Interestingly enough, Den Beste recently wrote about the decay of journalism in the United States…I just read his piece.
I don’t know how I would solve the problem either, but I think turning all news organizations into nonprofits would be a good start. Of course, I’m not sure how this would be accomplished while allowing the organizations access to the technology and travel they need to get the story. I hesitate to say that they should be government subsidized, but I’m not sure that advertisers would approach them in the same way if they were nonprofit…and to be honest, I don’t think the news should have advertisements, and this change would certainly destroy their budgets.
It’s gotten to the point where I really just hate advertisements of all kinds. With the Internet, I can pretty much find whatever I need, via informative websites or word-of-mouth on forums or from friends. I can’t actually remember ever seeing an ad, thinking “Hey, I could use that!” and then buying something.
Most of the time I ignore ads completely. I throw away the coupon books and flyers we get in the mail, too. Coupons are a huge scam; they give you discounts on things you didn’t want in the first place. You’re not saving money, you’re wasting it on stuff that clutters up your house, or food that will sit and rot in the fridge because “it was such a great deal!” and yet no one wants to eat it.
I don’t need to even start on how annoying pop-up ads and spam are.
For some time now I’ve been thinking that advertising needs to be eliminated, or at the very least transformed. But I’m not entirely sure how, and that is why I can’t solidly recommend a way to take advertising out of the news.
I’ll probably post more about this later, but my lunch break is over now, so…ta-ta!
Original comments from Blogger
Anonymous said…
I get two 4 bucks off a carton coupons from Camel a month, and I use those. :>
Faye used to use the coupons we’d get in the mail – mostly clipped out of baby magazines or newspapers. I think the big coupon books largely are useless, but maybe the promoters of those items are trying to get their product out there. I remember Dad and Jeff once had a scheme to mail out their “business” information on envelopes where they would sell space to the local grocery and shit to post mail coupons.
Advertising has done a lot for us, despite its constant annoyance. I’m not totally pro-advertising, but then, I don’t stand fully against it either. Maybe when you write more later, I’ll write more even later. :D
Thursday, June 03, 2004 5:56:00 PM
Goei said…
oh yeah i totally agree on the topic of advertising. it’s getting way out of hand nowadays. (am i allowed to say that? i’m only 17…)
still it amazes me how well we humans know each other inside out. in our times it’s become like an art, albeit a sneaky and evil art, that requires a boatload of expertise and skill to pull off effectively.
i’m kinda hesitant to make a final judgement on adverts, tho. i don’t like it when a logo is the only motive for buying or when the ads get to be annoying enough to inflict seizures and blind rage. but that stuff is what works. and it’s what pushes our economy along so well. it’s hard to have integrity in things done in such a commercialized society.
you’ve got a great point about the nonprofit news thingy, too.
—Goei—
(btw — thanks for reading my blog. 3 words: warm and fuzzies. i just thought the best way to repay was to return the favor. ^_^
Thursday, June 03, 2004 6:52:00 PM
Heather Meadows said…
Yay! Thanks for commenting, Goei!
You know, I found your blog through Blogger’s profile search thing…you and I are part of only a handful of people who put the word “emotion” as one of our interests :>
Thursday, June 03, 2004 9:19:00 PM