NerdBrand Podcast
Nerd culture isn't just for a select few anymore; it's everywhere! It's in the movies we watch, the games we play, and the tech we use every day. Join us as we share our thoughts on how visual design, branding, and advertising shape our favorite movies, comics, books, video games, and other nerdy interests.
NerdBrand Podcast
News Or Noise
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Anyways, welcome to this episode of the Nerdbrand Podcast where content gatekeepers, how has it changed?
SPEAKER_00:Um Yeah, it's just it I'm at the point that I've been dealing with my endo journey for so long. It is what it is. If it's too much, tell me. But otherwise, I've just it's it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_01:Your reaction to your reaction to it and how you've been handling the situation over the past six months has been, you know, I mean, you get you should you should get a lot of credit for it. It really has been impressive.
SPEAKER_00:It it's been a lot, and I will not lie. And you know, this is something we can cut later, but a potential podcast idea I think would be cool is how do small businesses especially recover when you have a health emergency or have something go on and you have to step back.
SPEAKER_01:We've had three in Nerdbrand in five years.
SPEAKER_00:But then when you come back in, it's like, how do you get back into that swing? Because life happens to everybody. Oh, yeah. That would almost be kind of a cool, like, you know, because no one talks about that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, business coaches try to talk about it, but I think they offer very canned responses that just isn't a fit, obviously, for everybody. And that's that's understandable. But yeah, there is a bit of a strategy you have to implement for recovery, but not every business can do it. Sometimes you just kind of have to barrel through and do that. Uh so yeah, let's talk about like the news cycle rush to judgment. Because this has gotten to be really bad, honestly. Uh media outlets, they're just I there's always been this thing where you gotta be the first to print, the first to tell about it, or whatever. And um, but even then, and you know, it was like you gotta make sure you got it right because they were very well aware, if they put it in print, the implications of a lawsuit that could happen. It seems like now that's just not even there, which has caused an erosion of trust, and it's just where narrative trump facts now. Um be careful saying that word. Yeah. But so and the internet has accelerated this. So once the story's out, even it's wrong, everybody just thinks it's true. They don't really try to follow up research. It's not gonna happen. Whatever outlet that gets there first and says the thing, they kind of understand they're establishing in the narrative. And that is very dangerous that we're in right now.
SPEAKER_00:It really is. And it's it's crazy that, you know, and this is something I can go on a tangent about because we had to study this when I got my master's in digital media, how information spreads, and how, you know, this was back in 2018, 2019 when I was getting my master's degree. How, you know, there were there would be theories or fears that, hey, as technology expands, you know, you know, I know Donald Trump coined the term fake news, and in 2017, 2018, everybody made fun of it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, here's the funny thing. He actually didn't. It was actually a CNN reporter.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, was it?
SPEAKER_01:And he turned it around and said, No, you're fake news.
SPEAKER_00:Uh but you know, regardless, the perception is that he's known for that. Um good to know though. Um, but like, but nowadays it's like, okay, that is true. And I'm not being like, oh, I'm making a Donald Trump reference, but it's true. Like, there's so much that goes out there. And because technology has expanded and grown so much that everyone has it, it's so easy to seem legit.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. Everybody like I've seen so many YouTubers now that they're coming on now and they are reporting news as if they're newscasters. Right. And and that's understandable. I mean, that's sort of where things are going.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and then what they're doing is they're mixing in their reactions or their opinions with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's commentary, it's not reporting.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And so they're crossing those lines, pitching it as this is news, this is informational, but then they're throwing in commentary, and it's like, okay, where it for most people you can see the difference, but for enough people, it's like, where do we distinguish that this is fact and this is opinion?
SPEAKER_01:And a lot of that I think comes out of the video. Like everybody now has a video camera in their pocket and are able to record or has a microphone.
SPEAKER_00:I mean audio, like voice notes.
SPEAKER_01:There's there's on Twitter, there are people right now that are on the ground that are reporting stories and doing journalism and trying to follow along and actually do it the right way. And uh, I've been watching some of them and how they do it, and they are brave as hell for what they're doing, considering what's going on on the uh West Coast. And so the legacy media is they've lost their monopoly on this. Um, they just have. But you know, the funny thing is for years, the media would pay those to do this with professional cameras for years. People have forgotten this or they just didn't know about it. But especially in the age post um OJ Simpson running from the law and the Bronco, the people that have a camera and have the means, a video production company, to get on site to get the photo, to get the video, then would sell that to the press to air on their television stories and screens has always been a thing. We would see even even with Spider-Man, that's literally what Peter Parker did for the newspaper he worked for. And so at the end of the day, it's like that still kind of exists, but now what I see has pivoted and get your thoughts on this. Now those people not aren't necessarily selling the content, they're just airing it on their own channels and monetizing it.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And then it gets to a point where you know, some paparazzi shooter or somebody who is, you know, posting a video, for them, it's not just, oh, I'm gonna sell this and you know, people can use it for their news thing. It's I'm gonna post it on my account and give me credit so that I'm associated and I make the money. Yeah, it's no longer just oh, I'm gonna sell this exclusively to CBS and they can use it and I get royalties, blah, blah, blah. It's it's shifting. And the thing that drives me crazy. I was actually talking to my boyfriend about this the other day. Um, I'm gonna go off on a soapbox, but it's relevant. I promise. This is gonna be a podcast where y'all are probably gonna hear me talk more than Jason, and I apologize in advance. This is your warning now. Um the thing that gets me is the evolution of technology is beautiful, it's phenomenal. Yeah, everyone can have access to decent quality things so you can have good cameras for taking pictures with your family, for shooting videos of those special moments, um, and you know, to have editing things so that way, like if you want to make things look cool with AI, if you want to, you know, there's a trend going on right now where you can upload a picture of two people and then it generates them hugging each other in a Polaroid. I can't tell you how many people are doing that with you know their bodies and like with them and then their mother who's past. So then it generates a a decent looking Polaroid of you know, oh my gosh, I'm hugging my dead relative. Or they're doing it where, you know, your current self is hugging your past self.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, God, this is totally turned into like the black, uh what the dark black mirror.
SPEAKER_00:Black mirror, yeah. But it's it it's cool concepts like that. So because technology is out there and able to do those things, there are ways that it can be used and it can be utilized that is so beautiful. And being in media, I love it. That being said, it is also one of the biggest curses and one of the things I hate the most because now everyone and their mother has an iPhone, and you know, the iPhones are great now, and even you know, other phones. I'm just using an iPhone because that's what I have. They have great cameras and they have great quality stuff, so it can they can use that to shoot videos, to record themselves, they can buy a microphone on Amazon, and next thing you know, you're a podcaster. Right. You can get some apps and some editing subscriptions on your phone, and then next thing you know, you're a videographer or you're a video. Yeah, yeah, you're an editor. Um, you know, you can make a TikTok and then one video goes viral. Next thing you know, you're a sensation and you're famous. And you know, while there's validity to that to an extent, people don't always understand that that's not always legit. It's great to have as like a starting point, or as you're growing in an industry, or if you're just doing something quick like a social media reel. Okay, yeah, having all those on your phone, that's great. Using a care uh audio on your phone, that's great. Getting a cheap microphone just to get started, cool. Yeah. But all of a sudden, now everyone can be a podcaster, now everyone can be an influencer, now everybody can post this and that, now everybody can create a website and start drop shipping things from Amazon, and now they're a business owner.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it gets to a point where because everyone has access to it, it's so difficult now to figure out okay, who's legit? Who has an LLC, who is selling the thing. Yeah, who is going to a scene and providing uh journalism in an ethical way? Who is filming something and not editing it to make it look real and using AI for its evil.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and I would all I would offer advice to help people filter this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's really simple. It is because I was taught this a long time ago. Two two things. One, um, always ask what gives that person authority to know what it is that they're telling you. Right. Like what what makes them the authority? Okay. Yeah, absolutely. The second thing is start stop trying to figure out the truth, start to figure out what's the agenda. Right. So in masters, like I went through theology. And so in your undergraduate in those courses, you read the book that they wrote, and you write a report, and then you give a presentation on the ideal. But then when you get to the master's class, you're reading the same book again. Now you think, like, why?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Well, because now you're reading it because you're now asked what was going through the author's mind when they wrote it? What was going on in their life? This perspective has changed. What was the agenda to write the book?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And we had the same thing with with you know, my comm undergrad and digital media media graduate. But, you know, not a lot of people have that.
SPEAKER_01:It's critical thinking. It really does exercise that.
SPEAKER_00:We literally had a class called critical thinking. I'm not joking. It was like COM 301 or COM 302. It was critical thinking. Um, for all the people who went to Bellerman, that should trigger a little bit of PTSD. Um that being said though, to me, that's a Tuesday, right? Um but it's it's crazy that not a lot of people have that. So, you know, when you have cases that, you know, a big breaking story happens, and then you have 20 people on Twitter posting different things about the scenario. Well, if you went viral for some video you made, it can be related to news or not. Yeah. If if you're famous, quote unquote, then oh, you're reliable. Or it's the first thing I saw, so it has to be true. And because back in the day, if you were published, it was reputable. Nowadays anybody can publish anything. So, oh, it's published, it's on this, it must be legit. And then you have professional news sources who you know, in the rush, like you said in the intro, it's about being first, not being accurate. So then you've got news sources who are like, oh, we just received word that somebody posted or somebody sent in this video. They're Twitter reporters as well. Yeah, and they're exactly and they're not validating, okay, is this real footage? Because you can run it through a scanner and tell, okay, is this AI generated? Yeah, they're not doing that. They're just okay, here's this video that somebody told shared with us. This is fact, this is real.
SPEAKER_01:The legacy media can survive this shift.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, they can.
SPEAKER_01:They need to pivot from being first to accuracy, back to what it used to be. Yeah, because they're not, I mean, the clarification that comes from uh the White House or from a YouTuber or whatever, right, is usually about two days, three days after whatever happens. And then you go, yeah, because time, you need time for that to clarify. But the media's already moved on to the next thing that just happened that somebody tweeted about, and that's the issue. They need to really slow down and they need to start focusing on like you viewers need to focus on what's the agenda behind this, right? Not trying to figure out the truth. What's the agenda? Because you you you'll spot it quickly, and then that'll lead you to whether or not if it's real or true.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:But the media themselves, the way that they can stop the spiraling, and I'm talking about legacy media, is is focusing on accuracy, sticking to the facts. If you watch a YouTube channel on any media outlet, they post the title of the video and then you watch the video. They actually don't get to the point of the video until like four minutes in, and it's a five-minute video. Exactly. And it irritates the hell out of me. On like Fox News, I'll criticize them. They're they're notorious for this. Oh, yeah. ABC and everybody, they kind of talk about like the facts in the first 30 seconds, and then the next three minutes is bashing Trump. And I'm just like, I don't want to hear about bashing Trump.
SPEAKER_00:Or it's just commentary on what they reported.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I get that you don't like what he said and he sounded like an idiot, and da-da-da-da-da, whatever your opinion is, whatever. I want to know what happened. ABC done. And because I will make that judgment as a rational human being on what what's going on. Like we still have incursions into NATO airspace occurring by Russia. Okay, and they do it in a different way because I remember growing up in the 80s and the 90s and what went on. And so I'm looking at this and I'm like, I know how this is gonna play out um because I've seen this before.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, that's the benefit of my age um and and living through those times. Uh, I didn't view those times as crazy. I thought maybe at the time they were, but I can tell you that, you know, the things that Bill Clinton did in the office with his intern was not A, shocking, right, and B a downfall to society.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, it's sad because like obviously that doesn't condone what he did. No, it doesn't. If anything, you know, back in that time it's shocking because you didn't see that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:That wasn't but the morality play that came about from that was rare is what you kind of see now flipping to the other side.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It kind of was like morality was important and there were ethics, but then sometime in the 2010s it died. Yeah, and now people are trying to come back to it, and people are trying to focus on the why and focus on the empathy, and that's great, but it could be weaponized, it really can, especially bingo, especially with how with technology, with AI, and all those things. Um, one of the things I sent to you, and I don't have my computer in front of me, so you might have to interject with the notes, um, is the Fairness Act. You know, that was a big thing that you know when media was made, it was you have to pitch both sides.
SPEAKER_01:You have to show that's coming up with the FCC, like those regulations, they're there, they've never been not there.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and so that's being actually now finally looked at again with with regards to um ABC recently with Jimmy Kimmel.
SPEAKER_00:As it should. I mean, and it's crazy because you know, for I say for those who don't know, but like the for the details, and again, if you need to cut me off, cut me off. Um, you know, back in the 60s and 70s, that was an implemented rule. That was a guideline that you have to show both sides, and if it's commentary, you have to explicitly say, This is commentary, this is opinion, so people can differentiate and come to their own conclusions. Well, sometime in the 70s it got lifted. It was still highly encouraged, but it wasn't like required.
SPEAKER_01:Well, now in the digital age, you jump into the middle of things online. Like if you jump into a YouTube clip, but that's not the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Well, then in 2011, they just basically said, nah, it's not important anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And so ever since then, it's like, you know, the whole ethics of of news and ethics of media has just spiraled because it allows people to focus on one side of the story, it allows people to, you know, mesh in their commentary and their opinions with the stories and to per be perceived as, you know, as experts and as fact. Yeah. And it, you know, obviously for me, uh, as someone who's studied media and works in stuff every day, I'm pretty good at differentiating between what's real, what's AI, looking at it with the critical eye. But I mean, I I have family members and friends who can't who don't and they can't. Um, and that's that's more common than not. And it's like not everybody, number one, has the, and I'm not trying to be insulting, but not everybody has the capability, whether that's ability or just time. If you're just scrolling on your phone, you don't have the capability because you're just scrolling and you have to go back to work in five minutes. Um, but and it's also it's getting harder and harder to tell. And you know, it's it's one of those things that that's something, and I know you said ABC is reconsidering it, that's something that really needs to be put back. Because then they're starting to get to where now, if you have an AI generated thing on socials, you have to market. If this is AI generated, does everybody follow it? No, but it's getting to be more of a standard practice. Yeah, and the same thing needs to be done for other forms of media, and that's well, they do that you know in advertising.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we've all seen the MPAA rating system for video games, television shows, and movies. We are all are very well exposed to that. Um, we are not applying rating systems to the media, right? Because news and entertainment is a single category if you go look it up online. And I don't believe they should be. I think they are not. They should be separate. They should be separate. And so there's that. But in England, um, when doing an ad, there's several um watermarked labels that go onto uh the ad to inform you of these things. So, for example, on YouTube, a lot of YouTubers will break into an ad or a sponsorship, and there's no label or watermark applied. They do not even say this is an ad, they weave it into the show. So if I just start saying Dove Soap is great and you should wear you should wash with Dove Soap and buy it now and click on the show.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I took a shower the other day with it. Which I'm not. Oh my god, no, I know, but oh my gosh, I showered with it this morning and my skin's so soft. I mean, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01:And now you think like we're talking about dove soap. Like that's that's an ad that's woven into the content and not sponsored. Yeah, not sponsored and not broken up and says, uh, because you know, let remember if for those that do, you know, now a word from our sponsor, you know, doesn't happen anymore.
SPEAKER_00:And there's always at the ad, I mean, it's gotten either smaller to the point that no one can read it or it's just gone. But there used to be copy underneath of a video, especially a political ad, that would say, you know, this is a politically affiliated ad and have all the Yeah, and those are very important.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, there's there's case studies like on Netflix. Just watch Pepsi Where's My Jet on Netflix, and then you'll understand like how important that is in advertising. Um, there's a YouTuber out there, Tom Scott, where he talks about like ads in England because he's English and he does short form videos. He did for years, but he retired.
SPEAKER_00:You were telling me about this, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. He's a guy, you'll you'll find him. He's an English guy that wears red t-shirts and hoodies, and that's kind of his thing whenever he's doing a video. Um, but he talks about a lot about the behind the scenes stuff, and he starts going into ads and he starts showing ads and how England will emphasize the ads intent and when it's an ad and also the rating for the ads. I mean, there's a ton of regulations on ads that display on broadcast and on the internet over there. So um we probably need to do that to the news here. Like there is on every website a category that uh what we call a blog post, but a publisher like the New York Times, for example, will put out an article. It's a WordPress site, and therefore it is driven by categories of posts, just like your business website that you got from us or anybody else. It's the same engine. Exactly. So that category is called opinion. But if you look at a lot of the posts, that's at about a nine-point font, meaning it's very tiny. And that's kind of on purpose, and that's very disingenuous, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It really is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it doesn't really label it correctly for the reader to understand. Like we'll say it takes three minutes to read it, and we'll put the title of the sucker in 30 or 48-point font, and a subtitle and some bullet points, and all kinds of crap because you don't want you know, too long didn't read. Right. But we put the category of what the topic is or the intent of it in nine-point font because we really want to try to show this off as like we're printing something factual.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's disingenuous.
SPEAKER_00:Or even in video format, you know, you'll have that's my gripe. No, I'm right there with you, and I'm gonna take it not a step further, but uh another example of it, you know, when you have commentators on YouTube, TikTok, whatever, you know, when they're talking about the main thing that they're trying to do, they'll use strong, powerful tones, and they will enunciate and they will make sure that they get their point across on what they're trying to communicate. And the next thing, you know, anything about the opinions or anything that could be considered unnecessary is super super fast, and people can't understand it. And then they go right back to their point. Yeah, so then it it it becomes that whole gibberish is you know, well, wait a minute, no one's gonna listen to it because no one's gonna understand it.
SPEAKER_01:It's because the editor needs you to slow down so that he can spot the time stamps so that he can edit that out as a clip.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And he can edit that surprise, right? Shocker, who would have guessed? But people can that they'll do that. So then, not that they're well, sometimes they are intentionally skewing how it comes across, but that's what happens. And people aren't, like you said, people aren't gonna read the nine-point font. People aren't gonna listen to the 2x sped up version that says this is what is opinionated.
SPEAKER_01:No, they're not. I mean, it's no people just don't have the the patience for that anymore. There's so much coming at them, all they have time is for a clip, and uh you know they're only gonna watch the first 10 seconds max if it's engaging.
SPEAKER_00:If honestly, looking at stats, it's gonna be the first three seconds.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is. It's gonna be like it's gonna be like around that. I mean, it's so small.
SPEAKER_00:It is the three seconds. I remember I was whenever I had to pitch something for work, and I was saying we need to do short videos and we need to keep things concise. Uh the statistic is three seconds. If it's engaging, ten max.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So uh for this episode of the Nerdbrand Podcast, I'm gonna talk really fast. You can go to NerdbrandAgency.com slash podcast. Uh it's just just go to nerdbrandagency.com and then you'll find it. Um, or you can just go to our social media. We uh I post on it on my channels a lot, and um, we're gonna have like you'll find the artwork. I mean, there's a method to the madness, you know where it's at. Yeah, everybody's exhausted, everybody needs a nap. Speaking so, anyways, if that's the case, remember keep doing what you're doing. Don't take your eye off the ball, focus on things that are important. Things that are not important, this too shall pass. So we'll see you next week. Keep your nerve brain strong.
