Heath Ledger dead… Moseley doesn’t care
Posted by tomfromthepost on January 22, 2008
Well after getting the tip off that Brokeback Mountain actor Heath Ledger has died, (from Jo Geary) myself and a Birmingham Post colleague were doing a quick, small, and slightly drunk straw poll at the Fighting Cocks, Moseley. (more to come in the Pint-sized blog eventually).
We were trying to find out exactly who is interested in breaking news, i.e. would they care to know that Ledger is dead. Unfortunately, of the people asked, no one seemed to be interested, and of the people who knew who Heath Ledger was, they didn’t seem to be bothered about the news, saying they’d probably pick it up in the morning on telly or newspapers. A slightly disappointing result for those of us committed to breaking online news.
Or maybe just a lesson about doing media research while drinking…
January 23, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Was it a reaction to the medium or to the message? Would they have been equally apathetic if you told them Ozzy Osbourne had died or a bomb had just flattened Kings Heath?
I’m not sure if your straw poll said anything in particular about breaking news. All it might suggest is the Fighting Cocks on a Tusday night is not home to any ardent Heath Ledger fans.
January 23, 2008 at 3:32 pm
More that no one knew who Heath Ledger was, obviously he’s less famous than I thought he was. Been made to watch 10 Things I Hate About You too many times it seems.
As I’m sure you can imagine this wasn’t the most rigorous of media research.
January 23, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I’ll admit to having to think who he was, but then I suspect he’s more of a name for you 20-somethings than old(er) types like m’self.
That said, this is possibly a good illustration of what we might call Long Tail News, wherein some things are very important for a small number of people, very UNimportant for another small number and a big “meh” for everyone else. There’s very little that reaches that level of national / global consciousness, and even then (Diana being the best example) there are questions over how skewed the coverage is.
I’m also curious as to how much internet buzz this would have caused were he not playing The Joker. Geek fuel is a big part of viral dissemination these days.