Before we can start talking and writing news we need to know what news is. Generally, a picture of the family cat is NOT news. Unless the family cat kept mewing and clawing at the neighbor’s door and that woke them up so they got out of the house before it burned down to the ground. Now your family cat IS newsworthy!
There really isn’t a magic formula for determining what news is. I wish! If there were, I’d bottle it up, sell it for a hefty price and retire someplace where temperatures are in the low 80s and bare-chested men bring me drinks with little umbrellas in them all day long. (I can dream, can’t I?)
Which stories should we cover? What story leads the newscast? What story goes above the fold? Which story goes below the fold or on page 3? Do we commit a reporter and a photographers to this story? Or do we commit the entire news team?
These are all tough questions, with a lot of variables you must factor in. But… there are some guidelines to help us determine what is NOT newsworthy, what is newsworthy, and just how newsworthy a story is. You’ll find various versions of these guidelines around the business, but they are generally combinations or more precise divisions of these seven qualities or factors.
Question: What impact did the Gutenberg press have on society?
Answer: A lot. A whole bunch of a lot.
When Gutenberg invented the press in the mid-1400s, it made information accessible to the masses. The technology made sharing uncensored ideas with your neighbors, the village down the road, or even the world, possible.
Before the Gutenberg press, only the rich could afford books and manuscripts. In fact, books were so rare that your church probably did NOT have a copy of the Bible under its roof.
According to the University of Texas, which has a Gutenberg Bible, it’s estimated you could only find around 30,000 books in all of Europe before the Gutenberg press. Fifty years later, 10 to 12 million books circulated throughout Europe.
Yeah, I’d say the Gutenberg press had an impact.
Watch the following Xerox ad that first aired during the 1976 Super Bowl. It humorously represents the communication opportunities before the Gutenberg press and after. (Seriously, watch it. It’s only a minute of your time. Not only does it illustrate the importance of printing, it’s also a look at how commercials have changed over time.)
Remember the TV series Friends? Monica and Chandler, Joey and Phoebe and Ross and Rachel all getting into situations and then gathering at Central Perk to talk. We’ll here’s The Nerdist’s take on how Friends would look like if it were set in today’s time.
Gaming. What do I know about gaming? Nothing. Nada. Ziltch.
Okay, that’s not true. I did a little research and now I know gaming is a $60 billion dollar a year industry. It is so big, so incorporated into society that even the academic world takes it seriously.
Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media has been in publication since January 2006. Each journal asks psychologists, sociologists, communication specialists and more to share what they learned about gamers communicate, how they associate with each other and what they can accomplish working collaboratively.
In one issue they look at how propaganda is being used in EVE Online. Another article looks at the differences of culture between American and Russian players. Apparently, there’s a perception that Russians approach the game in a more criminal manner. The study shows it’s just part of their culture.
Thanks to my work with the students at CentralNewsWatch, I’m also aware of the growth of ESports. In fact, the NCAA is talking about considering make ESport gamers NCAA athletes.
I’ll admit it. The concept of 3D printing confused me. How on Earth does the printer that kicks out letters and photos possibly print something in 3D?
Turns out it’s easy. Once you get the right printer and the right type of “ink.”
When I first wrote this blog in 2015 you could but a pretty good 3D printer, like this CubeX, for your home for $999 – $2000. Sounds expensive. Especially if you’re only going to use it to print multicolored rocket ships.
I reminded my readers that the first microwaves cost thousands of dollars. (One source said that would be like spending over $10000 in today’s dollars.)
Now, you can pick one up at the local mega mart for under $100.
And, as I predicted, the same has happened with 3D printers. I just spotted this Flash Forge 3D printer on Amazon for $349 with free shipping!
So how does a 3D printer work? Well, let’s ask a scientist.
Some of the earliest pictures my parents took of me have a television in the background.
So, television has been around as long as I have.
Well, in truth, the mechanics of TV has been around a lot longer than I have. I’m really a child of early television programming.
Sketch drawn by Philo T. Farnsworth for his chemistry teacher in 1922. You can learn more about Farnsworth and his battles with RCA at http://philointhehall.com/
The TV mechanism was actually invented by an Utah boy named Philo T. Farnsworth. He first sketched the idea of the vacuum tube in his high school chemistry class. He went on to develop the first electric television set in the 1920s.
The Great Depression and World War II supply shortages stalled the spread of television. The research continued but at a slower rate because materials and man-power were needed for the war effort.
I grew up in a house in the middle of a 10 acre cherry orchard. My parents were around 17 when they gave birth to me. So, when I turned 10, they were 27. They were my parents, but they were young people too.
That’s my sister in the center swinging her head to the Beatles. I’m the redhead to the right, behind my sister.
I tell you all this to explain why at all my slumber parties we were allowed to turn the stereo up to 10 and dance into the wee small hours in the morning. At my 40th high school reunion, they were still talking about those slumber parties.
Like you, music has played an important role in my life. I remember when we got the Beatles’ Hard Days Night album. In high school every dance had a Credence Clearwater Revival cover band playing. In college, I listened to Chicago, Peter Frampton and Boston.
When my son came along we couldn’t start the day without dancing to Heart of Rock-n-Roll by Hughie Lewis and the News, Every breath you take by The Police or Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. Continue reading A premature eulogy for the music business→
Chances are you were toddlers or younger. Heck! Some of you might not have been born yet.
I was in my Weber State University office working. My friend called and wanted to know if I started recording the news. When I asked why, she told me to get in front of a television set, now! I did. That’s when I saw the replay of the second plane crashing into the second tower.
The next 36 hours were filled with my news students gathering stories and putting together a newscast focused on how the terrorist attack impacted the university, the community and its people.
At the end of the day on 9-12, a student called me over to the computer and said, “Terri, you’ve got to look at this.” Here’s what the email he opened looked like.
One of my favorite movies is Love Actually. The movie begins with aging rocker, Billy Mack, bastardizing one of his former hits, Love is All Around Us to Christmas is All Around Us. The idea was to capitalize on holiday sales. In truth, Love is All Around was originally recorded back in the 60s by The Troggs.
The song came to mind as I mulled around what to write for this blog. Love IS all around. But I contend an even more prevalent force surrounding us is media.
According to a report issued by the San Diego Supercomputer Center at USC each of us consume over 15.5 hours of media each day… outside of work. Wow! That’s a lot of media. We’ve developed into a multitasking society where we have a television show on, while using social media on our computers and sending text or Tweets on our smart phones. So, it is possible for a person to consume more than 24 hours of media within a 24 hour period.
Product placement is where a brand is incorporated into the scenery of a movie or television show. And it’s big. Really BIG. In 2017, product placement represented $8.78 Billion in spending.
A little product placement history
One of the first product placements I remember is Reese’s Pieces in the movie E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
Yes, originally Spielberg wanted to use M&Ms, but Mars turned him down. So, the producers went to Hershey’s and they gladly gave permission to use their little known candy. The deal struck between Hershey’s and the movie producers involved a Hershey promise to spend $1,000,000 to promote the movie. In exchange, Hershey’s could use E.T. in their ads. After the movie’s premier, sales of Reece’s pieces increased by 65 percent.
When they re-released E.T. in 2002, Hershey’s struck a similar deal (as this commercial demonstrates.)
There are four types of product placement.
One is the deal like Reese’s Pieces.
A second type involves the company providing the movie producers big ticket items such as cars, appliances, technology equipment for free. Almost half of all product placement is based on this type of deal.
The third type is “straight fee.” This is where the advertiser pays to have the product included in the film or television show.
The fourth type is “organic.” The product becomes part of the storyline without any goods, services or money being exchanged. This can be a bit risky if the product is being used in a negative or derogatory manner.
The product isn’t just sitting on the table; now it’s part of the story line
In this digital age, advertisers are too aware of how fast forward on the remote impacts a commercial’s effectiveness. Smaller audiences television audiences means advertisers are looking for means, other than a 30 second spot, to get their product into the hands of consumers. In fact, product placement has kept some television shows on the air. Spend 5 minutes and watch the very clever Stephen Colbert explain how this works. 🙂 (Video is back from the Colbert Report days. Classic!)
Like those horrible soap opera scenes, product placement has reached a new level. The product becomes a part of the story. For example, one of the great scenes from Wayne’s World involves Wayne and Garth (not) hawking various products.
Rampant Product Placement
Sometimes product placement is incredibly obvious. The Internshipwith Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn and was pretty much a 24/7 product placement for Google, right down to the movie’s logo.
Other times, the product placement is seamlessly incorporated into the script. In the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away a Wilson volleyball becomes a main character. And an unopened FedEx box provided a plot twist.
A really well integrated product placement happened in the first season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. It centered around Eleven’s obsession with Eggo Waffles.
Eggos became an “organic” part of the storyline. (Organic means Eggos didn’t pay to be part of the show.)
On Seinfeld, Kramer drops a Junior Mint into a man’s chest during surgery.
M&Ms and Livesavers turned down Seinfeld’s request to use their candies. Junior Mints didn’t pay for the product placement, yet this episode, which inadvertently credits Junior Mints for saving a man’s life, increased Junior Mints viability.
Trivia – When Kramer slips and the Junior Mint flies through the air and into the patient, the Seinfeld crew actually used a York Peppermint Patty. Junior Mints were too small to follow on camera.
In a tongue-in-cheek style,30 Rockincorporated produce placement gags for Snapple in several different episodes.
I used to watch the television series Bones (2005-2017). I’ll admit I stopped watching when I saw some extremely blatant product placement. Toyota provides the cars and, when the lead character uses parking assist, navigation or other vehicle feature, it becomes part of the script. You can almost hear the script stopping, the product placement run, and the script picking up again.
And this is just one example of how the series incorporated product placement into the script.
Even video games have some sometimes product placement, including the use of billboards in the Burnout Paradise driver game for the Obama 2008 presidential campaign! (It’s about 1:20 in the video)
And just when I thought I saw it all…I did some research and found this. One of the main characters in Final Fantasy XV wears a Nissin Cup Noodles on his head. Apparently, one of the quests in the game is to look for toppings to make the already delicious Cup Noodles taste even better. I’m not a gamer. I don’t get it. But it must be working.
Even sneakier… digital product placement
Now, product placement has gone digital. Advertisers don’t even have to provide a product while the show or movie is being shot. It can be digitally inserted long after the television show or movie has been edited and aired. This 5:30 minute Slate video shows you how.
The technology is so good, they say it won’t be long before you’ll watch a movie where they digitally place chicken or beef products in a kitchen scene. Your vegan friend could be watching the same movie in another room and they would digitally replace the meat with fruits and veggies in the same scene.
Your assignment
Product placement is all around us. For this assignment you’ll have to do some research into production placement. Go to Blog:Product Placement for assignment details.
