Guest Blogger: Doriangrey
Many people believe that Bill Clinton created and perfected the art of the Friday News Dump. For those who are unaware of what the Friday News Dump is, it’s a political tactic where important information is released to the public late Friday afternoon after the regular news cycle has concluded. It assures that whatever important news is being dumped gets ignored because of the well documented tendency of American’s to quit paying attention over the weekend.
The truth is, it was not Bill Clinton who invented the Friday News dump, nor did he perfect it. The trend for American’s to quit paying attention to the news over the weekend was first noticed and documented by the Nielsen Ratings Agency way back in the 1950′s. Arthur Nielsen was a statistician and market analyst who created a statistical model of American radio listening habits in the 1920′s for a number of major advertising agencies. The statistical model he created was used to determine when the best time for various product placement ads was.
As a corollary, his statistical model also told when the worst possible time for ad placement was. This negative corollary found it’s first true application during the mid to late 1950′s when the major News outlets had to release bad news regarding the Korean War. As unpopular as the Korean War was back in the late 50′s, America had not yet become a anti-War nation. The anti-war protest environment that plagued the Vietnam War was still a decade off. Every Presidential administration from Dwight D Eisenhower forward has taken advantage of the statistical model created by Arthur Nielsen.
While Bill Clinton did not create or perfect the Friday News Dump, he was without a doubt the First American President to have an ally in the Mainstream Media whom he could count on to ignore important news events that his administration wanted ignored. While previous Presidents such as John F Kennedy had enjoyed an unusually cooperative mainstream media, they were still subject to actual real investigative journalism. Which meant that if they dumped something into the Friday News Dump void, there was always a very real chance that some hot shot reporter trying to make a name for himself would dig it out and run with it Monday morning.
As much cooperation as Bill Clinton received from the Mainstream Media in this particular endeavor, it was literately nothing at all compared to the criminal conspiracy with which the media has cooperated with the Obama administration in turning the Friday News Dump into a gigantic information Black Hole.
One of the interesting things about properly constructed statistical models is, that the more information they contain, the more the statistical model tells you. While Nielsens original model was designed to tell advertising agencies when the best time for product placement was, the constant accumulation of data also began painting another picture. It also began telling about market saturation and declining return periods. In other words, it told the advertising agencies when a product advertising campaign had over saturated the market and people began to ignore the advertising.
Eventually it became possible to model saturation and over saturation points. Place this statistical model information in the hands of individuals with a political agenda and suddenly you have one of the most powerful propaganda advancement tools ever created. The ability to time the release of critical information and manage how the general public reacts to it.
Video: Two commandos made it to Benghazi
The official line from the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon about the US response to the attack on our consulate in Benghazi has been that we didn’t have time to send in troops to fight the terrorists that were killing Americans. A new report from Washington Times reporter Rowan Scarborough undermines that argument, and once again raises the question about the lack of response. Two American commandos have received medals for fighting in Benghazi after volunteering to accompany five security contractors from Tripoli, and Scarborough wonders why the US didn’t mobilize other forces at the same time:
This is what is and has been going on with Benghazi and Operation Fast and Furious. A combination of slow dribbling out of information, then flurries of stories. Build the story up to it’s market saturation point then suddenly push it over the saturation point with the result that the general public ignores the story because they have heard to much saying to little.
Now, combine this strategy with ability to calculate the duration of a stories life expectancy and you have the ability to calculate when to release critically important information in such a way that the general public is exhausted by the story before that story can have serious political ramifications. Break a scandal 18 months before a election takes place, reach over-saturation 6 months before the election and the story will have no significant impact on that election cycle.
Obama on insurance cancellations: “Just shop around in the new marketplace, that’s what it’s for”
Fear not, you millions of Americans now receiving insurance policy cancellation notices in the mail: Your anger and bewilderment has not fallen upon deaf ears. In his speech in Boston this afternoon, President Obama munificently took the time to explain to any such Americans how it was not, in fact, his own now infamous promise that “If you like your plan, you can keep it” that misled people, because hey, insurance companies are still offering plans you can buy in their place! They might be more expensive, sure, but the good news is that they will no longer be “substandard.” According to The One, that is.
Video: White House intimidating insurers into staying quiet on the ObamaCare debacle?
It could be worse, as Audrey Hudson can tell you. All these insurers are getting are phone calls, not raids by the Maryland State Police seizing their notes on government malfeasance. CNN’s Anderson Cooper reports that the insurers want to get the real story out about why millions of people will have their policies cancelled, and how they tried to warn HHS of this unnecessary outcome. For now, they’re outsourcing the job to Robert Laszewski (via Daniel Halper):
The 2014 midterm elections are coming up and the strategy being employed by the Mainstream Media in concert with the Obama Administration is in full swing. Begin the slow dribbling of damaging information on Obamacare and Benghazi, build it up to it’s market over-saturation crescendo and ensure that it does as little damage politically to the Democrats as possible. Repeat the process again just before the 2016 presidential election and ensure that Hillary Clinton is immunized from any political fallout from either Obamacare or Benghazi. Scandals which if Hillary Clinton were a Republican would absolutely guarantee that she would never even make it out of the Presidential Primaries.
Yes, sorry to break it to you, but this is exactly how you are being manipulated.
(Cross Posted@ The Wilderness of Mirrors)
Edit: (updated with links added)
Tags: Friday News dump, Propaganda
