Producers engineered emotional reactions to quiz show contestants, not fairness.

Evidence

But Paley’s big-money contest triggered even more brutal ratings competition, which became all-consuming and desperate. NBC immediately copied the concept several times over, most notably with Twenty One, which pitted two contestants against each other. Sponsored by a relaunched patent medicine (Geritol: “America’s number one tonic for tired blood!”), Twenty One put even more prize money at stake. But its ratings climb against CBS didn’t happen until Charles Van Doren—a handsome, deep-voiced, and patrician English instructor at Columbia—showed up to challenge the reigning champion, Herb Stempel of the Bronx. Stempel had a big nose, thick glasses, and an abrasive manner. The producer would later say, “You want the viewer to react emotionally to a contestant. Whether he reacts favorably or negatively is really not that important….Viewers would watch him [Stempel] and pray for his opponent to win.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 484

Categorization

• SEED: The producer’s admission that negative emotional reactions are equally valuable—‘watch him and pray for his opponent to win’—is a clean statement of the attention economy’s moral neutrality. Could be the seed of an essay on how outrage and contempt are co-equal with admiration as attention capture.
• XREF: connects to: Quiz-show winners and even prize amounts were scripted in advance — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 524

Broader Connections

• Quiz-show winners and even prize amounts were scripted in advance #corroborates (0.95) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 524