For those of you who don't know me, you probably should. I'm kind of a big deal.
Over the past four months, 3,572 people have watched my high school show, the Maize News Break, on YouTube. Doing some quick math, that leaves only 254,996,428 Americans who have not seen the Maize News Break bloopers.
With ratings like that, it's stunning that CBS would choose an aging dinosaur like Katie Couric to take the nightly news chair instead of an up-and-coming celebrity like myself.
Of course, shows will reflect their demographics, and Couric is the right person to deliver news to the crowd that still watches network news.
Network news isn't dying because of its lack of relevance or because of any truth-telling issues. It's dying because people aren't home at 5:30 p.m. anymore.
Americans are working longer than ever, but not harder than ever. Their evening time in front of the TV has been replaced with workday time surfing the internet. It's not good or bad, it just is. And it has certainly taught us a thing or two about our society.
You see, we're not the politics-loving Renaissance men that our forefathers assumed we would be. It turns out we'd rather vote for an American Idol than an American president.
That's why news coverage can't just move online. It's not that TV is doing a poor job covering the news, it's just that America would rather watch a cat on a wheel than a politician on a stump.
People have a powerful tool now: they can choose what they want to watch.
And if they want to watch me do a bad John Walsh impersonation…I'm going to let them.
I had no idea we were in the presence of such a star.
You can raise that number up to 3,573 people that have watched the video now. Absolutley priceless Phillips. I feel like I know a true celbrity.
You make some very good points. It is sad that more Americans would rather vote for an American Idol then their President. Alas that is society today. Finally I did not know you were a big deal, but where are your many leather-bound books and rich mahagony to prove this?
Yes and no.
I agree that Americans are increasingly choosing entertainment instead of news.
However, there is quite a bit of literature out there arguing that audiences perceive the mainstream news media as lacking in credibility. This is a very important reason (one of a myriad, no doubt) for decreased viewership and readership.
But the American Idol statistic is pretty revealing and tough to argue against.
Also, why doesn't YouTube acknowledge that your video has been linked to?
First of all, why do you only have one star? Michael Phillips, you've been robbed! And really, how could you possibly think you were going to fit into that locker?
On a more serious note, I think one of the reasons more people vote for American Idol than they do the president is the simplicity of the American Idol process. It's not that it's more entertaining. It's that you know exactly what you're getting when you cast that vote. The American Idol winner will sing, tour and release an album. You don't have those same guarantees with a president. Presidential candidates say one thing and often wind up doing another.
In terms of the evening news, I agree that it's losing ground. It's just so much easier to get your news online than to make an appointment to watch it on television. The beauty of online news is it's immediacy and availability. The beauty of YouTube is its ability to reach millions of young people who have all but given up on traditional news. Even in the news business, location matters. And YouTube is a prime piece of real estate.