Social Media
In a world where social media is how most acquire their
daily news, Today does a great job in enabling their viewers to keep up. They
live tweet during the show from their main Today Show twitter account and many of
the show anchors live tweet from their personal twitters, and the same goes for
Instagram. The show has social media accounts on all major outlets including:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest; essentially anywhere
important.
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Their latest social media efforts not only pulled on the heartstrings,
but also boosted the program and its website by 173,000 followers: Wrangler,
The Puppy with a Purpose. On January 14th 2015, Wrangler was
introduced on live TV as the official Today Show puppy. To jump start the hype,
Today anchors asked viewers to vote on twitter for the puppy’s name, and
Wrangler, receiving the majority of the 80,000 votes, quickly became the new cuddliest
correspondent. It was announced that from the day and for the following 16 months, TODAY anchors and staff would
help train Wrangler to become a guide dog. As of today, September 20th,
the golden lab has a trending hashtag (#TODAYpuppy) while simultaneously
displaying the value of philanthropy the Today Show values as a news program.
Read and watch about it here:
News Values
As an early morning “variety” show, The Today Show has,
since its airdate, been a family oriented show, centered around discussing the
day’s biggest headlines on a global and local scaled. Additionally, the program
focuses on healthy living, lifestyle improvements and ways to keep yourself and
your family happy and hearty.
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Each segment discussing such topics ends with how
viewers can read more, find links to sites, and start social media discussions
all on today.com. Your morning news
should not only keep you update to date on the world around, but moreover
should show you how to improve it. The Today Show portrays its news values as
such on their daily show and manifests them through its online presence.
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Ethics
Ethically speaking, as a family centered morning news show,
Today, keeps it clean. The headline news is delivered in typical fashion with a
non-biased attitude. Entertainment pieces usually take place during a multiple
anchor discussion, and though each anchor tends to have a personal opinion, the
comments remain general and rarely have found themselves in “ethically sticky
situations.”
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The subject of live interviews usually leads to questionable
question forming on the anchor’s side of the coin. From audience stand point
some may think, “Did Matt really have to ask it like that?” or “how did it make
Savannah feel to ask these questions causing this woman’s voice to tremble?” However,
in my opinion and that of my most interviewers (I assume), the purpose is to
formulate questions in order to obtain the most valid answer from an
interviewee. Today.com, also remains ethically balanced.
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Its home page, covering the top stories of the day, ranges from breaking news, to updates on reoccurring news, from quick dinners for busy moms to why coffee disrupts your sleep cycle. The range displayed, portrays the shows values of family, health, and keeping viewers in know. The easy top bar tabs allow site viewers to navigate through shows general topics, lending each topic a similar amount of stories. There has been no gender bias, racial bias, or any bias thus far. As if this all didn’t put them in the ethical clear, the show (over its 4-hour span) also has 3 male anchors (1 African American), 6 female anchors (2 African American) and all range in age well enough to have varying view points and reliability to viewers. So from journalistic view the Today Show and today.com is in fantastical ethical standing.
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