Registered Sex Offenders Turning to MySpace

[LiberalHeart]

Link goes to an investigative report by a TV station -- a warning to parents about what's out there on MySpace where their kids may be surfing and meeting "friends." The reporter goes to the homes of registered sex offenders and predators to confront them about the stuff on their MySpace pages, some of it verbal, some of it visual (like the offender who's cupping boobs in each hand).

In close ups of the guys' offender listings you can see that often it's a child who's their victim.

At one home, a woman (maybe a wife or girlfriend of the offender) gives the reporter and cameraman a good yelling at -- chases them away.

Not sure I'd want to be a reporter going around doing this kind of confrontations interview. Seems like it could be dangerous.

Here's a link to the story and there's a video link on the text page:

http://wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5735824

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. It's November

"Sweeps." :eyes:

[LiberalHeart]

2. I don't understand the concept of sweeps...

If sweeps stunts get viewers, why don't stations/networks knock themselves out like that year 'round? Aren't advertisers savvy enough to know sweeps numbers are limited to a snapshot in time and don't really represent the audience these folks are drawing at non-sweeps times?

If I were an advertiser, I'd be uninterested in sweeps results -- but I might buy time during sweeps just because I know everybody's trying harder then.

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. You'd think all sides would see it that way, huh?

But that would make sense, and we can't have that in teevee.

[TheMightyFavog]

4. Sweeps are the periods where ad prices are set

Ad prices are set at those times of year. The more viewers you can draw in, the more you can charge people who want to buy spots.

[LiberalHeart]

5. Yeah, I know. I worked in advertising for decades.

I just don't understand why sweeps, which is an artificial reflection of a station or network's standing with its year-'round audiences, would sway those buying time. Were I buying time, I'd look for the ones pulling in the biggest numbers consistently and most affordably with my target demographic, and I'd look at their programming with an eye toward determining if it's suitable for my clients.

Sweeps give ad agencies the easy way out. They can pretend a ratings period predicts the future -- holding up numbers from a stunt-driven stetch of time as if they're proof of something. They aren't.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Another difference between teevee and newspapers

Newspapers have to report their average daily (or weekly or otherwise) circulation in a six-month period, if they use the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which most do.

As we've seen, though, a few fudge their numbers. But they generally get caught, and most publishers aren't willing to risk the resulting publicity.