Issues in the Media

WHEN IS IT TOO MUCH???

I found this opinion piece by Amanda Meade on the Australian website VERY interesting! it came so close to home! lately i have found myself absouletly dumbfounded at some of our news progrmas (particultaly the current affairs shows)... They haave become SO full of rubbish, they can no longer be called news programs. They have become advertising/marketing/infotainment!

I was astounded last night on Today tonight to see that the main story was all about the auditions for the new TV show Beauty and the Geek! WHAT THE? Is this what TV news is coming to? How dumbed down will it become?

"LAST night’s episode of A Current Affair on Nine was so filled with cross-promotion, product placement and blatant self-promotion it was impossible to distinguish between the paid content and the editorial.
Host Tracy Grimshaw presented a segment on a Women’s Weekly “Product of the Year” competition. Dressed up as a consumer story the segment was nothing more than a long ad for the products featured and for the Weekly.
And won’t the advertisers of those products held up to the camera love that!
The talent in the story was Deborah Thomas, consulting editor, Australian Women’s Weekly and general manager, editorial projects, ACP Magazines.
A former editor of the Weekly, Thomas’ job now is to dream up marketing initiatives for the magazine.
This is how the marketing initiative was explained by publishers ACP: “The Australian Women’s Weekly Product of the Year Awards will not only drive readers in-store to trial and purchase products, but also give the finalists and winners the opportunity to promote their brand as a finalist in The Australian Women’s Weekly Product of the Year Awards, with usage of the “winners’ dinkus” for up to 12 months. This independent endorsement from readers of The Australian Women’s Weekly will prove invaluable when it comes to helping consumers navigate their way through an array of offerings.”
Women’s Weekly is, of course, in the Channel Nine stable so cross-promotions between ACA and the Weekly are de rigeur.
The ACA story included shot after shot of the cover of the Weekly and guess who the cover girl is? A very glamorous Tracy Grimshaw of course: “On Ramsay and gay rumours”.
But wait! That’s not all!
The next story was also a cross-promotion for the Weekly, a promotion of the Belinda Neal interview in which the politician says she’s forgiven her cheating husband.
And of course more shots of the Weekly’s exclusive photo shoot with Neal. "