Hooked On Sensationalism
Synonyms for ‘gossip’ include newsmonger, gossipmonger, scandalmonger and tale-teller. Are people attracted to sensational topics for their shareworthyness to earn social capital?
Lazy Journalism?
On January 2, my wife saw a story on Global TV about the CBC article Canada's top CEOs earn 193 times average worker's salary. The news reporter spoke as if the report to which she referred was current news but a closer look at the article revealed it was published in 2015 - nine years ago!
Are the journalists at Global TV so underpaid, lazy or unprofessional that the only data on CEO earnings that they could find was from an article published nearly a decade ago?
Like most news broadcasting from contemporary corporate journalist, this story was intended to be sensational and to trigger the envy and righteous indignation of every minimum wage earner.
Will anyone ever forget Greta Thunberg‘s “How dare you!” moment at the United Nations in 2019?
It stands as a quintessential moment of media sensationalism in the past decade.
Consumer Conditioning.
Before the Internet, most on my generation (Baby Boomer) had received our news from newspapers, magazines, radio and evening television broadcasts. As consumers of those media sources, we were conditioned to believe them to be trustworthy. The web grew rapidly to compete with those traditional sources who found it increasingly difficult to capture the attention of formerly loyal customers.
The messaging had to become bolder, more shrill, and attention-grabbing than in the past. The stories that generated an emotional response succeeded best.
The formula for media success was clear and widely adopted. Whether a story was about an environmental crisis or the topic “the rich getter richer as the poor gets poorer”, the intended effect was to elicit fear, disgust, righteous indignation, alarm, a sentimental reaction or some other feeling that pulls the reader to the article like metal filings to a magnet.
Global’s story about CEO stories was laughable.
Who was the target audience and what emotions were they trying to elicit?
I believe it was intended for viewers who consume news passively - people who apply very little critical thinking to the message and who also possess a cartoon understanding of how the employment economy actually works.
When Greta scolded the United Nations, her message targetted a similar vulnerable audience. It landed successfully with those who possessed a poor understanding of science and who were also predisposed to fear when any fearmongered topics are presented to them which are complex and beyond their understanding.
Uni-dimensional reporting is Propaganda.
Top CEOs, like top professional athletes and entertainers, have earned their way to the top of their career ladders. It takes many years of accumulating accomplishments and overcoming adversity to get there.
Having interviewed over 10,000 job candidates for thousands of recruiting assignments from hundreds of different organizations, I am much more aware of career dynamics than most people. I have great respect for anyone who reaches the corporate CEO level and his or her ability to handle the enormous responsibilities of those jobs.
A case to assess.
Let’s consider the job of CEO held by Jeff Leger at Shoppers Drug Mart. One of Jeff’s primary mandated is to secure and improve upon the value of the corporate shares in a highly competive market. The stock price and earnings per share will determine if shareholders will buy, hold or sell SC - the trading symbol for the Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation.
Who are the investors in SC and hundreds of other publicly-traded shares listed on the major exchanges?
YOU ARE!
If you expect to receive a pension from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Service (OMERS), Healthcare Of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), or other pension plan investors such as the Automotive Industries Pension Plan (https://aitrustfunds.org/), then you are a share holder. All of these companies have extensive investment portfolios with holdings in corporations like SC.
If you are want a pension that meets your future expectations, then you better hope that the CEOs who direct the corporations in which you are invested are competitively compensated!
The market for top performing executives is always active. When the need arises, corporate Boards will readily sign a contract with an Executive Search consultant who is an expert at stealing top talent from one company for another to earn a big fee.
I recall earning $125,000 in Executive Search fees from a single client in under six months.
If the Board of Shoppers Drug Mart fails to pay a competitive compensation package to Jeff as CEO, you can expect them to inevitably lose him to another corporation who offers a substantial hike in compensation.
Mediocre talent is not in demand!
The journalism talent at Global TV is not likely to be stolen by recruiters anytime soon. After all, how hard is it to read from a teleprompter a pre-scripted message after spending time in the wardrobe department making sure the every hair is in place, your makeup is just right and your outfit is suitable for the camera?