Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Network Schadenfreude
It appears that the networks are exacting a good bit of schadenfreude against the Fox Network for ruthlessly bilking Gabe Okoye and his girlfriend Brittany Mayti--contestants on the game show "Million Dollar Money Drop"--who lost $800,000 on a question they answered correctly. The couple has appeared on the morning news shows explaining how they would use the money to pay for their upcoming nuptials. The show even offered to bring the couple back--in essence--giving them a redo to make amends and quell what has become a public relations disaster. The couple has demurred, claiming they aren't sure they could withstand the pressure.
But what this episode has demonstrated to all of us is the power of media framing--by highlighting certain facts while downplaying others. In this case, highlighting the aggrieved couple while downplaying other facts that casts a doubt on whether they should really be aggrieved.
The way the show works is as follows: "Each team...is given a million dollars at the start of the...game. They answer seven questions, each time deciding how much they want to wager on three possible answers. Whatever they wager on the right answer is what they get to keep. Wager nothing on the right answer and they're out of the game."
So back to the controversial episode. The couple was asked a question about what came first. they had $880k, where they put $80k on the Sony Walkman and $800k on Post-it notes. The show said the Walkman was first, which technically is not the right answer because the 3M, the company that makes Post-it notes, had sold them a year earlier than the Walkman, only under a different name. Here is where most newscasts end their story. In reality, they still kept playing, only with $80k and not $800k. The next question they came to, they lost it all. So let's pick it up here from the game's host, Kevin Pollak (what he is doing hosting game shows is beyond me):
"They never had a chance to win that money. Ever. No matter what. They got the last question wrong. None of the clips show the last question."
Which is right. Had the screw up not happened, they would have taken their $800k and blown it on the next answer, coming out of it with less than they have now--at least now they have an invitation to return and try again.
But what this episode has demonstrated to all of us is the power of media framing--by highlighting certain facts while downplaying others. In this case, highlighting the aggrieved couple while downplaying other facts that casts a doubt on whether they should really be aggrieved.
The way the show works is as follows: "Each team...is given a million dollars at the start of the...game. They answer seven questions, each time deciding how much they want to wager on three possible answers. Whatever they wager on the right answer is what they get to keep. Wager nothing on the right answer and they're out of the game."
So back to the controversial episode. The couple was asked a question about what came first. they had $880k, where they put $80k on the Sony Walkman and $800k on Post-it notes. The show said the Walkman was first, which technically is not the right answer because the 3M, the company that makes Post-it notes, had sold them a year earlier than the Walkman, only under a different name. Here is where most newscasts end their story. In reality, they still kept playing, only with $80k and not $800k. The next question they came to, they lost it all. So let's pick it up here from the game's host, Kevin Pollak (what he is doing hosting game shows is beyond me):
"They never had a chance to win that money. Ever. No matter what. They got the last question wrong. None of the clips show the last question."
Which is right. Had the screw up not happened, they would have taken their $800k and blown it on the next answer, coming out of it with less than they have now--at least now they have an invitation to return and try again.
