sweeps

Much of the month of May is considered "sweeps month" for the TV & Radio industry, at least in Wisconsin. Sweeps month is a time when the industry assesses market-share. The various news media clamor for attention, in general, though that clamoring is cranked-up considerably during May. I listened to my "favorite" periodic news-talk radio host earlier this week. I don't particularly like the views of this particular radio personality...I find him rude, disrespectful of his callers, extremely opinionated and prejudiced, and conceited. That said, I find some of his topics news-worthy, and I appreciate the way in which he endeavors to construct his viewpoint. The particular host carried on in great detail how a rival news group had purposely 'sat on" what they later promoted as a breaking story involving a local law enforcement officer alleged, in the story, to have stolen a citizen's money from an ATM. The particular host not only lambasted the rival news group for a highly erroneous breaking story, but also insisted the rival company had purposely waited until sweeps month to go live with the story, merely as a way to boost market-share. The full details of the story are not completely clear, though the law enforcement agency involved is on record to report there was no wrong-doing in the incident. Considerable air-time has been devoted, by the particular host, regarding this purportedly erroneous story and how it broke precisely during sweeps week. The particular host broke his own allegation, of the story being erroneous, precisely during sweeps week. My clear impression is that sweeps month competition is fully alive and well in all news media, and any and all news groups will stop at nothing to promote their company and market share, at any and all expense of the competition.