Earlier this week, our group wrote an editorial about what one fan called the “Jorge Ramos Swimming Thing.” The intent of the piece was not to ask why such a respected news anchor went Geraldo Rivera on us. A tiny few didn’t like that we took the time to write about the segment, yet after reading pieces by Al Día, La Opinión and clasesdeperiodismo linking back to the points our editorial made, we felt the right debate and discussion was happening. This is about telling the story and not being the story.
Nonetheless, from the looks of the following sponsored post by Fusion on Facebook, it appears that in this specific case for Fusion, this was about being the story:
We totally understand that networks and brands pay Facebook money to get their sponsored content attention, and that it is part of a business model. However, for this specific case, we still think that the network is getting the wrong type of attention. What do you remember the most about this story? That young migrants go through brutal hardships when crossing the desert and the Río Grande or that Jorge Ramos swam the Río Grande with a producer and the protection of the Border Patrol?
For this specific example, the journalism bar was not raised—it was lowered. The whole “Jorge Ramos Swimming Thing” was a grab for attention and ratings, not the proudest of journalism moments.
Just know, Fusion, that a lot of the people who are the target of your paid social ads see right though this stunt.
You could (and should) do better.
Your viewers are smarter than you think.
