FOT Forum

FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ason on November 24, 2007, 11:57:40 PM

Title: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: Ason on November 24, 2007, 11:57:40 PM
Like in the past week I've come across several different instances of media talking about "ebooks"
and ebook readers.

Makes me wonder....
Title: Re: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: Forrest on November 25, 2007, 12:54:05 AM
I've noticed the ebook thing too. It looks like it weighs about ten pounds. Fuck that.
Title: Re: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: TVD on November 25, 2007, 02:49:12 AM
It might be that you watched CNN on black friday.  I saw one of those indoor helicopter things so many times I think I want one now.
Title: Re: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 25, 2007, 01:23:57 PM
Like in the past week I've come across several different instances of media talking about "ebooks"
and ebook readers.

Makes me wonder....

It's really not much of a mystery - most product rollouts hire a press agent whose entire job it is to land media coverage.  I'm sure Jeff Bezos from Amazon spared no expense on that front.  And this is sort of a standard media narrative - here's the new little gadget that's going to change everything forever.  Sometimes it's true, as in the case of the iPod, other times, well...  anyone remember how the Segway was supposed to be the new internet?

It's standard operating procedure, but it gets really bad when news organizations, who are operating with lower and lower overhead, just pop the press release into a slot and call it an article or segment.  If you never want to trust the media again, just Google the initials "VNR," or video news release - these are fake news items made by PR lacks that are often aired by local TV news affiliates as if they were produced by the show.
Title: Re: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: Ason on November 25, 2007, 03:20:11 PM
Yeah I don't expect that sort of behavior from NPR's "On the Media"
which was one of the places I was assaulted with the e*reader nonsense.

The whole pre packed news packages I had heard about.
Title: Re: You ever notice when certian ideas or products are getting pushed?
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 25, 2007, 04:50:19 PM
Yeah, but even though OTM is a pretty good show, this isn't the first time they've done gadget segments like these.  Once something established itself as part of the news cycle, even if it's nonsense (which I agree it is) it's hard to ignore.