In our electoral system money certainly talks, but the question is how much and in what way. In Dark Money, the author makes the argument that benefactors like the Koch brothers are using their money to more or less buy influence in the system by building a political network. In End of Discussion Ham and Benson also point to a similar network among liberals that also attempted to do the same. For many people they track the influence of this Dark Money to the decision in Citizens United. While it is true that the amount spent by citizens united has exploded is important to note the extent to which this money is limited. This is due to the fact at the end of the day no interest group no matter how powerful can make an individual voter for
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Wu lays out the evolution of who he deems the attention merchants. He begins looking at state run propaganda efforts and snake oil salesmen. But where he leads is an environment where people's attention has truly been monetized. In the past there were entities that wanted your attention, but they did so to sell a product. Now in our world with smart phones and instant access to entertainment we have become the product. Whether it's television, our smart phones or Facebook we have become monetized. Our attention is worth so much to advertisers and they use a variety of techniques to garner our attention. We have developed a taste for the salacious and this draws us in. We have developed the need to fame and engagement, which drives us to surf social media constantly in search of it. This gives the attention merchants even more of an opportunity to monetize this …show more content…
With that being said it is also a product, this has been referred to as the commodification of news. And like any commodity it must be sold in order for its producers to remain afloat.
Pretty much all news sources whether, digital, print or television depend on advertising revenue. This means that must keep their ratings, clicks or circulation as high as possible. As a public service they are supposed to deliver the information that the citizens need to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, more often than not the information that people need is not What actually grabs the attention of the public. This is why it has become vital for all sources of news to compete by being
Wu lays out the evolution of who he deems the attention merchants. He begins looking at state run propaganda efforts and snake oil salesmen. But where he leads is an environment where people's attention has truly been monetized. In the past there were entities that wanted your attention, but they did so to sell a product. Now in our world with smart phones and instant access to entertainment we have become the product. Whether it's television, our smart phones or Facebook we have become monetized. Our attention is worth so much to advertisers and they use a variety of techniques to garner our attention. We have developed a taste for the salacious and this draws us in. We have developed the need to fame and engagement, which drives us to surf social media constantly in search of it. This gives the attention merchants even more of an opportunity to monetize this …show more content…
With that being said it is also a product, this has been referred to as the commodification of news. And like any commodity it must be sold in order for its producers to remain afloat.
Pretty much all news sources whether, digital, print or television depend on advertising revenue. This means that must keep their ratings, clicks or circulation as high as possible. As a public service they are supposed to deliver the information that the citizens need to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, more often than not the information that people need is not What actually grabs the attention of the public. This is why it has become vital for all sources of news to compete by being