A frightening thing is happening today.
The period from October 31st through the end of November is one of the three months of the year when U.S. television stations - both local and network - are subject to the collection of ratings data which will determine advertising revenue through the next ratings period. It's called "Sweeps" and in many U.S. cities, it's a fearsome, ghoulish time. And not just because the veil between the dead and living is at its thinnest on this day. "Sweeps" is the time when local news directors throw caution to wind and go for the jugular. Often literally.
Last November, Los Angeles area residents were treated to the Thanksgiving Day spectacle of a televised hunt for a dead body. Rather like Steven King's short story "The Body," the hunt was far more engaging than the eventual dénouement. Just at about the time most people were sitting down to carve the turkey, L.A. County sheriff's deputies spotted an arm of the young model Linda Sobek protruding from a shallow grave in the remote forest where she'd been buried. The T.V. cameras captured every gruesome moment for public, uh, consumption.
The sheer volume of attention paid to the Sobek case was unusual both in its scope and breadth. Sobek was not herself a famous person and her alleged killer was unknown to the public before Sobek's disappearance. Charles Rathbun was no football hero charged with a bloody domestic homicide. He was, instead, a little-known photographer who'd previously been charged with the rape of a married woman. Such a case would ordinarily receive but a fraction of the coverage that it was given. Something spooky was in the air, though; it was November Sweeps and nothing more hideous was afoot in the L.A. basin.
Sweeps is the time when local television news directors must make "life-and-death" choices. They must climb into the skins of their viewers and try to find out what will compel them to stick with a news story. Programmers must also determine what audience demographic they most need to ensnare. Stories that may be sensational (or even, we might suggest, generally important) will not be over-covered if the leading actors in the story are not significant to a particular demographic. Advertisers are interested in viewers with disposable income. No one else really figures into the equation. In the Sobek story, the people involved "mattered" not because they were famous - they were not - but instead because they were of the same demographic as the target audience. They were two people who had made it in the world. A successful young model who could afford "legitimate" work, and a photographer whose work was published in major magazines. Though niether famous nor wealthy, they were both good at their work, and they were paid well for it. Rathbun and Sobek were themselves mirrors of the audience advertisers want to reach. They were people who "mattered." Another model was found in the same area in 1993, but her case generated little attention. Unlike Sobek, who is white, she was of Latina descent and her disappearance was barely alluded to at the time. This time there was suspicion that she may have been a second victim of Rathbun's, so her importance grew in terms of her relation to him.
The desperate spirit of "Sweeps" gives us an opportunity to find out which groups really hold a socially consequential status in America. Air-time cannot be wasted; programmers must perform triage on a daily basis during November, February, and May. What might be a crucial story at any other time of the year may be left for dead during sweeps.
Conversely, a story that could be overlooked at other times might get some much-needed attention. Desperate programming directors have no respect for the powerful during these three months of the year. In the words of an old spiritual, what they do in the dark will be brought to the light. It's an unforgiving time; there is no hiding place during "Sweeps." It's a time when public figures must be especially careful to keep a lid on any potentially compromising situations in which they may be involved. Any scent of scandal during sweeps is blood in the water. It is, therefore, a good time to behave oneself if one occupies a position of public power or notoriety. The glare will never be sharper than at this time. There are no rugs under which one can hide the dirt. Not at this "creepy" time of year.
Copyright © 1996 by Robin Markowitz. All Rights Reserved.
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