h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ref para 2: 'PSA's are in all media'. This would be better as something like, 'PSA's can be published in all media'

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"Media" is a plural word. It is the plural of "medium". There is the medium of television, the medium of newspapers, the medium of radio and so on. These are collectively known as "the media". You should be more careful of your use of the word.

alright thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

I'll have to do a little research on this,
but in the U.S. broadcasting stations do, under law, have to follow FCC guidelines involving PSAs and National Emergency Broadcasting Network rules.

Normally, with broadcasters, both cable and ethereal, the "pro bono" PSAs are run at weird times, like near the end of the broadcast day, or all at once early on Sunday morning, at the end of the broadcast week.
PSAs that are paid for at full price by the government and concerned groups are slotted in amidst the other commercials anytime the client wants it.

That first para of m'Lord's is exactly what I had in mind in my post no.15.

I think these work slighty differently in the UK - it's not just the BBC that broadcast them and they are not always aired for free. They are produced by a government agency the Central Office of Information (which I also work for - although in a different area), so I shall try to find out some more info. and get back to you.

Thanks... I never found any of that in my reasearch

Where ever you're finding all this information, could you please send me a link? I would like to put it under my bibliography. I tried to just put this Peer review under it, but It wouldn't let me link it.

Thanks

Sorry for the delay - I was just going to ask at work, still haven't had a chance to do this. The COI is at www.coi.gov.uk - although there is not really much up there about it yet (am in the process of revamping our website so it will have more information about the services that it does). Have just put my own entry inro PR about the history of the organisation, but I don't go into the sort of details you need.

Ok, thank you

On a completely tangential point, PSA can also stand for prostate-specific antigen, a (not wonderfully accurate) marker for prostate cancer.

Just so you know.

Good entry, by the way.

Matt

Thanks!

It could also stand for:

Perfumed Salt Advisory

Sorry... I'm a tad bit high on sugar cubes at the moment. WEEEEEEEEEE

I don't understand the juxtaposition of these statements:
- "The media donates space or air time...."
-"The government pays full price for the PSAs to air...."

If anyone is paying full price for an advertisement, I don't think it can be called a PSA. For example, in the U.S., I assume the government pays for the ads run by the various branches of the armed forces as part of their recruiting programs. If the station or publication is collecting its normal rate for those ads, just as for the automobile ads immediately before or next to it, it's not a PSA in my book. I don't know whether there's a practice of charging less to noncommercial advertisers, even during peak hours. Anyway, it would help if you'd address the apparent contradiction between the two quoted sentences. My guess is that, in the U.S. at least, a correct statement is: "Media donate space or air time for ads relating to the public interest, including some created and provided by the government. The government also pays, as would any advertiser, for ads that it chooses to run, e.g. armed forces recruiting ads."

Incidentally, "PSA" also used to mean Pacific Southwest Airlines. That company was merged into USAir in 1987, though, so you probably don't need to worry about it!

The modification suggested by JL seems very sensible to me and addresses a concern that I also have felt about your Entry.

I might like to see the title changed to 'Public Service Announcements' rather than existing one...

I wasn't sure if I were going to read a Prostate entry or a Public Service Announcement entry.

Also, have you given any thought to some famous PSAs through history? The egg in the frying pan anti-drug commercial comes to mind.

But overall, a thoughtful look at PSAs.


- Jimi X

They used to be know as Public Information Films or PIFs. What they showed between programmes before there were trailers.

Older UK based researchers might remember Jo and Petunia from the late 1960s, a fairly clueless seaside postcard cartoon couple voiced by Wendy Craig and Peter Hawkins who had no idea of the Country Code or how to call the Coastguard, but did like a nice picnic. The same films were endlessly repeated so I remember my brothers and I used to know the scripts off by heart and join in. A government logo used to come up at the end and a voice over: "This has been a Public Infomation Film"

Later there was one voiced by Kenny Everett about Charley, a cat who communicted with a boy and warned us not to go off with strangers. There was another with a "dolly bird" who would only go out with blokes who could swim. (With a cartoon fairy godmother voiced by a man in a falsetto voice: "Learn to swim young man, learn to swim!") Rolf Harris did some about swimming too, real fims, not cartoons.

There were various both cartoon and film ones about crossing the road safely and before the UK went decimal in 1971 there were endless showings of "Granny Gets the Point" a series about a kid helping his granny to understand about the new money.

All these were funny and light hearted as well as informative. Later films, like the AIDS campaign and ones about not going into lakes or playing near roads, electricity pylons, building sites, water etc all seemed to aim for scaring people.

I've recently bought a video of the unshown 1970s "Protect and Survive" films and a copy of the original leaflet.

You really shouldn't sign your name to your entry. The little box on the right side of the screen displays your name as the author, so it's unnecessary to write it again.

EMR

Hi there

Are you still working on this?

hello? Anyone at home?