Today Show Blather
| April 20th, 2008 by Robert | Word Count: 658 | Reading Time 2:39 | 3,169 views |
I was sitting here trying to think of something interesting to type about today and I saw that Television Ramblings needed its first entry. Here it comes! I’m not sure if most of you out there have seen or even heard of it, but the NBC Today Show (which is a news/information program) recently added a “4th Hour” to their programming. Initially, the additional hour of programming was more designed as a chit chat hour mimicking a rival show, “The View.” It involved basically 3 or 4 female hosts talking about certain things, what was on their mind, sometimes news events, and basically just random information to pass an hour of programming. Now, the fourth hour has undergone a few incarnations and NBC has settled on a 2 host show which includes Kathie Lee Gifford from of course, Regis and Kathy Lee fame.
All of a sudden, the new hour of programming has become a talk show. It features guests like any talk show, it features random chit chat going over basically nothing, and it of course teaches you great fashion tips. When did our news programming, the NBC Today Show, need to resort to something as simple as a high profile celebrity name to run a blathering chit chat show? Now, we all know Kathie Lee has incredible journalistic skills, or not. Does this make any sense to any of you (outside of NBC’s blatant want/need to increase ratings and provide entertainment through their good name of the Today Show of course)?
I completely understand the need to have decent ratings to pull ad revenue to support the salaries of their employees and retain the ability to run a true, journalistic news program. But, I don’t understand why they have watered down their good name in such a way as this. Personally, I think they should remove the connection to the Today Show brand and create a completely separate title for their new hour. I expect information, not entertainment, from a morning news program. Well, there are entertainment facets of news, but even then, that’s a very small percentage of content. The new hour is ALL entertainment. It is not worthy of the tagline they are giving it.
As I think about this, all of our news programs on national television are dabbling with entertainment programming in their shows. The industry appears to desire higher ratings more than providing cutting edge news information. When is the last time you felt you saw a news show provide actual, real news? News that reporters utilized their journalistic talent to uncover, investigate, and give an unbiased viewpoint on what their story involved. You might read that statement and come up with a quick answer of recently or even today. But I say read closer. There was a word in there that cuts the mass quantity of supposed news we see and read into a sliver of actual, real news. Did you get the word? It’s unbiased of course.
Unbiased. That’s a VERY large word. It is also VERY hard to accomplish. Sometimes, if you can’t provide an unbiased view, your only way to provide a competent story is to provide an opposite or alternate view to support the other side. At least then you can be fair in your reporting. What I want to see is a return to news programming. Programming that informs us, not entertains us. Programming that teaches us, helps us understand, helps us think, and helps us relate to the stories. The thirst and hunger for true news information is out there. However, as long as our television stations are owned by corporations whose goal is to turn a profit, we will never see a true news program again. Profit motive negates truth telling. Unless of course it’s a truth telling all book about Paris Hilton. Maybe we should just have Ryan Seacrest host our news programming? Sounds awful, but basically that’s where we are.
on May 7th, 2008 at 8:31 am:
To start, I’d like to begin with your assumption that being unbiased in the news is difficult. I’m not sure what it is that you do, but coming from the perspective of a formal journalist for the past five years or so, I think you are wrong. Journalism is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be completely unbiased. Even when you believe you are writing a well thought out piece, there is always a part of you that tends to lean one way or the other.
Now, on to the “real news,” the Today Show. I am aware of the extra hour they added, and although I never watch any of the show, I’ve caught glimpses when my wife watches, and have heard ramblings through other news media. It seems the last hour is more of a fluff piece than anything with any journalistic integrity whatsoever. I believe in the recent past, they even had a part talking about flatulence. It seems to me that they often run out of things to discuss after three grueling hours of “work.” I like to quote things. But, I digress. In a society like today with a war, terrorism, high gas prices, the political races as well as where Brittany Spears is getting her coffee, it shouldn’t be difficult to fill an hour with interesting info that differs from the norm.
The norm, of course, is the everyday garbage portrayed on talk shows. You ask why the show has been “watered down.” Here’s your answer. There are waterheads sitting at home watching it. Blame it on housewives. Everyone else is working, so it has to be their fault. Society as a whole has been dumbed down so much that this is what is left. Just think, with entertainment venues like rap music, Grand Theft Auto and Boone’s Farm, where is this world heading?
on May 7th, 2008 at 8:57 am:
I’m from an economics and business background so I’m from a “structured/rules” based background. Bias can enter in any writing or news story, but what I believe should be done is to offer equal amounts of time for multiple points of view since we cannot eliminate bias completely. I agree that we cannot do it ourselves so we must allow alternative points of view their say in a manner of quality journalism and news reporting. That’s pretty much my stance on bias invading our news/writing.
As for the Today Show, I agree, it’s the audience’s fault. They are catering to this audience and it pulls in ratings so the programmer feels they are hitting the spot on what the people want to see and hear. However, I do NOT think they should be using the Today Show brand name on such a product. They are whittling away at what miniscule amount of credibility they have left.
Our entertainment has become our news. Real news and journalism is set aside for PBS it seems. It’s a shame that our print media has fallen into an advertising fiasco also. Most papers I see anymore have more ads and sale bills in them than informative news.
on May 7th, 2008 at 9:02 am:
Without entertainment, most American’s will not watch the news.
on May 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am:
Sad but true. But don’t we have entertainment ONLY shows on television to satisfy this need? It’s sad that our news stations are so worried about ratings for the advertisers that they have to succumb to the needs of ratings to justify their existence. Can’t people just watch news for being news? If you don’t want to watch REAL news, go watch cable or the syndicated version of Raymond.
on May 7th, 2008 at 9:22 am:
I think “entertainment only” shows is a debatable phrase, but let’s leave that for another topic. News stations are about one thing…ratings. That’s the same with all shows, if people aren’t watching, then you won’t be working..long. I would like to see a study to see just how many folks watch real news vs. those who watch Entertainment Tonight. Real news is too boring for some, probably because it’s real and they don’t want to wrap their head around how crappy the world is becoming. That’s why news anchors have to “happy up” every story. Sorry, poor word choice.
I heard a story about a substitute teacher getting fired for “wizardry.” He showed the kids a magic trick, basically. The news anchored peppered it up with words like hocus pocus, his job did a dissapearing act and other “magical” tid bits. I threw up in my mouth a little. Oh, and it really never said why he was actually fired.
on May 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am:
Our local news station does an entire other show based on entertainment only. Of course, their “better” portions show up on the actual news run in the evening. I guess there just isn’t enough real news to carry 30 minutes. Well, not even that. Throw in 5-7 minutes of weather, 5-7 minutes of sports, and another 5-10 minutes of commercials and you are left with about 5-10 minutes of actual news involving local stories and world events. I’m pretty sure there is more going on in the world than what 5-10 minutes of video can be condensed to.
Schools are becoming the dogs led by the organizations it seems also. I recently saw a story about a female teacher fired because she had a side job that required her to wear a bikini on a fishing boat. They resorted to saying she was fired due to absenteeism, but they did not follow the correct procedures. As soon as they found out about the side job, she was toast. Which way is the wind blowing? That’s where the prevailing thoughts of “right” currently are. Very few people have no true theory of opinion formed within themselves.
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:01 am:
I saw a story about a teacher who was fired for being in the parking lot of a liquor store. I’m sure he inteded to buy something, but hadn’t at that point.
Yes, very few people indeed can’t form their own opinion. It’s too easy to let others do it for us. Why do research on a presidential candidate when everyone on TV is doing it for us. “Well, I kind of like Obama and what he stands for, but Susie Bullshit over here with News Channel 9 said he skipped a rock on a lake and it ended up hitting a slow kid. Hillary it is.”
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:17 am:
You got me laughing at that one, not out of sheer comedic point of view, but because it could actually be the next big story on the news. Director: Lead in tonight is the skipping rock incident. Make sure to deliver the lines with focus on the word rock, hit, and kid. That should pull on the heartstrings of the voters. Next day poll shows an abrupt change in support between candidates.
It reminds me of the John Kerry “Duck Hunt” episode he pulled a few years ago. Now, I’m sure he knew how to handle a gun and all, but trying to display his hunting prowess was beyond dumb. Everyone knew his stripes, no need to placate the media masses. I especially liked his description of how he hunted deer by sneaking up on them by crawling around. Combat crawl up to a deer…. right.
Oh, and I didn’t know it was wrong for an adult to buy or own liquor whether they are a teacher or not. The school board should be fired.
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:27 am:
I don’t know where the teacher was…probably in Utah where everything is illegal. Here’s my news for the day.
Angie Newsteller: “Tonight, a very shocking and surprising story out of Podunk, Arkansas, home town of Presidential Candidate Ba-Rock Obama. Like how I used adjectives and called him Ba-Rock, Duane?”
Duane Leadanchor: “Yes Angie, shocking indeed.”
Angie: “Once frontrunner Obama, now Hillary Clinton is slowly skipping her way to the forefront. Joe Lawsuit has went public, stating he was hit in the left ear lobe by a rock thrown by a young, Obama. Apparently the rock, which was skipped by Obama, went off course, striking the child, who was reading the Bible whilst petting a new born kitten he rescued not three days ago.”
Duane: “A tragic story about a boy who had his whole life ahead of him.”
Duane: “It appears Paris Hilton has another wacky idea! She wants to open up her own sweat shop! Not so fast. It’s a place for women to go and sweat out their worries!”
Angie: “After this commercial break, we’ll be back to tell you how two percent milk could be giving you cancer.”
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am:
LOL! I thought, this could really be the subtitles on an actual news report. It is a sad state of affairs and people tend to come out of the woodworks when there is any inkling of a dollar to be made. I know I’ll never be President because I’m sure there is a person in my childhood that remembers an incident that forever altered their lives (according to their embellished version of the story) that I was responsible for. I mean, how could I possibly be the leader of the most powerful nation on earth if I butted in the lunch line and took the last chocolate milk! I must be selfish and untrustworthy. Maybe I could even get Kathy Lee to interview me so I could give my unadulterated version of the “true” story.
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 am:
You should probably apologize to every person you met. They are most likely offended.
on May 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am:
More than likely true. Maybe I should begin every article and meeting, with “I’m sorry, but I may offend you. If so, I am very deeply concerned and do not wish you any ill feelings. Let’s begin.” I think that could be a t-shirt.