Author: johnwilson21

Colin Cowherd Says Lincoln Riley Hire at USC ‘Good for networks’

On By johnwilson21In News Media, Sports, TelevisionLeave a comment

Colin Cowherd is one of the biggest personalities in sports media. He works in Los Angeles, California, which is where the University of Southern California is located. With the recent hiring of USC Football Head Coach, Lincoln Riley, he is obviously very excited. He claims that the hiring is good for networks, in which I agree. He pointed out that networks want USC to be good because many people in Los Angeles are college football fans, but they have not been watching lately because of the lack of success from the program, but now that they have hired one of the best coaches in college football, people will begin watching again. While other programs on the west coast have had short term success, like Oregon or Stanford, they do not compare to the draw that USC will bring to televisions on the west coast, as well as throughout the country.

            I agree with Cowherd’s take because as a big college football fan, I have not watched many USC games lately because they have not been good. Although, when I was a child, I watched them frequently, as they were one of the best teams in the country. USC not having a good football team does not feel right, as they are historically a great program who produces high quality talent. Networks will also be excited to once again show USC games and they will receive much higher ratings than they have in the past few years. Overall, the move was great and will be great for networks.

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SEC Network to Devote 72 Hours of Coverage Towards Championship Game

On By johnwilson21In Cable, Sports, TelevisionLeave a comment
Dale Zanine/CBS Sports

College Football is a huge deal in the Southeastern region of the United States. The SEC conference, arguably the best conference in college football, has its championship game coming up on Saturday, December 4th. In preparation for this big matchup between Alabama and Georgia, the SEC Network is devoting 72 hours of coverage for the big game. This is a bold move by the network, as obviously it is a big matchup in the conference, but that is a great deal of coverage. Game coverage begins on the network on Thursday, December 2nd, at 1:30 P.M, which will include press conferences, interviews.

            This is a bold move by the network, but I believe it will pay off. This is their biggest game to this point in the season, with the two best teams matching up, with the winner being crowned the SEC Champion, and likely the #1 seed heading into the college football playoff. The article interested me because I will likely be tuning in to watch some of the pre and post-game coverage, and it let me know when each program will be aired and where I can watch it. This game is a huge deal in the southern part of the United States, and will interests people outside of that region, and the pregame content will likely receive tons of viewers.

ESPN Losing Cable Viewers

On By johnwilson21In Cable, Sports, Streaming, TelevisionLeave a comment
Mike Windle/Getty Images

ESPN is known as “the worldwide leader in sports.” Some bad news for them is that they were in 8 million fewer homes in 2020, although there is some context to it that explains this statistic and lessens the blow. ESPN’s cable subscriptions dropped a substantial amount in 2020, but subscriptions to their exclusive access program, ESPN+, increased by almost 7 million subscribers. The ESPN+ subscription increase likely alludes to people getting rid of their cable packages and heading towards strictly streaming services. While ESPN is maintaining much of its audience, Disney, who owns ESPN, is not satisfied with the drop in cable subscribers, as there have been rumors that they may try and divert from ESPN.            

This interests me because I am a huge sports fan, but over the last few years, I have favored other sports networks, such as Fox Sports or NBC Sports, rather than ESPN. ESPN’s quality of content and authenticity seems to be getting worse and many of the channel’s shows have become less entertaining than they used to be. The drop in cable subscriptions makes sense to me, as people are moving towards streaming services, or they are also observing the same things as I have. I will continue to watch ESPN when they show a product that interests me, but at this time, I do not envision myself purchasing a cable package with the network being part of it.

Omicron: Variant Unknown

On By johnwilson21In UncategorizedLeave a comment
(Al Jazeera)

COVID-19 has been a worldwide issue for just about two years, and it will not be going away any time soon, if ever. There are new variants of the disease that are spreading, the newest one being named Omicron. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there was a surge in news coverage over the new variant. The issue with this coverage is that there is a scarce amount of information on the new Omicron variant. Author and Podcaster Derek Thompson, a relevant source on the topic, claims that we have information on the variant but are not sure what much of it really means yet. The government’s angle on this is to report that this is a potential health risk, but to not misinform the public, whether that means they make people too scared of it or not aware of enough of the risks.

            The whole COVID situation is relevant to every person in the world. Obviously, the situation is not good for anybody, but we have to be aware of it. I am tired of dealing with COVID and all of the variants just as much as anybody else is, but we must know the information surrounding the disease and the health risks of the variants. While information on Omicron is not readily available, we must stay on our toes for incoming news about it and the future it could leave our country in.  

Faulty Emergency Alert Could Earn Fox and FCC Fine

On By johnwilson21In Ethical Issue(s), News Media, SportsLeave a comment

Fox NFL Sunday is a very popular show in the football realm. The pre-game show includes former NFL players who discuss the NFL’s news around the NFL and upcoming games each Sunday. They often include entertaining skits and graphics that fans enjoy, as they make the show fun to watch and can add to the football experience. This past Sunday, one of their graphics ideas can find them getting into some trouble. They could be receiving an FCC fine for a bit they did this weekend that mocked the Emergency Alert System, including a faulty message and URL, that lead to a website that did not have to do with football. The emergency alert warned fans that the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance at making the playoffs. The URL that was on the page was not real, but somebody quickly picked it up and created a pro-Trump political page, which could be viewed as a bad look for the league. The FCC states that an Emergency Alert System transmission can only be used for a national, state, or local emergency or as an authorized test for the system, and Fox’s football EAS does not fall into that category.

This story interests me because as somebody who may be in the sports production and media field, this is an important lesson to learn from. The FCC is able to hand out hefty fines to networks for making crucial mistakes like this one. Fox should know better than to put out a false report of an Emergency Alert System message that is not actually for a serious matter. There should have been better planning for this skit or at least had made it very clear that the emergency alert was not real and to not include a fake URL on the screen.

The Algorithm Trick

On By johnwilson21In Social MediaLeave a comment

Social media sites are known for having their algorithms. Algorithms are key to each app, including Instagram, TikTok, and more, as they figure out your interests and show users material that will keep their attention and make them want to stay on the app and continue using it. Michelle Drouin is a professor of Psychology at Purdue Fort Wayne who has studied social media and how it impacts humans and relationships. When discussing algorithms, she tells how certain components, such as fear, anger, happiness, and catastrophic events cause attention and can make things become viral. Social media algorithms tend to the general public, as well as each person’s interests.

            This article interests me because social media sites try to keep their algorithms secretive, but people feel that they have somewhat figured out aspects of each algorithm. People know what others want to see and they make their content based on what emotions appeal to other viewers. Algorithms are interesting and a tricky subject because I do not believe they work if you do not let them. When I use apps, I try not to fall into the algorithm trap. I will mute things I do not want to see so that my feed is tailored to me by what I deem interesting. The algorithm is interesting, but I suggest that people try and stay focused and not spend too much time on social media apps because they want you to fall into that trap and get sucked into their algorithms.

Jack Dorsey Steps Down as Twitter CEO

On By johnwilson21In Social MediaLeave a comment
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down from his role with the company. The company’s chief technology officer, Parag Agrawal, will take over the position. Dorsey will not be leaving the company, as he will remain a member of the board, but believes it is time for the company to move on from its founders. Agrawal takes over a company with some lofty goals, as they have said they want to have 315 million active users by the end of 2023. Agrawal has been with Twitter for more than 10 years, which means he is familiar with how the company does things and their goals. The company is trying to increase their reach and value and hope to take that step soon, now with new leadership.

            This move interests me because I use Twitter daily and it is an entertaining social media app. I have been using Twitter for about five years now and they have not changed much, which is good, in my opinion, as it has kept me on the app. I get a great deal of information from the app, as well as many laughs because some content on the app is funny. Overall, I am interested to see what advancements and changes are made on the app and what direction they go in with new leadership.

NFL Games Remain Popular on American Televisions

On By johnwilson21In Nielsen, Sports, TelevisionLeave a comment
AP

Thanksgiving Day is well-known for two things in America, and they are eating and football. The NFL hosts three games each year on Thanksgiving, with the Dallas Cowboys being one of the teams who plays each year on the holiday. This year they hosted the Las Vegas Raiders, which turned out to be the most-watched regular season game since 1990. It was estimated that there were 38.5 million viewers tuned in for the big game, which is mightily impressive. Some factors that likely went into this large number are that the Cowboys are historically the league’s most watched team, as well as the Raiders also being a popular team, historically. Also, the game was highly competitive, as it was a narrow matchup and also went into overtime.

            This story interests me because as a football fan, this was definitely an interesting matchup that I was excited for, but I was not aware of the amount of people that also thought it was an interesting matchup. There have been bigger games with interesting matchups in the past 31 years, but they were not able to draw in the same number of viewers. The face that it was Thanksgiving could have played a role because even people who are not interested in football may watch the games on Thanksgiving as part of the holiday tradition. While many people often ridicule the league for many of the things they do and even threaten to stop watching games, the league remains powerful and dominant across televisions in America.

USC Fills Their Head Coaching Vacancy

On By johnwilson21In SportsLeave a comment
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The USC football team’s Head Coach vacancy has been a hot topic in the sports media world over the past couple months, with much speculation of who will fill the vacancy. The University of Southern California football program is historically one of the best in the country and is one of the best coaching jobs in college football, but as of late, they have struggled to remain a college football power, or even find consistent success. They have just hired one of the best coaches in college football, Lincoln Riley, who comes from a very successful Oklahoma football program, where he held a record of 55-10 in his five years there. This story is huge for sports media because it now makes college football return to relevancy in Los Angeles and brings USC to potentially become a national power again and gain more national media coverage.

            This story interests me because I am a huge football fan and when I was growing up as a child, USC had great football teams, produced notable NFL players, and were an exciting program to follow and watch on TV. As of late, they have not played well, produced as much NFL talent, and do not get talked about as much in the sports media world. This move is great for the sports media landscape, as they have already been talked about a great deal because they have brought in one of the best available options, arguably the best, and many anticipate to program to return to being a contender within the next five years, which is great for football fans.

Social Media and Mental Health Correlation in Adults

On By johnwilson21In Social MediaLeave a comment
Mental Health Awareness Month is May, but should be prioritized every day of the year.

Social media usage and mental health are two topics that have gained much more attention over the last few years and are now often linked to each other. Researchers have investigated the toll social media use can have on adults and whether it correlates to depression. Within their research, they found that using social media can have an effect on an increase in risk of depressive symptoms, but it is not always the case. Social media does have more effects on adolescents and young adults when it comes to anxiety and depression, but this research was focused more on older adults. One finding from the research is that it is often difficult to tell if social media usage or depression came first in each person’s situation. A large aspect of depression and social media being linked is because of social comparison, where people see others “living their best life” and compare their own life to what they see.

            I believe that social media usage and mental health topics, such as depression, are definitely correlated in adults, or A person of any age for that matter. As noted in the article, people often post their achievements on social media, and while they do not actually represent their whole lives, they can seem like it. People can see others’ “living their best life” on social media and can feel like a failure because they are not able to do the same, which can lead to depression.