DETAILS AT ELEVEN
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DETAILS AT ELEVEN
It’s that time again. It’s time for February Sweeps. We’re almost out of Awards Season and getting into the Nielsen ratings period that is best known to the average TV viewer as “Details at 11:00.” If you’re still scratching your head in confusion, let me trigger your memory a bit...
“What you don’t know about coffee that can kill you… details at 11:00.”
This is known as a ‘teaser’ in news and is usually shown to you at 5:00 as a promotional lure to get you to watch the 11:00 news. But I ask… what if you’re drinking coffee as you are watching this… are you really going to wait 6 hours to find out about those mysterious little facts? I mean if it where that threatening, chances are you may not even be alive to see at 11:00? That’s quite a gamble.
I always think these kinds of teasers are cruel and the public isn’t that naïve. I mean, if you’ve been drinking coffee most of your life, are you really going to drop that cup so you can watch the news to be told what you’ve been doing to yourself all these years? Would you really want to know? Probably not. And that news won’t really change your habit, either. So what’s really being accomplished here?
And since when does a teaser like that take priority over larger issues that are REAL NEWS.
It’s become obvious that news has changed with time and what is considered news these days, for the most part is well, kind of sad. But like clockwork – every February, May and November, these little edgy lures come right at you whether you like it or not.
So get ready. And if you can’t stay up until 11:00 … there’s always coffee!
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