"Life Would Be Sunny, With Plenty of Money and You"
Over the last few weeks there has been no shortage of public bickering about money. From Democrats and Republicans battling over how to solve our nation's debt addiction to NFL players and owners sparring over how to split league revenues, public battles over dollars and cents have dominated headlines.
For centuries, husbands and wives have privately argued about money issues. Marriage and money squabbles go hand in hand. But, these are largely private issues, with the exception of big ticket divorces involving celebrities, corporate titans and royals.
While the NY Islanders get little air play here in New York, the sports and media capital of the world, the flailing hockey team has gotten a huge amount of ink over the past few weeks. Did they sign the next Mike Bossy or trade for the next Pat LaFontaine? The answer of course is NO. What's gotten them all over the pages of Newsday and on sports radio in NYC this summer is a battle over, you guessed it, money. The team's owner wanted public funding to build a new arena, while his opposition rejected the idea of residents of Long Island helping foot the bill.
So, who benefits from all this public bickering over money? An argument can be made that the combatants themselves benefit. For example, Democrats and Republicans can use the public bickering over the debt ceiling to further their political agenda, while the owner of the Islanders can leverage the rare show of attention put on the team to highlight its importance to the local economy.
The undisputed winner however is the news media: both traditional and social media. Twitter has no doubt stolen or borrowed eyeballs that in the past would have turned first to newspapers of cable TV. While I personally have relied on a mix of social and traditional media to stay on top of the NFL labor negotiations and US debt issues (and even the Islanders), I've turned most of my attention to traditional media for the analysis and insight it offers. I have watched this summer more CNBC and CNN, not to mention ESPN, during primetime than I think I have in the past five years combines. I've relied on Twitter as a valuable supplement to traditional media, rather than the other way around. I have generally found myself reading about breaking news on Twitter and then heading to WSJ or CNN or analysis of that news.
What's your take? How have you been using traditional and social media to keep up with this summer's public money fights? 