June, for the Media, Is the Month of the Freebie

June is traditionally Freebie Month for the local media, a time to put on the party clothes and wade into a sea of free food and drink.

Besides the usual myriad restaurant openings, luncheons and other events to which the members of the press are invited in the hopes of some free coverage, the freebie circuit in June is buoyed by large annual parties thrown by the Del Mar Fair, Sea World and the San Diego Hotel-Motel Assn.

As always, the fair’s party June 1 kicked off the season. I missed this year’s event, but they’re always the same. A few hundred journalists are herded into a huge barn, where they get a chance to feel sawdust under their feet. They drink some beer, play some games, nervously chat with their fellow journalists, grab their free gift and then head to the traditional post-fair party parties.

Local politicians and members of the 22nd District Agricultural Assn. board of directors are always on hand to slap backs and eat the free food. There are usually carnival games set up for the amusement of the professional journalists. Little prizes are handed out to winners.

This year’s theme was “Spanish Marketplace.” Because these events have little noticeable purpose other than to cater to the media, journalists often feel they have a license to steal, or at least cut loose. This year, according to people who were there, someone took a matador’s hat and cape that was decorating the barn. It was later returned.

“We don’t want to know” who stole it, a fair spokeswoman said.

In past years, Sea World’s annual media party was always the highlight of the season. The park was closed down for an evening, the sharp objects hidden away, and the various reporters, editors, public-relations types and various hangers-on were allowed to run amok. Bars were strategically set up every hundred feet or so. When the bars closed, Professional Media Types were known to grab bottles of wines off the tables and sneak them into other areas of the park.

There was always something about the Sea World party, an air of decadence that seemed to infiltrate the souls of the invited media types. They trooped around the park, yelling obscenities during the Shamu show, cheering the dolphins, and alternately spouting tidbits of cynicism and good cheer between bites of roast beef. One year, a food fight erupted between print and television reporters. (For the record, the print journalists won.)

Those days are gone. Two years ago, Sea World decided to cut back on its media party.

“It was out of control,” said Sea World spokesman Dan Le Blanc. “We’d invite 300 and end up with a thousand.”

This Wednesday, Sea World will stage a media party, but it promises to be a far more subdued affair: Fewer invitations went out, and journalists will want to get to bed early because Thursday night is the Hotel-Motel Assn.’s annual schmooze-fest.

The Hotel-Motel Assn. invitation this year included a toy canteen, with the 79-cent price sticker still on it. So we know these companies are spending big bucks on these parties. They must feel the events do some good.

Sea World uses the media party to “say thank you for another year” to the journalists, Le Blanc said, in addition to previewing its summer shows.

In other words, the only real goal of these parties is to plant a big wet kiss on the forehead of the collective media. The question of whether it affects coverage can only be answered by individual journalists. I go to the parties, and I still think that the pigs at the fair are a little disgusting and that Sea World is overpriced.

The award for the Most Entertaining Campaign Television Ad of the season would have to go to Congressman Jim Bates and his apology ad, a sweeping series of thrusts and parries, laced with a few contradictions.

It opened by chiding opponent Byron Georgiou’s negative campaigning--hardly an unusual tactic. Before the viewer could change the channel, though, Bates turned to the rarely used, but often successful Mea Culpa Manuever.

“Jim Bates has apologized,” it proudly stated.

Before the viewer could contemplate whether this might lend some credence to Georgiou’s charges, the ad let loose with a full frontal assault in the classic style of negative campaigning that it had condemned seconds earlier.

Georgiou was labeled a “carpetbagger,” and the ad suggested he “has his own scandal brewing,” without giving any further details. Vague, biting and extremely smarmy, it was a classic political commercial.

Despite a group of new staff members that look like they were recruited at an Indianapolis bowling alley, KNSD-TV (Channel 39) is making progress in the ratings. According to the Arbitron ratings released last week, Channel 39 has moved into second place at 11 p.m. with a 6 rating and 22 share.

KFMB-TV (Channel 8) is in third with a 5 rating, 17 share. Apparently San Diego audiences were not willing to tune in just because Ted Leitner has “Something to Say.”

At 5 p.m., Channel 8, which is clearly having difficulty establishing its new lineup, fell to a 9 rating and 23 share. Channel 39 posted a 4 rating at 5 p.m. and a 5 rating at 6 p.m., almost the same numbers it received the previous quarter.

KGTV (Channel 10) once again leads at 5 p.m. with a 11 rating, 28 share, and at 11 p.m. with an 8 rating, 30 share.

The results of the Nielsen ratings are due out this week, and they often tell a slightly different story.

XHRM-FM (92.5) owner Jose Luis Rivas Marentes says he expects to decide who will operate the station within a few days. He is still negotiating with several people, including former operator Willie Morrow. . . .

Channel 8’s illustrator makes Richard Silberman look like Mr. Potatohead. . . .

Faced with barely noticeable ratings, XTRA-AM (690) has started to cut back on its newsroom staff. . . .

Frontline Video of Del Mar is producing an hourlong pilot to be called “Famous,” featuring “where are they now” interviews with celebrities. Former Channel 39 reporter Rory Bennett is coordinating producer.