No matter where you turned over the last two weeks, all commercial media outlets were reporting and commenting on the now infamous “turkey slap†incident on the Big Brother tv game show. People who really wanted to know what happened went to YouTube and watched the footage unedited.
While I care little for the contestants in the Big Brother house, I do care about manipulation of the truth by the producers of the game show and the gullibility of mainstream media when it comes to reporting what allegedly goes on inside the game show house. Prior to watching the YouTube footage I had read the newspaper stories, watched the TV news reports and heard the shock jocks shrill across the airwaves. YouTube provided context for the event. In a few minutes I was able to see the truth for myself. I was able to understand the con played on media outlets by the game show producers and the Network Ten. I am astounded that Network Ten and mainstream media outlets were so reckless with the truth and the reputations of two young men.
I wouldn’t have known this had it not been for YouTube. There was a time I relied on TV news and newspapers for the truth.
A big challenge for mainstream media in this age of massive disruption is how to compete with social media sites like YouTube and the people who load content on them. In the case of the Big Brother turkey slap, how does mainstream media compete with the truth? The approach of the last two weeks, conspiring to repeat spin put out by one of their own – will alienate consumers. Trust in mainstream media product will erode. Younger consumers are smarter – why do you think they are embracing social media? There, stories can speak for themselves.
In the case of the Big Brother turkey slap, the truth is less interesting than producer spin. To compete with the truth of social media, journalists and editors will need to realise that their laziness and bias will more easily and quickly outed.