Smart PR execs blurb their stories into sound bites that fit into a nightly news format, such as the "Can a new laser treatment cure varicose veins? Story at 11" teasers you see between commercials during prime time. (I work in the industry, and do this constantly.)
If your story cannot be shortened effectively into a sound bite, most broadcast outlets won't bother considering it. The problem isn't only that they think their viewers have short attention spans -- newscasters get less than 22 minutes to report an entire day of news so time is tight. Also, producers have notoriously short attention spans themselves.
Print editors and readers aren't hampered by time constraints, just space. They usually have more leeway. posted by zarq at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2005
Ah. Gecko Feet. Is there nothing they can't do?
This post could be construed as a follow-up to this post, which was in-turn a follow-up to this post. posted by grabbingsand at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2005
Molecular Velcro, powered by van der Waals. Very cool. Now, hopefully we can take advantage of the "path" to create a useful product. posted by FormlessOne at 11:23 AM on January 4, 2005
This stuff would be perfect for hanging stuff from the ceiling. posted by Benny Andajetz at 2:27 PM on January 4, 2005
If your story cannot be shortened effectively into a sound bite, most broadcast outlets won't bother considering it. The problem isn't only that they think their viewers have short attention spans -- newscasters get less than 22 minutes to report an entire day of news so time is tight. Also, producers have notoriously short attention spans themselves.
Print editors and readers aren't hampered by time constraints, just space. They usually have more leeway.
posted by zarq at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2005