Ask media buyers what they think the big story is in a normal year, and you'll get a wide range of responses. It could be newspaper circulation, or the latest online craze, the hot new magazine, the year in cable.
These are not normal times.
These days, the big story, really the only story, is the writers' strike, now entering its third month. It's the story they see defining 2007 and the story that threatens to define 2008. Little else seems to occupy their thoughts.
That's the outcome of a Media Life survey of readers over the long holiday break, and it came through in almost all their responses.
Asked to pick the defining story of 2007, and given a range of choices, almost half, 48 percent, chose the writers' strike.
The No. 2 choice was well down the list, at 13 percent, Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones. Adoption of so-called C3 ratings for upfront negotiations came in third at 10 percent.
In a related question, the strike also came out the top choice.
Readers were asked to pick the year’s biggest media debacle. The strike got 37 percent of the vote, well ahead of No. 2, Don Imus' racist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, which got 24 percent of the vote.
By comparison, Rosie O'Donnell's exit on "The View" got just 4 percent of the vote.
Media buyers also worry that the strike will not be settled soon, making it the defining story of 2008 as well.
Readers were asked what we should watch for in TV in 2008. They could choose one or more responses, and 64 percent chose the writers strike lasting past March.
A distant second, at 33 percent, was the quiet disappearance of News Corp.'s MyNetworkTV. After that, at 29 percent, came "American Idol" finally begins to cool off.
Worry over the strike also came out when readers were invited to comment on the big stories they anticipated in 2008.
As one put it, "The strike, and I sincerely hope I'm wrong." Another wrote: "The writers' strike. I think it has the potential to change how the upfront season works more than C3 did in 2007."
Yet another wrote: "The writers strike. A lot of upfront time, money, and energy is looking wasted. Good luck with the make-goods."
