"Face to Face" down, Liberty Watch up
Inside Liberty Watch Today - August 11, 2006
Editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine, Mike Zigler also manages internal communications for several Strip properties. He is former news editor of Las Vegas CityLife and former editor of the UNLV Rebel Yell.
Last Friday at the Republican gubernatorial debate, Jon Ralston's secretary Dana Gentry approached George Harris, publisher of Liberty Watch: The Magazine. She asked if Harris sold Liberty Watch cover stories. After reading Thursday's Living section in the R-J, Gentry's interrogation makes sense: She and Ralston are trying to understand why Liberty Watch is so successful while their show holds bottom-feeder status among locally produced programs.
In an article titled "Local TV shows struggle for viewers," we learn that Ralston's "Face to Face" hosts the valley's most embarrassing ratings (along with the ultra-lame "Nevada's Eye on Washington"). Ralston pontificates to only 130 viewers ages 18 and older during his 11 a.m. show weekdays on Las Vegas One. However, he picks up several more viewers on Sundays at 5:30 a.m. when "The Best of Face to Face" airs on KLAS-TV, Channel 8. With this slot, Ralston had 1,422 viewers ages 18 and older in May.
Shows with higher ratings include: "Nevada Week in Review," "Nevada Newsmakers" and Tony Sacca's "Entertainment Las Vegas Style." Yes, Tony Sacca. He airs at 2 a.m. on Saturdays on KVMY-TV, Channel 21.
Ralston told the R-J that he doesn't pay attention to ratings. Doing the show is "worth it" despite how few viewers he has. Does "worth it" mean, "It's worth me seeing myself on TV everyday?" Egos don't pay the bills, Jon - which brings us back to Gentry's original question.
Ralston likes to portray George Harris as an egotistical gadfly - a description that well-suits its giver. But when sobering realities surface like "no one watches my show," Ralston has to ask himself how Harris succeeds in the media industry. How can Liberty Watch still be growing after a year and a half? This goes against the "failure" image that guys like Ralston and Steve Sebelius have tried to project upon Harris. There's got to be an answer - and to Ralston and Gentry that answer must be Harris is doing something unethical, like selling his cover stories.
When we started our publication, we had no qualms about letting the community know we weren't going to be an objective news source. That message was on our magazine launch party invitation: "Dismiss Objectivity." Liberty Watch is a conservative magazine with a conservative agenda. We promote people who are like-minded and mulch liberals who are not. Readers shouldn't be surprised to find positive stories on quality conservatives looking to better the Silver State community.
Maybe Ralston and Gentry should flip through the magazine again. They'll notice a plethora of new ads and several others that continue to be the backbone of our cause month after month. Couple that with the fact we provide a service to advertisers and business partners who request additional copies for their own community distribution, and you can see how we profit. If a client wants a mass mailing, we provide a service for that as well. As a small business, we are exercising free-market principles. Ralston does this with his Flash. We're not sure if he does this with "Face to Face," as the ratings don't exactly convince us there's a market for his "services."
This morning, we tested out Gentry's idea and sent her and Ralston a bill for Liberty Watch's March 2006 edition where we featured Ralston on the cover. The piece challenged Ralston's journalistic integrity and explored his DUI incident. It's unlikely we'll get a check in the mail, so we'll just go ahead and mark the business opportunity of selling covers as a failed idea. Maybe Gentry's cuckoo concept demonstrates why "Face to Face" is performing so badly - she has bad business ideas. Harris, on the other hand, does not.
Knowing that media gadflies like Ralston, Gentry and Sebelius will continue trying to break Harris' passion as a businessman and good-hearted conservative, we're just here to let them know that Liberty Watch: The Magazine isn't leaving Nevada anytime soon. We've got a following, we've got advertisers, we've got subscribers, and we've got a pretty smart businessman running the show. Add in our critics, and we've got a stable future. Too bad the situation isn't so promising for "Face to Face."
BY MIKE ZIGER
Editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine, Mike Zigler also manages internal communications for several Strip properties. He is former news editor of Las Vegas CityLife and former editor of the UNLV Rebel Yell.
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