That Diddy fellow is really rocking the place even while he’s behind bars, isn’t he? The level of coverage he’s getting not only in his own country but in much of the world is surprising and not surprising at the same time. Surprising in that the word being as it is doesn’t the media in most other places have much important and immediate issues to deal with other then so a rapper who seems to allegedly have gone rogue for decades and only now seems to be feeling the heat? Of course just for the sake of curiosity, the things he allegedly was said to have done to all those celebrities leaves you with more than a few blinks. I mean in the alleged list of those who are said to have been part of that wild and surreal sounding world could be your favorite actors, actresses and music personalities. Believe me if you’re the kind of guy who’s especially fond of watching the silver screen you’d find multiple names which you’d have never expected.
“Are you telling me she too was part of all we are hearing?”
“Well she hasn’t been officially mentioned in the indictment but her name pops up all over the place.” All the favorite characters she played come to you and that wouldn’t be a very nice experience.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about agendas and not about Puff Daddy’s alleged activities which at times sound as if taken out if a not so brilliantly written film script. By the way an Ethiopian lady who was said to be a music executive was also mentioned in more than a couple of places. But that her story, isn’t it?
Whenever talking about agendas the media in this country should focus on one sector slated for the most criticism is European soccer, especially the English Premier League. Of course sometimes the arguments go off radar with people accusing such coverage of having taken hostage all the attention of young people. Even people who have better understandings as to the inner workings of the media find themselves giving the thumbs up to such comments.
The problem I think comes in forgetting that private media organizations are nothing but private business enterprises. Businesses should generate income to pay their employees’ salaries and government taxes. And then they have to make the best profits they can. After all if they thought it wasn’t possible to make profits in they wouldn’t have coughed up the startup funds in the first place. It’s that simple.
To generate income the need adverts, lots of them too. That’s where the whole decisive story comes. The advertisers have to be convinced that the organization broadcasts which draws the largest audiences. And sport especially the English Premier League seems to be in the leading pack. Now trying to convince the media organizations to turn their backs on this cash cow would be ignoring the very facts on the ground.
I can’t give you numbers, percentages or anything like that. But just listen to the morning programs blaring in the minibuses’ radios in town. On weekends just look at the hundreds if not more of places packed to the brim largely with young soccer enthusiasts. Reaching such audiences is something that any business organization wouldn’t’ dare miss. The overall content of the media organization and actual presentations decide the winners and losers and not only the volume of soccer narratives.
When it comes to advertisements there are a few sad facts. Many advertisers would like to know if your program for which you are seeking some avert is ‘serious’ or ‘entertainment’ stuff. Now you’d think those people would jump out of their chairs to hug you if you say, “Of course, it is serious!”
“Aha! Finally here are guys who plan a serious program in times when the serious lot is close to extinction!” No, sir; that’s not going to happen. You are told in as many words that they want to sponsor or advertise only on entertainment programs and you could see the predicament those people find themselves in.
Getting the amount of adverts they need become a swim or sink situation. So believe me European soccer would continue to stay a permanent presence in much of the media even for the simple reason they have to stay financially afloat. Some fellow with enough knowledge of the inside workings of those places one day told me that without the sports programs especially many of the FM studios would have folded tents.
Of course when we come to quality it is a completely different story. One thing I ‘admire’ about the youth of these days they really go into things with blazing guns even though they don’t actually know what to do. Most sports programs are managed by young people and they translate almost everything from the wires.
That is where the house of sand comes crushing down for anyone giving things a closer look. But who cares? It has been sometime since we have such audiences who like going into the nuts and bolts of things and these days we’re more prone to accepting unconditionally whatever we are fed.
That unfortunately happens many times than not only with sports but also with other programs too. I’ve heard snippets of the Puff Daddy debacle on FM radio stations while travelling in minibuses. And outrageous as they were you wonder how many people would have been misinformed about the whole thing. Of course since the guy isn’t our worry some would say “So what! It makes no difference if we are told the whole truth or not.
The guy is not in our team!” But it is not about the particular issue. It is about the whole trend of really bad translations or failure to grasp what was actually being said in the original presentations!
Ok, Diddy is out for all we care. But, while EPL and the lot are here to stay in all forms, isn’t it high time we also really looked into issues we should give closer attention to and yet are ignoring?
BY EPHREM ENDALE
The Ethiopian Herald October 13/2024