Another gorgeous fall day in eastern North Carolina. And, it promises to be a great weekend. The nip in the air, hopefully, will set the fish a-biting.
The Jacksonville (NC) Daily News today contains a story about a journalist who will be embedded with marines from Camp Lejeune:
“I think we’ve got a pretty significant disconnect between the military and civilian population in this country to the point that most people in the United States don’t have the slightest clue what is going on and what soldiers and Marines are doing over there,” he said. “The basic nuts and bolts and mechanics of it are pretty much lost on the American people.”
Writes the Daily News:
Teru Kuwayama, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based photographer with a portfolio including Middle East assignments for Time, Newsweek and National Geographic, is beginning a social media embed project with Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.
Maybe we'll see images of what's going on "over there", images that you have only seen, so far, in limited internet e-mails. If it's not sensational, i.e. body bags, bloodied civilians, and the like, the networks and newspapers tend to ignore them. Don't blame the journalists...well, don't blame them entirely. They shoot a lot of images, but only the sensational ones tend to catch the eyes of editors "back home". And, they're going to shoot what sells.
Newspapers have limited space, and pictures take up a lot of room. "One picture is worth a thousand words" may be true, but many editors would rather cram a thousand words into the space where one picture could go.
Unfortunaely, due to budget contraints these days, caused by a major reduction in advertising dollars, newspapers can't just add extra pages. That would increase their operating expenses. There has to be a proper mix of ad revenue and print space, or the papers will go under.
It's pretty much the same with television (I know much more about that than I do the inner workings of newspapers). Television stations and networks depend on advertising dollars to operate. You hear of layoffs and cutbacks and salary reductions in television when advertisers don't spend as much. Television remains "free" to the public because of advertising. You may think you're paying for it, with satellite fees or cable fees, but you can get LOCAL TV for free. All it takes is an antenna. Satellite and cable fees allow for a wider selection of available channels, of course. These distribution providers pay for the privilege of distributing those channels to you, for a price. You are still subjected to ads from the cable channels (USA, A&E, and the like), as well as "local" ads from "foreign stations" like WGN. Just what I want to see...a spot for a used car dealer in Chicago. The exception, of course, are the so-called premium channels. You get no ads, but you pay extra for that. Nothing is free.
Except local TV. With an antenna. And, with today's digital TV transmissions, the picture is clear. One advantage of DTV is that you either get the station, or you don't. Gone are the days of "snowy" pictures. If the signal you're getting is weak, you won't see the picture at all.
Another advantage of DTV is that most stations are transmitting additional programming (other than their network programming) on separate sub channels. Some are carrying round-the-clock weather; others are syndicating old TV shows or movies (pretty much like some of the cable channels you're paying extra for)...and, these channels are yours, for free, by adding an antenna (if you have an HDTV set; otherwise, you'll need to pick up one of those inexpensive converter boxes we heard so much about during the DTV transition in 2008 and 2009).
Got something on your mind? Wanta discuss politics, fishing, photography, boating, television, journalism...drop me a line at raefordbrown@gmail,com or post a comment on the blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment