so they dont plagurize.

Once in a while, an Affiliate TV Station will pick up on a news story that goes nationwide. Plane crash at Denver Intl Airport would be covered initially by Local Stations. The local Reporters are segmented short blocks of time and are picked up by Network and other stations also affiliated with the parent Network. It allows the Networks to maintain coverage of ongoing events while network employees travel to the location, especially if the story is going to draw interest for several days. Floods, Plane Crash, things of that nature are types of stories that are covered.

The consequence is that many stories are not fact checked. Local reporters get info from cops or people they interview, but the stories are very soon forgotten. People that watch the news dont fact check either. Not fact checking is how news stories like Plane Crash with Captain Sum Ting Wong, Ho Lee Fuk, Wi Tu Low, and Bang Ding Ow hit the air.

Local TV and Networks are both getting slaughtered by the internet.

Many are trying to transition from broadcast to internet based one way communications. They still control all the content, accurate or inaccurate. Theyre just moving to where the people do the majority of their news observations. However, as the economy continues to spiral down the drain, they have less and less revenue to employ reporters and anchors. Weekend Anchors also typically produce their own weekend newscasts, and often even do weather reports. Thats where you see the Anchor also doing the news, but not standing in front of the Green Screen where maps of the expected weather are provided. That news is typically done by the Weather Person on a Friday, and if there is nothing major to report, they dont even bother to come in. Something like a hurricane, they call in available personnel to report as thats considered a major incident. Tornados and what not also qualify, but they are all intended to provide maximum viewership with minimal costs to the station.

When the economy took a digger, you may or may not have noticed a transition in commercial content. There are still people out there that dont have the ability to "fast forward" through commercials, so they are still relevant, just not to the same degree as they once were. Now what you see is more Promos for local content. Stations arent paid for self promotion. There is some compensation for promoting a current Network show during "Local Time Slots". Such as during Local News and you see a Promo for a Network show that airs during Primetime. Other types of content you see on Local Stations would be what we refer to as Syndicated. Syndicated is typically a show that the local station purchases rights to retransmit and are at least one season old. For example, watching Star Trek The Next Generation is a "Syndicated" show that the local station bought rights to from the original producers of that show. Thats also how you see a CBS show on an NBC Affiliate station. Judge Judy. Law and Order SVU. Oprah Winfrey (mostly ABC related and favored) and Olympics covered by NBC.

I keep getting sidetracked here, sorry about that. Commercials, if you observe them, will not be for local advertisers. They will mostly be for National products like drugs or major distributers. Burger King. Toyota. Bayer. Movies. Almost all of the revenue from local advertisers is gone. Toms Auto Body Shop. Bill Mayer Ford Dealership. Uncle Junkys Bar and Grill. Mom and Pop Carpet Cleaners. No one has any money to spend on advertising, even if it is effective at drawing in new customers.

Then you get into "Paid Programming". The half hour annoying Infomercials about how great their latest Vegetable Juicer is, or George Foreman Grill. Other types of Paid Programming are what we call a "Revenue Share". These are the types of two minute commercials that typically require you to "Order by Phone" and sell such garbage as Hair Removal Device. Stations that air Revenue Shares are NOT PAID to air these types of spots and ONLY make money IF someone calls to order the product. What else you may not know is that those commericals are frequently "Branded". The phone number you call routes to the TV station itself and the station handles the sale of the product or service. There is NO CALL CENTER for that phone number in a lot of cases. When there is, there is a parent company that handles shitloads of products all at once, but these are becoming more and more rare. If you have a product that ends up on one of those shows, you might go as long as two weeks without a single call to purchase that product. Since it doesnt cost those companies anything to air, they dont pull the product, they just keep running the ads.

The TV stations are desparate. You can tell by the types of commercial content they are airing. Its also a strong indicator of how well the economy is in your area. Are you seeing commercials for any Local Businesses or is it all National and Promos? The more National and Promos you see, the worse your economy is. The more Local you see, the better your economy is. Very few know how many of what to expect. During an hour long Primetime show, on average, three minutes and thirty eight seconds is the typical Local Station Break time. These "Station Breaks" are broken up into allowances for 3 to 4 thirty second spots, followed by a Station ID, a 4 second identifier. "Youre watching Channel X, where (local slogan)". The rest of the commercials are run by Networks or Syndicators. Syndicated shows allow for a lot more Local Time, which is why stations show as many old shows as they do. There is still interest in that type of programming, but instead of a Network show where you get 3:38, you can get around 8 minutes. Many things factor in. Length of the show, formatting, variable length, type of programming and when it airs. If anyone remembers old Satellite TV, you may have noticed that shows came down on satellites at very screwy times. Entertainment Tonight came down around 1pm, but usually airs between 6:30PM and 7:30PM. These shows that came down on satellite also had a lot of "Black Air". Just no content at all for decent periods of time. Those "Black Holes" are the spots where Local Commercials were expected to go.

Local Newscasts are also formatted but ALL of the commercial breaks are structured for about 8 minutes of local commercial content. But as MSM continues to die, so will the fact checking, quality, and relevance of the material they transmit. Its where a lot of the "sharing" of news stories comes from. However, when MSM expresses severe Bias, like the way they did by never mentioning Ron Paul, that is definitely an indication of an agenda. The type of Bias they do extends itself to not talk about the people that pay the bills. MSM isnt going to do "Investigative Reporting" against GMO when GMO pays a good chunk of their bills. Same thing as everyone knows that car dealerships screw people. Since they buy (well, used to buy) local commercials, very little reporting on car dealerships screwing customers ever occured. Certainly not proportional to the number of times that the dealerships did screw people out of money. Buying commercials damn near guarantees MSM immunity from any wrongdoings that they could perform. But for bigger stories like Ron Paul, the intent of not mentioning him at all during the last election was done with considerable Bias, and those types of orders come from the TOP. Same thing happened to Leno. Leno recently got canned, we suspect, for being "too heavy handed" on Obamas numerous failures. Leno did not want to go, they kicked him out. Now, how many other celebrity reporters are also getting the boot? From Piers Morgan (anti gun right asshole) to Judge Napolitano (the one we like). Even Dan Rather (CBS) was fired for comments that painted Bush in a negative light. No one is immune to the orders that come from the top. And bias does exist.

The producers in the market where I live were paid about $10 bucks an hour and required a 4 year degree. I've personally observed a producer getting fired for airing a Pro Ron Paul news story after only working at the station for about two weeks. I've seen a lot more than that, but point is, they dont hire anyone who is not pro status quo, or simply disposes of them if there are any signs of not falling for the rest of the propoganda they repeat. Cops are heroes, people (especially blacks and hispanics) are criminals, you should be afraid of guns and support anti gun bills. Nothing to see at the Federal Reserve Bank, now pay attention to Justin Beiber. The people at the top make sure that any thought violations are dealt with promptly. They'll tolerate some not supporting the Status Quo as long as those people are kept out of sight of the public and stand no chance of tarnishing the companies image. There is definitely bias, but it is a battle they are losing because they keep trying to repeat the same message that most people no longer believe to be true, as well as many other influencing factors, many of which are quite complex and only a few have been addressed in this wall of text.

All in all, I hope this provides everyone with a better picture of the inner workings of TV stations. Its only done with my perspective of what happens behind the scenes and in no way is able to show the entire complex nature of the business side of why stations do what they do.

Nice observations of your experience. Thanks.

[eproxy100]

Thanks for the info. How unfortunate that they end up spewing garbage from the propaganda machine.

[Christopher A. Brown]

All media is VERY much controlled. Our local paper was bought to assure it would not output to AP a story about a lawsuit I had to file.

http://algoxy.com/law/no_free_press/sbsecretsofmedia.html

If you click around there you will find lawsuits against the local county back to 1998. The PTB knew it was just a matter of time before I filed one that really deserved reporting

Also there was a plan to secretly remove a 9th circuit court rule which provided justice to pro se civil rights plaintiffs. If the paper had reported on the story, the removal secretly wod not have possible.

There is no freedom of the press and the purpose of free speech has been abridged since mass media came into existence.

[satchelmcqueen]

its been this way for a long time. glad youre seeing it now :)

[enhanced_deficit]

This in itself does not prove that every major news media outlet in US is controlled by corporate media bosses or SWC dronking's political slave masters.

[DamianTV]

I think this needs to be spun another way.

A lot, including myself, are truly suspicious of the MSM Bias. The thing is, these news outlets really dont pay people any more for Investigative Journalism. They have become talking heads, and people listen. Unfortunately, many people do not dare speak above their breath in condemneation of the State leaving no one else to listen to except for the Talking Heads on TV.

There are Real Investagative Journalists still out there. Want to know where to find them? Look in the Mirror! Every time YOU see something that is newsworthy, blog about it. Post it. Share it. Spread it. Try to make it go viral. Not just the stuff that happens to you, but what happens to your Neighbors and Friends. Your Family, and the family down the street. Go out, do your homework. Find out what happened. Get organized. But dont expect anything for your efforts other than to be told by the state to stop what you are doing.

YOU are and have always been Ron Paul's Media. Now it is time to become the Real Investigative Journalists that the world needs, now more than ever before.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

There are Real Investagative Journalists still out there. Want to know where to find them? Look in the Mirror!

I agree. I probably yack a lot on here, but still learn a lot from people here. People posting their thoughts here is what needs to be on TV.

[Christopher A. Brown]

DamienTV, I've been doing this since 1998 and It DOES NOT work, if the information will cause change. People are too afraid of that unconsciously.

DamienTV wrote:
" Every time YOU see something that is newsworthy, blog about it. Post it. Share it. Spread it. Try to make it go viral. Not just the stuff that happens to you, but what happens to your Neighbors and Friends."

Stuff that doesn't matter much might get carried because people are looking for recognition, but not with something that will create change.

The link I posted has enough in it to cause such, or at least discussion here. Do you see any of that?

There are some politically radical events documented there.

[Christopher A. Brown]

NCL, I KNOW you are not a cognitive infiltrator because what you have said here, they would never say. Therefore, please read, plead comment on my links.


People posting their thoughts here is what needs to be on TV.

NCL, I've written a draft revision of the 1st amendment that creates a legal path for exactly that to happen.

I propose an Article V convention propelled by a simple but with proper preparation to assure all amendments have constitutional intent. Three issues are addressed by amendment in preparation, then amendment stops UNTIL America can test itself and know it can agreeably define constitutional intent.

The basic concept is packaged as something which will interface with our current party type system and is described here.

http://patriotaction.net/forum/topics/the-party-that-ended-all-parties-the-principal-party

Here is a page which has a post showing EXACTLY how we purify our ranks and become "the rightful masters of the congress and the courts".

To make my point in the reply to DamienTV again. NOBODY is even discussing it. Nobody says it won't work, no one says anything about it.

[DamianTV]

DamienTV, I've been doing this since 1998 and It DOES NOT work, if the information will cause change. People are too afraid of that unconsciously.

DamienTV wrote:
" Every time YOU see something that is newsworthy, blog about it. Post it. Share it. Spread it. Try to make it go viral. Not just the stuff that happens to you, but what happens to your Neighbors and Friends."

Stuff that doesn't matter much might get carried because people are looking for recognition, but not with something that will create change.

The link I posted has enough in it to cause such, or at least discussion here. Do you see any of that?

There are some politically radical events documented there.

Would a better solution to communicate without any expectation of recognition? I know there are a lot of people that want recognition more than they value the information they convey, but its not always true.

I think it also depends greatly on who you talk to. Me trying to preach to someone in the USSR isnt going to have much influence, but me talking to my neighbors about how to resolve a local problem (dog, tree, weather, unruly neighbor, etc) tends to earn much more respect for the idea and the solution over recognition of neighbors.

[Weston White]

www.drudgereport.com — Where News is Conceived