Real Or Fake? (Fake.)
It's a slideshow called "Real Or Fake." Look closely.
FYI: the answer is real.
You can see at the bottom the rest of the people are Rihanna, Pam Anderson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Playboy Playmates, etc.
But rather than the slideshow being about the obvious-- about the thing that got me to go to it-- it pretends to be about something else:
Ooh. Tricky. And it continues in this vein:
Get it? Bait and switch, without the switch.
You are enticed to look at it because it makes you think it's about famous women's boobs. But CBS can't just become the CW, it has big brand advertisers it needs to satisfy with its high level of integrity. Acura isn't paying just for eyeballs, it's paying for positioning and loyalty. "The kind of person who likes CBS is the kind of person who likes Acura." And vise versa. So the captions afford it plausible deniability even as they pull in the internet clicks.
And there are plenty of clicks. Go to the CBS site-- the same slideshow is playing on CBS affiliates throughout the land-- and scroll through the 27 slide show (turn off your adblock.) Every new slide refreshes the ads. So if each ad pays $x per 1000 displays, the slideshow has the potential to bring in $27x.
It's the same with the NYT or any other site that has multiple pages to a single article that you need to click through-- all of those allow the ads to refresh.
So an article of $x can potentially generate $4x.II.
In Network, the news division simply didn't bring in the revenue like an entertainment show did; but it was argued that the news division is too important, profit be damned. Is that realistic? No. It makes tons of money for the network.
The primary motive for the media company (not the individual news outlet) is to draw in ad money and traffic. So an unwatched show on CBS like the Miss Universe Pageant generates tons of money for CBS in other ways (e.g. Access Hollywood. "You'll never believe what happened!" I didn't think I cared what happened, but I guess I do?)
Same with the news. The news can legitimize a story sufficiently to allow it to get play everywhere else on the network. "CBS News is reporting that Mel Gibson..." Or it can play in the reverse. Rolling Stone magazine is expected to have the naked cast of True Blood on their cover, CBS News couldn't get away with that. Solution? CBS News does a story about the Rolling Stone cover, which in turn legitimizes it further.
All "shows" are responsible to their advertisers (not the public) but in a way that circumvents clear accountability. Does Acura really want a fake boobs story on CBS? No. But would it allow a "how celebrities deceive their public?" story? Go get 'em.
So the news wants to give you pornography, but it still has to pretend it is giving you information.
III.
For example (British paper The Daily Mail):
So why would a newspaper want to publish a story about a woman upset about breastfeeding bullies?
They wouldn't; the only part of the story that makes it interesting to them is that the bully is supermodel Gisele. Without the link to Gisele, the article has no draw.
But even so, why would a paper care what some mom thinks about what Gisele says? It would only do so if the "mom" was some kind of a celebrity herself already; and Denise is apparently some kind of celebrity over in the UK, having judged a talent show and been naked in public.
Meanwhile, how does a D list celebrity keep herself in the spotlight post baby? Not by talking about breastfeeding (meh) but by attacking Gisele (oooohhh!)
For clarification, the real reason Denise doesn't breast feed is:
"I can't be sitting in Starbucks and breast feeding, because they (photographers) are taking pictures."
That's media today. The story is used by Denise to keep herself in the spotlight and then by the publisher as three kinds of linkbait: Denise, Gisele, and breastfeeding.
The point that must be emphasized is that the purpose of the story is to get you to go there. That's it.
III.
I've chosen silly examples to make the method obvious and the purpose clear.
A more subtle example of this manipulation is the current controversy over the "Mosque at Ground Zero." This is manufactured controversy if there ever was one, but instead of being being manufactured by politicians for political purposes, it's by media for the purposes of bringing in clicks.
Never mind it's not at Ground Zero. It's two blocks away, well guarded by St. Peter's Church, The Department of Health, and the University of Phoenix. Feel safer? Furthermore, the Amish are stationed right next door.
And never mind that it is already a mosque. Another mosque four blocks from Ground Zero got full, and so they were having services at the Burlington Coat Factory-- the site of the proposed mosque.
The only thing that matters is keeping the controversy alive so that people go to the story. Fox will tell you it's at Ground Zero, CNN will be careful to mention that it's only near Ground Zero, but anyone is free to use the controversy to bring in the clicks:
etc.
Interestingly, the CS Monitor gets it exactly right, I'm sure by accident:
----
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August 18, 2010 12:20 PM | Posted by : | Reply
You nailed it on the head.
Though, I have a feeling that no one is surprised to learn this! It's one of those things where you read about it and then go "hm, that's so true" and then go about your day. Don't we all take it with a grain of salt to begin with? I mean if we're not children or simpletons?
Excellent article. Love your blogs.
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August 18, 2010 12:27 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Buy what they're selling or sit unawares. Such shitty choices. No one wants to put in the effort to sell me something I'd feel good about. :)
Hey, like you're always saying, narcissism is everywhere but only bad when it hurts others.
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
August 18, 2010 1:16 PM | Posted by : | Reply
My father the cynic is right more often than I like to admit, and he was right about this. Newspapers - and by extension, news sites/orgs/etc. - are not in the business of reporting the news. They are in the business of making money. That is what any business aims to do.
Ground Zero Mosque, Too Big To Fail, Bailout, Palling Around With Terrorists, any news story/web link accompanied by a photo of a polarizing figure... all intended to magnetize your pointer, encourage you to click. It's all shorthand, a smokescreen designed to give the illusion of fire. The more we click, the more we implicitly endorse the sleight-of-hand...until the next catchy phrase comes along. Whole host of other bullshit arises in tandem with this practice... but frankly still too exhausted by Obama's visit to Los Angeles to bust open that can of worms.
Thanks for walking us(me) through this. Repeated exposure and practice continues to clarify.
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August 18, 2010 1:29 PM | Posted by : | Reply
"We are not being enslaved by Skynet. We are being enslaved by an emergent retard whose behavior is basically a viciously randomized reflection of our own collective manias."
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/17/the-greasy-fix-it-web-of-intent-vision/
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August 18, 2010 1:38 PM | Posted by : | Reply
You're sure the CS Monitor got it right by accident? I'm pretty sure they get things right on purpose- but it's a shame that so few people know about it, and that most people I tell about it are thrown off by the name. (My sarcasm detector is notoriously bad, so feel free to ignore if that was sarcasm.)
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August 18, 2010 4:02 PM | Posted by : | Reply
It goes so much further. FOX News (and all cable news outlets for that matter) learned that the more sensational and polarizing the figure/story, the more viewers tune in. So what does this do to reasoned debate? And as a consequence, politics in America? It's easy enough to see.
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August 18, 2010 5:00 PM | Posted by : | Reply
"increased attention in world press" often is also said as " the people are demanding an answer", "everyone is paying attention", "popular opinion is..."
This one really gets to me.
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August 18, 2010 7:28 PM | Posted by : | Reply
pretty good. a nice departure from your usual cryptic style. now if i could just get people more interested in poor black girls in brooklyn...
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August 19, 2010 9:32 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I can agree that this is a bait and switch, but that's far from an original or controversial point. Rather it is really well worn ground.
You start out by saying, "If you have trouble following my rants about misdirection and manipulation in the media, this is a good example of the mechanism." What does the author want to be true? Well that this rant is true so your other rants are true too.
Many of your other rants are that the media is generating narcissism. Because the foot is too big and doesn't fit the shoe you use this cliche example (common knowledge that sex sells even before the internet) as a shoehorn to leverage the foot into that shoe. I think you need a bigger shoe and less leverage.
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August 19, 2010 11:48 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
Felan - But alone wasn't pointing out sex sells, he's pointing out exactly how it's being used to sell in this context (while pretending not to be using sex to sell, etc). And, sure some of the things Alone writes about can seem obvious if you're already aware of them but for people who aren't aware they're not obvious. Once you see the elephant in the room (or the gorilla running across the basketball court) they're obvious and impossible not to see but the people who are denying the elephant exists or those who are focused on counting passes by guys in yellow shirts won't see the elephant or the gorilla. Basic cognitive science really.
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August 19, 2010 11:50 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
It's not bait and switch, it's just bait. His point is that the news isn't to give us news, but for them to make money and they do it by targeting whatever prurient interests you have or political biases. So where does one go for real news? Does such a place exist? Somewhere in one of his posts he wrote that not only do we not get knowledge from school or the news, but there's no where to learn what we're supposed to know. We are unaware of our knowledge deficiencies.
I'm not the purpose of his rants about the media were that they were generating narcissism, but that that was collateral damage in deepening our ignorance.
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August 19, 2010 11:53 AM | Posted by : | Reply
The whole idea of "real or fake" when applied to Hollywood photo ops is a bait and switch anyway. It's all a performance, it's all fake. It's irrelevant if the boobs or pearls are real.
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
August 19, 2010 12:08 PM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
Yes, it is irrelevant but isn't that the point? we're offered the question of real or fake when the question doesn't matter, so we waste our time on irrelevant stuff. If we just wanted to see boobs, we could check out porn, but we came looking for news and got distracted by boobs, but still left thinking we got news.
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August 19, 2010 2:26 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Is this real life?
Did they really have a slide show like that? OMG.
Was it intented to be humorous? It's blatant they are encouraging people to think about actresses breasts... I mean the headline is "real or fake" and there is a picture of a woman showing off her boobs (which are obviously fake). That the slideshow is actually about necklaces and accents, I mean, this seems like something from SNL you know?
It would have been classier if the slideshow actually were about implants, because then at least the trashy humor element isn't there (and you are left exclusively with the trashy sex content).
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August 19, 2010 2:31 PM | Posted by : | Reply
While on this subject, why are people/men preoccupied with whether or not breasts are real? Very, very few women have nice breasts that are large. Most women have small breasts that are nice (perky), or large breasts that are sloppy... so when you see a woman with perfect large boobs it's almost certain those boobs are fakers, particularly if she is in hollywood. And, even if they are real, who cares? What's the point?
As was previously pointed out, almost everything in hollywood is fake... literally 100% OF STARS have had nose jobs or other surgeries, and it has been this way since the begining, it's written in the bible I promise.
Even something as simple a makeup can totally transform one's appearance.
I suppose it comes from the idea that women who are beautiful without surgery or makeup are better people, MORE beautiful (since beauty = being a better person) than women who have surgeries and wear makeup and stuff. But the funny thing is, all beautiful women use illusions to enhance (or create) beauty. Beauty really doesn't exist, it's some ideal of how a person should look that really doesn't happen naturally. And it never happens after age 24 or so.
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August 20, 2010 10:26 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
I'm not the purpose of his rants about the media were that they were generating narcissism, but that that was collateral damage in deepening our ignorance.
Well he starts it off so broadly as to net in more than bait and switch. The problem I have with this blog entry is that it is targeting media specifically.
In the subject of manipulating people (a.k.a. bait and switch or saying one thing and doing another or whatever other variant expression you choose), it is something that is exercised practically daily by everyone (in that I have yet to meet someone that didn't do it).
I've watched a girl hop into her father's lap and coo out "I love you". She is doing the same exact thing as media is doing in Alone's example, manipulating an audience. The father even realizes this and cynically asks, "What do you want?" The manipulation is effective.
Cao Cao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (quasi-fictional history) faked having an epileptic seizure to discredit an eunuch to his father, thus gaining greater freedom.
History and daily life are replete with tons of examples of manipulation on the same order. To say the media is "guilty" of something that is such an intrinsic part of human expression seems a tad smelly to me.
Perhaps he wasn't using this more obvious point to build agreement to his broader and more controversial (in my mind at least) point. Perhaps it is an attempt to approach presenting his idea that media generates narcissism from a more agreeable angle.
If someone has a domain that human expression occupies that is free of these tactics, please share it.
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August 20, 2010 7:26 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I for one would like to cross reference this researcher's web surfing habits with his conclusions, but that might just be the skeptic talking.
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August 23, 2010 11:10 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm glad it's a non-debate, otherwise I would be afraid for American press. The mosque shouldn't be questioned, ever.
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August 25, 2010 8:31 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Yesterday I read Real or Fake, and today I see this in the New York Times. Yeah Boobies!
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