Feeding the Media Beast
Feeding the Media Beast: an Easy Recipe for Great Publicity
Mark Mathis
2002, Purdue University Press
Review by Daniel G. Jennings
Anybody who wants to understand how the American news media works andhow its members think and operate should read "Feeding the Media Beast." This honest little book by TV reporter turned media consultant Mark Mathis shows readers the real process by which the media picks and reports on stories and lays bare some ugly truths about our media in the process.
Mathis shows how the media prefers simplistic stories based on emotion, which are easy to report on, to other stories. He also explains how many TVstations and newspapers are understaffed and incapable of doing serious reporting. In addition to this, he says that many news people concentrate their efforts upon simplistic stories because that's the only kind of story they have the time and resources to report upon. Mathis shows how and why the media go about reporting on stories and gives a lot of really good advice about dealing with them.
Mathis gives some basic rules for getting or avoiding publicity. The rules include:
- Give reporters something different or novel to report on
- Play to people's emotions (provide a victim to sympathize with, a hero to cheer, a villain to hate, a bogeyman to scare the audience, or something to laugh at)
- Keep it simple so it will be easy to understand
- Don't be afraid to keep pitching a good story to the media even if they've covered it before
- Always have good story ideas ready for reporters
- Always tie publicity in with breaking news events
- Be a resource or expert for the media
- Play to reporters' egos
- Develop a personal relationship with reporters
For any person or organization that deals with the media regularly, "Feeding the Media Beast" is a valuable resource. As a former newspaper editor and reporter I can say that Mathis' advice on placing stories in the media and generating media coverage is right on. His cynical and realistic analysis of the media's limitations is also disturbingly accurate. Some of this advice will be particularly valuable to those active in political campaigns and to persons seeking publicity for causes or issues.
Mathis outlines how he successfully generated publicity for a campaign against the phone company's plans to change his area code in New Mexico.
Even though he is scathing in his criticism, Mathis is sympathetic with the plight of news people and a little too apologetic for what I see as the media's leftwing bias and cult of victimization. Despite these shortcomings, "Feeding the Media Beast" is an extremely valuable resource for those who have to deal with the media, as well as those who just want to understand it.
