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FAP296: Independence from the mainstream media

What is the media? - A set of corporations - The business model: get audience. sell audience to advertisers. collect money. - The true customers of the media are the advertisers, NOT the audience. The audience is a commodity.

Therefore, a business will rationally do things in support of these goals: - Get audience. As much audience as possible. This means producing content that is broadly appealing, engaging, and relatively non-controversial. - Likewise, it will try to get advertisers to pay as much money for the audience as possible. Demographics reflect a focus on audiences that have the most money to spend. - Because of time constraints, the media will filter down to a few sources for its content.

Why are the customers the advertisers? In MSM, the production of media is incredibly expensive. Television stations, radio stations, newspapers all require enormous capital to operate, and revenue from sales isn't enough.
Advertising is a logical step in the progression of a media outlet.
Where did MSM go wrong? In treating the audience as a pure commodity like cattle or sheep. In the 20th century market, they had no incentive to respect the audience because they had a captive market.

So far, econ 101. Now, why wouldn't the media publish some stories, some music, some news? - Loss of audience. Avoid publishing something that will cause a major loss of your commodity. - Loss of advertisers. Avoid publishing something that will cause damage to advertisers and therefore loss of revenues. - Loss of access. Avoid publishing something that will cause you to lose access to sources.

What does this mean? It means that the news you see, the entertainment you hear, the information coming out of news sources that are backed by large corporations, may be suspect. Things like the vote for American Idol and whether Britney is splitting up with Kevin are not accidental. They are broadly appealing, completely inconsequential, and supremely distracting from the issues at hand, whatever they may be.

Is it a conspiracy?

Oddly enough, no. What you're seeing are market forces at work. The media outlets that can produce the most profitable output will win. That doesn't mean the best quality, or the finest service, or anything other than lowest price for highest gain. Reality shows dominate because they are insanely cheap to produce compared to audience size. Think of it like mining. Who will do better, a mining company that handpicks the purest gold nuggets out of the ground with teams of PhDs in geology leading the way, or the company that scoops up an entire chunk of the ground with a machine, melts it all down in another machine, and extracts the gold? It's the same way in the media - produce the most of your commodity - the audience - at the lowest cost, and sell it to the highest bidder.

What tools will the media use to hook you and retain you?

Remember, the media is looking to lump you into a group called audience, which is its primary saleable product. It's selling you, in effect, to the advertisers. Like any commodity, it has to maintain you, to keep you from going bad.

Establish a form of rapport. Look at UPN and what audience it's targeting. Take advantage of stereotypes and heuristics to generate rapport that leads to familiarity and trust.
Shiny things. Believe it or not, this is a tactic that works. Create an aura of glittery goodness around something, and promote it as the next big thing. Look how many actors and musicians were simply the product of a marketing group that remade them. Leverage heuristics and virtue words to make something far more appealing than it really is.
Fear. Nothing sells like fear. Create fear and people will be paralyzed, unable to organize. Even better, create fear and present yourself as the solution.
Bandwagon. The power and the appeal of "everyone is doing it" has tremendous pull. We are social creatures, a

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FAP300: How Podcasting is Changing Lives

For podcasters + Focus + Discipline + Passion + Enjoyment + And for a few, yes, income

For listeners + It's not a revolution of media - it's reminding media what media really is + Subtle but consistent changes in attitude and belief

For Musicians + Stories and music can be told

For Our Society + Let the stories be told in their entirety - warts and all

Non-Podsafe Music + Miss Lee, Unknown (from a wedding)

Reminders + Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Need financial aid help? Call us at 877-328-1565! + Toll-free comment line! 877-328-1565 extension 529! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Add us to your iTunes at www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

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FAP303: SLM, new financial aid rules, 9/11, search secret, entrance counseling, ID theft, Nathan Anderson

Student Financial Aid News + SLM Corp. Chief Executive Thomas Fitzpatrick, was the highest paid executive in the Washington, D.C. area last year, according to an annual ranking by the Washington Post. + The head of the Reston, Va.-based student loan company — also known as Sallie Mae — earned $39.6 million in 2005. Of the total, stock options accounted for $31.4 million; the rest was comprised of salary and bonuses. + Sallie Mae’s profit fell 27.8% to $1.4 billion in 2005, compared with $1.9 billion in 2004. + Reminder about changes to federal student aid effective July 1: + A loan is eligible for discharge if it is determined that the borrower's eligibility for the loan was falsely certified as a result of the crime of identity theft. + Free credit report with a chingo of ads at AnnualCreditReport.com + For loans with a first disbursement made on or after July 1, 2001, an additional deferment is available for a period of up to three years during which the borrower is serving on active duty during a war or other military operation or national emergency, or performing qualifying National Guard duty during a war or other military operation. + No more spousal student loan consolidation + In other news, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison — under political pressure to fire an instructor who argues that the United States plotted the 9/11 attacks — has cleared the way for him to teach this fall. + Patrick Farrell, Wisconsin’s provost, issued a statement Monday in which he strongly defended the right of Kevin Barrett to teach at the university, whatever his controversial views. “We cannot allow political pressure from critics of unpopular ideas to inhibit the free exchange of ideas,” Farrell said. “That classroom interaction is central to this university’s mission and to the expansion of knowledge. Silencing that exchange now would only open the door to more onerous and sweeping restrictions.” + Professor Steven Jones at BYU encountered similar criticism + Paper on BYU's web site + Video on Google Video + Make your own judgement call

Scholarship Search Secrets + Today's new, secret search method! + No notes on it - you have to listen to the show

Focus on Financial Aid: The Entrance Counseling Session + No, it's not psychological help + It's a review of your responsibilities now that you have a student loan + What is an MPN + When do you get your money? + Stafford loan types - subsidized, unsubsidized + Borrowing conservatively + Repayment obligations - you must repay even if you drop out, are unemployed, or think your school/education sucked + No bankruptcy cancellation + Maintain satisfactory academic progress + Loan sales - yes, they do happen! + Repayment term - 10 years unless you consolidate at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + No penalty for early repayment on federal student loans + Grace period of 6 months after you stop attending full time (graduation, drop out, etc.) + Clock starts running for subsidized loans only - unsub has been running the whole time + Deferment and forbearance - keep making payments while you apply! + Delinquency and default - 270 days to default + Don't do it! + Stafford federal student loans are available at StaffordLoan.com + Private student loans are available at AlternativeStudentLoan.com

Podsafe Music + From Matthew Ebel's High Orbit Podcast + Nathan Anderson, Sweet Misery + Music via the Podsafe Music Network + Stop by our MySpace page!

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