“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-17 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from week of June 18, 2017
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Know The Word
There’s a word being tossed around these days by folks when it comes to the media. It’s one of the words or phrases that I refer to as “shut downs”. The idea is that once I call it this, then I’ve branded it as so utterly evil that I no longer have to actually engage the ideas being put forth. Ultimately, I don’t believe that such words and phrases are helpful. So maybe looking a little more closely can help us understand.
In this case, the word is “propaganda”. Call media “propaganda” and you no longer have to even discuss them. So what exactly does the word mean? I was interested to discover that there seem to be two different understandings, one quite broad and the other more specific.
The broader definition calls propaganda any message designed to make a specific audience think and react in a specific manner. The problem with this definition is that it would include all forms of advertising, all political rhetoric, even the coaxing of the parent trying to get a small child to do as they are told. Another way of putting it is that it is intended to support a cause. It’s too broad to be useful, even if it is technically correct.
Which leaves us the more specific definition. Here propaganda is communication that is biased or misinformation intended to affect political positions. The information in the communication may be true or false, but it is carefully selected to achieve a specific political outcome. While often associated with government sources, it is not necessarily limited to governmental organizations.
This is the definition that I think most people are reaching for in the conversations. The problem is that the term is simply used to plaster over any information or media source that doesn’t conform with our established beliefs. Criticizing a political figure or party does not make the statement propaganda. Which is not to say that I don’t believe that there is propaganda roaming in the wilds of our national discussions today. There is plenty, on the left, on the right, and from the center. Here’s the first thing we all need to remember. None of that is new. George Washington himself was criticized, often quite viciously. American national discussions have always carried with them the passion that is so deeply ingrained in our culture. History shows that Americans like to shout and wave our hands in the air.
The only way forward for the media that is so much the center of that discussion today, is to always make sure that we listen and question what we hear. Even when it agrees with us.
The Ultimate Media Event
Every year I do at least one program about the biggest media event of the year, the Super Bowl. But the NFL’s championship game is not the original media super event. That would be the Olympics, and there’s some good news and some bad on that front.
It’s easy to take the Olympic Games for granted after all these years. Once upon a time, they were the hottest media ticket in the world. 1960 was the first year that saw the Games broadcast in the United States. There had been some limited broadcasts elsewhere in the world starting in 1936, and then mostly in Europe in the ‘50s. The Games have traditionally been a ratings monster. The network airing them can figure on capturing about half the viewing audience for two and a half weeks. Those kinds of numbers will make anyone in the media sit up and take notice.
The downside is that the cost for the rights and the production is so enormous that you can’t make any money on the Games themselves. Which brings us to the bad news. The Olympics have lost a major sponsor. McDonald’s has announced that following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea, they will be withdrawing three years early as a major corporate sponsor. The fast food franchise has been a presence at the Games since 1968 and an official sponsor since 1976.
I started by talking about the Olympics as the original media super event. The reality of the 21st Century is that the event has been fading for the last couple decades. It never fully recovered from the boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in the early ‘80s. With so much sports now available 24/7, they’ve also lost some of their special appeal.
Which brings us to the better news for the Olympics. Starting in July, the Games will have their own satellite/cable channel, called, are you ready for this, the Olympic Channel. It will air competition in Olympic sports year-round. The initial emphasis will be on live broadcasts in sports like volleyball, track and field, and swimming and diving. The concept is to then grow into sports from both the Summer and Winter Games. It’s scheduled to launch in thirty-five million homes.
Since the first modern Olympics, held in Greece in 1896, the Games have gone through many changes. Today it has been increasingly difficult to find cities or even nations willing to take on the massive expense of hosting the Games. Like everything else in this modern age, even the Games have to figure out how to adapt to the times.
For the time being, even faded as they are, the Olympics remain a media event like no other.
A Father’s Rant
It’s Father’s Day week, so it feels like it’s a good time for a little paternal media ranting. It’s something that has bugged me for years, but I finally got pushed over the edge by a current commercial.
Is it time for Dad’s to get a little respect in advertising? If there is one member of the family unit that is going to be the butt of the joke it is almost inevitably Dad. You can’t make jokes about stupid children because that’s just cruel. Moms have been off limits for years. Part of it, I suspect, was the traditional respect for moms (remember it’s MOM, apple pie, and the flag, not Dad), plus in this day and age, there are just too many landmines for male advertising execs making jokes that imply a woman is dumb.
So that leaves Dad. And this Dad has had enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with being the brunt of the occasional joke. It would be nice if that particular honor was shared around the family a little more than it is, but hey, you’ve got to have a sense of humor about yourself. And, yes, sometimes Dad can be a dope, and, yes, that can be funny. So while I noted this commercial bias years ago, I just shrugged it off. It’s one of those arguments that you just can’t win.
What finally tipped me over the edge is the relatively new ad from the health insurance company, AFLAC. In it Mom comes to find Dad on his knees, holding a towel to his face. Junior, holding a baseball bat, explains that Dad “walked into my swing”. Dad takes exception to that description but no one pays any attention. Here’s where they pushed me over the edge. What follows is a discussion of how Dad’s apparently horrific facial injury might jeopardize the family’s Hawaiian vacation. It goes so far that Mom and Junior have a vote between the vacation or fixing Dad’s face. Hawaii wins. Mom’s reaction lets you know that the choice wasn’t even close in her mind.
This is the spot the company chose to run through Father’s Day.
Sorry, Dad. You’re nice to have around and all. But seriously, if it comes down us having fun or taking care of you? Aloha, baby.
The message here is that the supplemental medical insurance offered by the company means you’ll never have to make hard decisions. As a marketing concept, that’s fine. Surely there’s a better storyline than this. Surely, somebody, at some point, said: “Hey, is this really what we want running during Father’s Day?”
Because on Dad’s weekend let’s make sure he doesn’t get too full of himself. Gotta make sure he knows his place on the food chain.
Because it’s only Dad.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2017
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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