This is what corporate media looks like (pic heavy):

[jane_pippin]

We talk about corporate media a lot here so I thought I'd put together a visual example that shows the reach of just one media company. I randomly chose Hearst-Argyle for this project. Hearst-Argyle owns 26 stations including 13 ABC affiliates, 2 CBS affiliates,10 NBC affiliates, and one station, WMOR in Tampa that lists no network affiliation. For more complete information go to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst-Argyle_Television

All of these screen shots were taken Thursday between 7pm and 12am.

This is an image of each station's home page. Try to guess which one is the independent station. (note: stations without websites are not pictured here, of course.):




This example shows a closer look at one station from each of the Big Three networks: (links to each site: Ft. Smith- http://www.thehometownchannel.com Louisville- http://www.thelouisvillechannel.com Baltimore- http://www.thewbalchannel.com )



This image shows a typical front page up close (link to Monterey, CA page: http://www.theksbwchannel.com) :



A quick glance will show you that the layout is almost identical, as are the national headlines and ads on each site. Each site features the "Two Women Charged in London Bombings" headline prominently on the front page, for instance. The ads are hard to see, but in the image with all of the stations, you can make out the same employment tips ad featuring a woman in front of a yellow background. (If you want a bigger image of one of the full web pages so you can see the ad, let me know. I just didn't want to add tons of giant pics.)

Again, I don't expect this to come as a shock to anyone here, nor do I think it's all that out of the ordinary for local stations to carry the same national news headlines (most rely heavily on AP). I just thought it would be interesting to really see it all at once--I'm a visual learner, perhaps that's why. :) Also, I think seeing them all together is a little Orwellian-creepy and wanted to share it with you guys (why should I be the only one creeped out, right?).

Enjoy, discuss, keep kicked if you like it. I'm going to bed in a few minutes as these pictures are burned into my retinas and I need relief. I'll check back in the AM to see what you thought.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. I wonder if the developer of the template

knows all these stations are using it and if they have a proper license.

[NoSheep]

2. Good work! Thanks for your efforts.

No doubt the news outlets are employing the same "web-masters!" Approved by the parent company I'd imagine. I heard a great piece on NPR today about an investigative reporter who "quit the news bizness" in order to do REAL journalism. I'll come back tomorrow myself and check out the links. :toast:

[jane_pippin]

11. Thanks...

I heard a little of that NPR report too. I only really see local news at the gym these days because it's just so inane and anything that's important will be on nightly network news (in pretty much the same package) anyway, or has been on other news sources days before. I don't need a two part series on washing my hands, for instance, but that's what local news wants to give me.

[wli]

3. Operation Mockingbird in full effect, I see

It's all pure propaganda anyway. There's no reason to bother looking at them except poking fun at them in posts like this.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Yep! that is it exactly

I have totally givin up on MSM. It is all corporate propaganda and I don't bother with it anymore. The truth may set you free but you won't find it on T.V.

[lonestarnot]

4. Damn! mockingbird is right ...LOL n/t

[Tsiyu]

6. Conformity = good

Independent thought = Bad

We really don't need to waste any time or $$ sending journalists to college. A week or two at charm school, some cosmetic dentistry and a snazzy wardrobe and they're as much the same as all these cloned web pages....with about as much effort displayed.

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

7. All products are now being standardized for your convenience

Let us be thankful we have commerce, buy more, buy more now and be happy.

[Mr Rabble]

12. THX 1138!

[FrenchieCat]

8. Orwellian indeed....

Corporate News IS Big Brother in Newspeak!

[nookiemonster]

9. I think Orwell would be most impressed.

eom

[jane_pippin]

10. I wanted to add this note but edit time expired:

My intent in putting this up was more "Moment of Zen" than anything else. I just wanted to see if I could illustrate what happens when PR branding strategies and profit seem to be more important than news.

Like I said, this should come as a surprise to no one, nor is it all that unusual these days. I just thought it might be interesting to see what we talk about so often.

[blm]

16. For some, visuals work better than words.

.

[Lorien]

13. Kick

:kick:

[jane_pippin]

14. That's the first kick I ever got. Thanks.

Oops, did I just kick my own thread? Oh well.

:o

[moodforaday]

15. Here's another

Great idea putting these screenshots together, thank you.

I suppose that site layout is mandated by the owning corporation. Could be that all the sites are designed/maintained by the same company, too, and woever designs those sites certainly receives detailed guidelines. So while the explanation is perhaps rather mundane, the effect still creeps me out because this is what you get from media consolidation.

[jane_pippin]

17. That'd be my guess

I tend to look at it through the eyes of public relations and branding strategies. And semantics too, while we're at it.

Here's my theory, which admittedly is nothing but pure speculation (but it's a "moment of zen", so why not "meditate?"). For me, the mundane is the business decisions--which ad agency has the best pitch. That expands to more decisions--what's the look, what's the slogan, what's the theme music, how to cross promote with parent networks, and on and on. All these small decisions are behind this information clusterfuck (by which I mean the amount of notes, redesigns, re workings, etc. when it comes to branding strategies), but the end result is a clean looking, sleek, efficient information system (the web pages).

Well now I'm just rambling but it does boggle my mind to think about all the planning that goes into it and how that can effect the way we get the end result: the actual news. I'm a communications nerd, what do you want. :D

[Writer]

18. Good god, yet another conspiracy

I used to work for a station group. It is TYPICAL for a station group to streamline news content on station websites for, if anything else, to expedite the SHARING OF NEWS CONTENT from one station to the next.

I do agree that the media have grown too large, but for Pete's sake, not everything is part of some grand conspiracy.

[jane_pippin]

19. Not what I was going for at all, see post 10 about edits

I don't think it's strange at all, and I mentioned that in the original post. I just wanted make a visual of the corporate media that we talk about so often here. Just something to see, sort of like a "moment of zen." That's it.

[Writer]

22. Well the problem you are referring to is more a matter of industry

than intent to do harm. All of those folks working on digital planning for station groups are simply folks trying to enhance their brand by streamlining their look and capturing the "headlines of the day." There's nothing Orwellian here - no master plan. Just business strategy.

Now, on the other hand, what you also show is the impact of media conglomeration. Notice the lack of locality in those web pages. This also is quite important, as this is the current drive in broadcast radio and TV. Locality is draining out of conglomerated businesses and local viewers are not served with info. as well as they used to be. The citizen has been replaced by the consumer.

If you want to make a change, demand that the station groups owning these local stations stop "hubbing" their newscasts. In other words, local stations should produce their own pieces for their own purposes and stop relying on a centralized group to service news stories for the entire station group. Let local stations control their own content... even if their web pages look similar.

Writer.

[jane_pippin]

26. Exactly.

That's what I was trying to get at, but didn't do a great job of it, evidently. :) The lack of the "local flavor" or that it's there but it's plugged into a template. It's sad, more than anything. My issue isn't that they use the same web template. It's just that using them as a visual example was the easiest route to the point, which was to show the impact of the conglomerate, as you state so well.

I only say it's Orwellian in that "if this were a movie, it would look like this" kind of way. (If that makes sense, which I suspect it might not). Not so much as in a master plan sense.

I like your solution, by the way. Will they listen...well won't know unless we try, I guess.

[Writer]

28. Well cheers to your post.

Honestly I don't think enough discussion such as this takes place in, all places, the American classroom. It is so important for Americans to begin learning and understanding media literacy in this pervasive media culture.

We do become, then, better citizens.

Cheers! :toast:

[jane_pippin]

29. I agree.

Understanding how you get your information can sometimes (imho) be as important as the information you're getting. It's a useful tool in everyone's bullshit detector kit. We talked a lot about it when I was in college--even in non-communications courses. It needs to start earlier, I think. Talking about it at all is important.


Cheers back to you! :toast:

[moodforaday]

20. Who said conspiracy?

No conspiracy. It's just that it's great example of how media are homogenized. Is it good? Is it bad? You be the judge.

[jane_pippin]

21. Thank you. n/t

[Writer]

23. Let's see... I see posts above referring to Orwell and Operation

Mockingbird.

I don't think the OP had that in mind, but I did notice how quickly that logic creeped into this thread.

[jane_pippin]

25. Thanks. I guess I should have been more clear in the OP

about my intent. I do find it Orwellian, but I also know it's not some grand conspiracy. Just the end product of business decisions.

I can't speak for the operation mockingbird posts--I didn't make them. I will again say that my intent was to post nothing more than a visual aid. I added some information so people would know what the hell it was and where I got it. But again, no conspiracy intended. I was simply curious about what it would look like. No more, no less.

[KansDem]

24. And the photo of "The Team"

...in the upper right-hand corner. Always four: The two anchors (male and female), sports, and weather. Two anchors, sports, and weather. Two anchors, sports, weather... Two anchors, sports, weather. Not much deviation from the "norm."

I've always wondered why it was so important to have pictures of "The Team..."

[Maru Kitteh]

27. Very creepy indeed n/t