Your Questions About Direct Marketing News

Jere answers:

Does it ever!!!!”

However its important to break down that conept ‘the media’

There are several stations on radio and TV, and in the press (then in all the websites they generate) which are not completely dominated by a rightwing bias..

Nevertheless the dominant (in terms of ratings/media power) do tend to support the business end of town.

Fox especailly.

However even there its important to point out that
-sometimes it’s in Rupert’s interests to support what are usually seen as political parties of the the left.
-that its not so much in the direct invective towards anything to the left of Genghis Khan – but in the choice of
a) what is chosen as the key news items
b) what is omitted
c) the dumbing down of any debate into ‘:us the good guys /them the bad guys’
d) the language and the mode of presentation

That the long term of effects of the bias to the powerful operates towards a fairly crude ‘right wing ‘ construction of ‘the world out there’

There are many media studies of the bias towards the ‘right’. Among them the work of :

-George Lakoff who tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml
-the BCCCS (the Birimingham Centre of Cultural Studies ) especially when Stuart Hall was its Director.
-Galtung and Ruges model of ‘news values’
http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcsenews.html

-other individual studies eg
a) http://www.nber.org/papers/w12169

b) http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/499414

and for a more nuanced disucssion and research study into the effects of the spread of news media sources
c)
http://learning.nwc.hccs.edu:8080/Plone/members/tom.haymes/govt2302/pdfs/050731nytbadnews.pdf

.

Jere answers:

Publications aimed at people interested in the theater, hair salons, restaurant workers, interior design, etc. (You know the stereotypes, they’re not all B.S.) There are also local gay news outlets, too, I’m sure. And national ones, too. (“Out”?).

This can be a good mortgage market because often times gay people spend a lot on their house because they aren’t saving for college educations or thinking of leaving money to their kids. They also prefer to be homeowners to renters for privacy and landlord discrimination reasons. I think they also move up more frequently so repeat business is better. Finally, and most importantly, word of mouth is strong and you’ll get referrals once you establish a beachhead. (Don’t bash me for generalizations, there is truth in all of this. It might not apply to every gay person in the world, but there is truth.)

Jere answers:

That doesn’t really have a direct black and white answer:(

Case by case basis: Normally, if it is an unpublished source, it’s fair game. Since it is a published work though, courts must examine factors in deciding whether a specific use is a “fair use”.

These factors are:
-The purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is commercial or of a non-profit, educational nature.
-The nature of the copyrighted work. Uses of expressive, as opposed to factual, works are less likely to be considered fair uses, as are uses of unpublished works.
-The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. Here the court will consider the qualitative as well as the quantitative use. -If the user excerpts 200 words from a 10,000-word book, but those 200 words constitute the heart of the book, this may not qualify as fair use.
-The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. If the challenged use adversely affects the potential market for the copyrighted work, the use is not fair.

Posting a part of “the star thrower” might not constitute fair use if done for purposes other than comment, criticism or news reporting. In a 1996 decision, a federal district court held that a former church member violated the church’s copyright when he posted documents — which contained church doctrine, normally available only to paying members of the church — wholesale on the Internet with virtually no additional editorial comment. However, the church’s suit against a newspaper that published an article including excerpts of posted materials was dismissed because the newspaper’s reporting was in the public interest and it made selective and limited use of the material.

Sooo….Since they have made selective and limited use of the material and credited the author, personally, I wouldn’t see it as copyright infringment. The company would most likely win if sent to court assuming they didn’t get her permission to print the exerpt.

Jere answers:

Men can still apply for insurance with Diamond and Sheila’s Wheels – but their marketing is directed towards women, and they intimate they offer preferential rates to women. As long as the premiums are fairly and consistently calculated, they can direct their marketing to any demographic they choose

Jere answers:

First, build a portfolio of your best work (only the best because your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest piece.) This should be about 20 or so pieces, enough to show the variety and consistency (variety in subject matter, consistency in quality) but not so many pieces that it takes too much time to go through, art directors and editors are busy people and hate for their time to be wasted. You should keep your portfolio in a few formats; several copies printed, pdf, and online (html and pdf) . You can drop/mail the printed version off at potential clients(newspapers, magazines etc) remember to include a self addressed stamped envelope you want to get it back or can’t pick it up. Make sure the quality of the print is good (not a cheap photocopy,) and include your contact information on every page. NEVER INCLUDE ORIGINAL ARTWORK, always send high quality reproductions. You can get lists of who to send your portfolio to by getting ahold of the Artist Market Book. You can buy it from amazon.com or if you just want to borrow it your local public library should have a copy in their reference section. The book has contact information for various magazines all over the world. It also has the type of work they are looking for and what format to send it to them in. Some art director like to get work in Electronic format through email while others prefer online portfolios and others like printed portfolios.
Submit to the places looking for artwork like you produce and inquiry at local publications like newspapers and magazines. You might think about making a promotional piece for yourself like a postcard with a piece of your best artwork with all your contact info on it. This is good because it’s small and easy for a art director to file away for future reference.

Make an online comic available and try to make a new comic at least once a week if not more(there are ones that make at least one once a dy except on weekends) submit to comic forums and web rings to get exposure.

The main point is to make your artwork visiable for other to see and easy for them to get ahold of you.