3 ms·

Regarding opioids, I recall that in the mid `90's when I listened to about 4 hours of NPR during work every day the host (Dianne Ream?) had reps from Purdue Pha

Regarding opioids, I recall that in the mid `90's when I listened to about 4 hours of NPR during work every day the host (Dianne Ream?) had reps from Purdue Pharma (or one of the other opioid purveyors) in which the pharma reps were basically saying that doctors weren't prescribing enough pain medication for their patients. I recall the host really challenging them on each of the points they were trying to make, which was out of character for her and stuck in my mind. Point being, I expect that at least some of the guests are arranged without much input from the hosts. There must be heavy politicking involved to get bandwidth in mass media, and the people actually doing the work (running interviews or writing articles) can only push back to the degree that they have some degree of control over the network or channel.

hotpotamus 4y ago
If you want a striking example of this, look at the interview Ben Shapiro gave to the BBC a few years back. Whatever you think of Shapiro, he has a masterful understanding of how American media works (I believe his Daily Wire is among the top shared sites on Facebook for instance), but he is clearly off-balance in a British interview. The interviewer repeatedly asks questions and doesn't allow Shapiro to dodge them which eventually results in Shapiro becoming too agitated to finish. It was really illuminating on a few levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
- MisterBastahrd 4y ago
  And it was a famous British conservative doing the interview, no less.
- brobinson 4y ago
  Shapiro was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman, and Fridman asked him about this interview specifically. He said he hadn't prepared properly as he was not aware of how "combative" the interview style would be vs. the kind of interviews he was used to thus his showing was poorer than usual.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I remember the interviewer as being firm but polite about it. But I think it's a bit ironic considering that Shapiro posted videos to his own youtube channel with titles like "Ben Shapiro destroys liberal college student" or something to that effect. I believe it was one of the questions in the interview. I thought combative was his forte.
refurb 4y ago
I’ve worked with the folks in public affairs at a Forbes 500 company before. Plenty of what you read as “reporting”, which to the reader appears as actual news, is carefully planned corporate stories that are shopped around to various contacts in the media until someone bites. This is described as “organic media” (only because it’s not paid for), but it’s mostly directed by the companies themselves.

hotpotamus 4y ago

If you want a striking example of this, look at the interview Ben Shapiro gave to the BBC a few years back. Whatever you think of Shapiro, he has a masterful understanding of how American media works (I believe his Daily Wire is among the top shared sites on Facebook for instance), but he is clearly off-balance in a British interview. The interviewer repeatedly asks questions and doesn't allow Shapiro to dodge them which eventually results in Shapiro becoming too agitated to finish. It was really illuminating on a few levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E

MisterBastahrd 4y ago
And it was a famous British conservative doing the interview, no less.
brobinson 4y ago
Shapiro was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman, and Fridman asked him about this interview specifically. He said he hadn't prepared properly as he was not aware of how "combative" the interview style would be vs. the kind of interviews he was used to thus his showing was poorer than usual.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I remember the interviewer as being firm but polite about it. But I think it's a bit ironic considering that Shapiro posted videos to his own youtube channel with titles like "Ben Shapiro destroys liberal college student" or something to that effect. I believe it was one of the questions in the interview. I thought combative was his forte.

refurb 4y ago

I’ve worked with the folks in public affairs at a Forbes 500 company before. Plenty of what you read as “reporting”, which to the reader appears as actual news, is carefully planned corporate stories that are shopped around to various contacts in the media until someone bites. This is described as “organic media” (only because it’s not paid for), but it’s mostly directed by the companies themselves.