Toellner Tells it

This is News?

So this is what TV news is coming to?  I just walked by the TV here in our office and Hulk Hogan is on CNN Headline News because his son was arrested for careless driving. 

We're in the midst of two wars.  Gas prices continue to rise.  We have a major vote coming up in November. There is fighting in Tibet.  And I have Hulk Hogan as the lead story on Headline News?

It's really sad when it's getting tough to differentiate the difference between News and VH1.  I can't wait to watch the real story on Hogan Knows Best.

The affect of TV on public opinion

Marginal Revolution had a post last week about the apparent affect that the increase of cable and satellite TV are having on gender roles in India.

It appears that as people in India are exposed to more shows showing women in more equal roles as men on TV, that there has been a significant increase in women's status in India.

While this is nothing earth-shattering...that TV affects our opinions on virtually everything (which is why billions of dollars are spent on TV advertising each year), it does create some interesting thoughts.

What role does government interferrence in availability of networks/programs in developing countries play in prohibiting this equality?

Where there certain programs/program genres that were significant in shaping how American Culture views different groups of people?  Did Laverne and Shirley change the way we view women in the workplace?  How about the Cosby Show and the traditional stereotype of how black families behaved?  How about the show "24" and how it shapes our view of people of Middle-Eastern descent? 

What ethical role do TV producers have in this new-found power?  And as a society, have we allowed TV to play too big of a role in shaping our viewpoints?  Is this why overweight, dorky men think they're destined to get a hot wife?

Life as a Nielsen Family

My wife and I just finished the November sweeps period as a Nielsen Household. I've always known that the diary method of Nielsen was a joke, but wow, filling it out for real makes me realize how bad it is. 

One week is a horrible sample from which to determine our Household's viewing patterns.  Dinner with friends one night completely changed our viewing patterns. Us making the news and watching one edition of the 5 am Fox News 3x isn't exactly normal either. 

While we were watching some live TV, I never once showed my flipping the MTV 2, MTV Hits, or Fuse in lookout for a music break from commercials - -I wasn't there for 15 minutes, so I wasn't supposed to.  We sometimes forgot to make note of things, and were trying to figure out when we watched something...and more importantly, at what point we fell asleep during the program.

I think everyone knows that the system is flawed...severely flawed.  What is even worse, that even with the severely flawed system, there is ample technology available in the form of PPMs that would provide a much more accurate measure of what people watch.  Why are we not rolling this out?  Aribitron and Nielsen's lack of collaboration that would allow for accurate measurement is a disgrace -- and they should work to remedy the problem quickly.