How the media works

As I will make things worse saying what I want to the people responsible, I'll lay it out here. After almost half a year the article in the newspaper I contributed to may well be pulled. It was set to coincide with the Ministry of Defence (UK) UFO files being released, which happened yesterday. I finally checked up and was told their priorities had changed. I saw this coming when the interviewer said it would be out in a week or two and months had passed, except they did say it was waiting for the files to come out. My career has taken 48 years to develop (if you include my early years contributed) and as any PR agent will know, a career in the media has a few steps. I took the first and easily biggest, to get on TV.

Stage one TV, small niche channels with tiny viewing figures but repeated ad infinitum. Unpaid. That was fine, it would do but would never make me famous. The next steps were either/and going on terrestrial TV with a million plus viewers/being in a newspaper. Well this year I was interviewed, the media equivalent of having an offer accepted on a house. It's half the job done but not binding or final. The bible has a little very trite wisdom in it and planting seeds on stony ground is one. They work like stink, send photographers (who do get paid) all over the country, and use a fraction of the material. I have no control over who wants me and when, and unless one of these two steps happen I will not have a proper media career. From having a firm date to know about this article (ie yesterday) not only has any timeframe gone out of the window but probably the whole lot. I felt this was dodgy from after I did it, I am very sensitive to these sort of negative vibes although not reading the future (these are picked up from the truth behind the present facades) they can change. But I felt they were not serious about the whole thing and that at least was spot on the money. Except I didn't get any of that either.

Of course you have to consider these guys get paid whatever they do. If their editors and owners are happy for them to use a fraction of what they produce and sling out the rest, in fact it's their choice to do so, why should they care? Our careers, business and pleasure, are by-products of other people's aims and wishes and like a ricochet bullet doesn't know or care who it hits. If someone walks down your road and either drops a £20 note or treads on your tortoise, they don't actually notice at the time or intend the consequences, it just happens to you by chance through their actions. The fact someone's whole career can be made by a single article (trust me, I've studied the business) illustrates perfectly how something irrelevant and everyday to one is the whole life for another. Now as people only state a positive, no one will let me know if it's not going to be used, I'll only know if it is. Otherwise I'll just be reading the signs when I've heard nothing within a month and work it out for myself. NB I rarely if ever call people cunts, but I think I'm justified in this case. Pardon me.