The function of the media is to deliver an audience to advertisers, and advertisers want to persuade the audience to buy their products. Therefore, the media and advertisers cater to their audiences and spend large sums of money analyzing audience preferences. Chapter 5 considered the economic basis of the Cartier Replica audience-media relation-ship; Chapters 2-4 on news and Chapters 6—8 on advertising discussed the character of this relationship.
Until fairly recently, the relationship between audiences and the traditional media dictated that something as simple as writing a letter, sending a fax, or sending an e-mail could have an impact on a newspaper or a radio or television station. Because relatively few people contacted them, each communication to a media outlet had a disproportionate impact. Although media managers and advertisers knew that people who write letters are not typical of the entire audience, they tended to assume that each letter represented a large number of viewers or readers. As the number of letters protesting any single item, episode, or ad increased, the tendency to assume there was substantial dissatisfaction increased. When the offending medium or program had provided a mechanism for publishing or airing dissident views, a letter could also publicize one's grievance to the outlet's audience. For example, 60 Minutes airs selected comments from viewers, as do the letters-to-the-editor columns in newspapers.
The interactivity and immediacy of the Internet have now made the process of ex-pressing an opinion simpler. Increasingly newspapers are posting the e-mail addresses of the authors of articles and columns. News outlets are scheduling on-line chats between readers and writers. Jonathon Dube, senior associate producer for ABC-NEWS.com, describes his interaction with readers during coverage of school shootings in Colorado: "While covering the Littleton shooting, I answered questions from readers in two hour-long online chats, which together attracted more than 1,600 people." He adds, "This was draining but rewarding. Knowing what questions remained on readers' minds helped guide my future reporting. At the same time, I got to tell readers many of the details I had gathered that hadn't fit neatly into my stories. The chat transcripts became, in effect, another story about the shootings—one that the readers helped creates."
A new downloadable software tool called Third Voice Inc. (www.thirdvoice.com) makes it possible to produce what some are calling "electronic graffiti" and others are describing as a means of producing "a meta-Web composed of expert marginalia." After downloading a Web site, Third Voice permits users to read the Cartier Replica Watches annotations of other Third Voice users and to add annotations of their own. Third Voice also has a capacity to set up notes by experts. Internet lawyer David Johnson asks us to imagine the future: "Think about the possibilities that open up once you can read electronic marginalia on the Web written only by those you trust. A Federal Trade Commission expert could post warnings about false and deceptive offers. Commentators could attach their opinions to stories on a popular news site. Those quoted or described in a story could post corrections."
Johnson also notes some of the complications associated with the advent of Third Voice. "What happens when obscene or harmful postings appear on a website designed for children? Will it be possible to locate the identity of a poster—and would that be a good thing? If postings can contain links to other sites, and if one company posts a comparative statement on a competitor's site (with an invitation to visit a competing store), would that constitute fair competition or unfair leveraging of the popularity of the competitor's trademark?"