Essay #2...

One Very Active News Story

When I usually read an article in a magazine or a story in a newspaper I do not focus on the viewpoint, or ask myself how the story or point of view may have been changed from the original story. That is typically not something you ask yourself while skimming through The New York Times or an edition of People. I don’t ask myself what facts may be distorted, if the story is being blown out of proportion, or if anything is being sensationalized. I just read the story and left it at that because I never knew you could look so deeply into the different aspects of it. However, I now know that a news story can change and can develop into something different or something completely new over time. A news story can have a life, and through the different forms of reporting and blogging, a news story can develop multiple lives.

Recently, celebrity and talk show host Oprah Winfrey announced she is ending her daytime talk show after 25 seasons. This indeed was a huge story that made headlines in all the tabloids and even newspapers from all across the globe. However, the different view of the situation among people, and the different ways the story has been used to create new ideals about uprising stories has lead to a plethora of posts across the internet and across the press.

The story started when Winfrey first announced she was retiring her show to her producers and staff. She then announced on her talk show that she was ending the hit program and the news stories rolled of the press before the ending of the episode. The first few renditions of the story simply stated that Winfrey had chosen to end “Oprah” in 2011 as reported by major news sources such as the New York Times. In an edition of the New York Times it states that Winfrey “is ending her successful daytime talk show in September 2011,” to do new things. The New York Times does not get into the personal aspect of the situation, just presenting the information that she is ending the show after the contract expires and venturing out to do new things. “She is expected to concentrate on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable channel” even before the contract for the talk shows ends to show that Winfrey’s “programming can sustain an entire cable channel and that she’ll remain a central cultural figure.” The facts presented by The New York Times had no opinion attached to it and had no slanted information.

However, as we venture to the Pacific Coast, the Los Angeles Times based in Los Angeles, California has a very opinionated view of the situation. As the article reports for this press you are able to pick up that the author believes Winfrey is just setting herself up for failure. The author, Kelsey Ramos, asks leading questions about whether Winfrey is “jumping the shark” and questioning whether she will be able to attract celebrity guests and ‘big wigs’ on her new network. The story has developed from one being just about the end of the show to one of entertainment for people wondering if she will be successful in her new line of work. Questions begin to rise about possible different reasons behind why she is actually calling it quits on the show. In the Los Angeles Times Ramos quotes different people speculating Winfrey’s ‘actual’ reasoning about her change in plans. “I predict Oprah running for president in 2012,” one man states, clearly voicing his opinion and implying how powerful Oprah Winfrey has become in the world over the years. This shows that the story has gained a personality and is not just about the facts anymore. The story has become one of entertainment and gossip. The story from this perspective has a negative tone to it as the author seemingly bashes Oprah Winfrey.

This story also has had positive coverage from different sources as well. The life of the story has gone from one of just facts to a life with different perspectives, such as the negative standpoint discussed earlier. This story is getting coverage all across the globe. According to David Usborne, a writer for the London based newspaper The Independent, Oprah Winfrey is a “monarch of daytime chat,” who has had success for upwards of a quarter century. In this article, the life of the story has grown and progressed to something that is praising Ms. Winfrey, unlike that of The Los Angeles Times. It is also more than just mere facts as we can sense the authors feelings toward the matter as he speaks lightly of the subject without any harshness when he says “the sun will set on the Oprah show,” leaving no negative connotation to the subject. In the Los Angeles Times author Ramos has taken the story and turned it against Oprah implying that she will be unsuccessful in her new line of work because she has done it for so long and knows nothing else, contrary to what Usborne is implying about Winfrey success and how she can only push herself further through the different paths she is now taking.

The life of this story has also developed in a new sense due to the different rhetoric different sources have used in reporting. CNN was successful in relaying the basic facts about the ending of the Oprah show when first presenting the information to the audience, however, through different forms of forwarding CNN illustrates various opinions about the event. CNN quotes Ellen DeGeneres “I think she has blazed a trail. She is an amazing woman,” which promotes the audience to see Oprah as a positive figure and now gives a nationwide approval of her, or at least whoever is watching CNN. FOX News also promotes a positive life to the story of Oprah’s talk show. As the title hints by making the reference to a classic movie, the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ is indeed coming to an end, but Oprah’s success is emphasized in this story, which makes it more about the entertainment of her life and success rather than just the news story itself of her show ending. This presentation reviews over Oprah’s life and how she came to such success and what to expect in the future. FOX was able to take the story about the show ending and came up with a new idea that opened up the discussion and promoted conversation about what to expect from Oprah in the future. This again is broadening the life of the story and making it grow.

We are also able to see the different life the story about Oprah has taken through the use of blogs. It is easy to see the mixed emotions among bloggers as you skim through blog after blog concerning the issue. Some people are rather happy to see the show off the air while others seem to be so bothered therapy may be necessary. Nonetheless, blogs have created a whole new life for the story entirely. One blog doesn’t even focus on the Oprah show ending, instead, the blog is mainly about what is going to come of daytime television and who will take her place. This blog, by Andrea Reiher, focused on Ellen DeGeneres and the possibilities she had with her talk show. But the thing that really interested me with this blog was the various comments left by the other bloggers. One comment read “The end of Oprah's show almost coincides with the end of Obama's presidency,” which now turns the life of the story from being about the end of the show to one about the rumored connections between her and President Obama. Something entirely new was able to spark a conversation that has roots linking back to the main idea of her show; however, the main idea is now about the speculation of relationship between Winfrey and Obama.

As you can see, a news story can take up a life of its own based on who reads it, who reposts it, who edits it, and what ideals make spark from it. Anyone can take a news story and make something new and different out of it. As the story of Oprah ending her hit daytime talk show entered the news “sphere”, it became subject to all sorts of reinterpretations, distortion, gossip, and other forms of reporting and relaying the information and facts in different manners (Jarvis). When I first read an article concerning Oprah Winfrey’s talk show ending, I gained basic facts about when the show was ending and a simple explanation behind why, nothing more. The more I read, the more I began to realize just how much the story itself can change, and I saw how an author is able to take something and by ‘taking an approach’ is able to create new conversation and new discussion about something that is related to the primary story, but had a topic about something else (Harris). To me, the life of this story has been taken just about every direction it could possibly have been taken. The different sources have restated information about the ending of the show, as well as give personal opinions as to why the show is ending. They have had different viewpoints and feelings about the issue, and have even created a new story involving Obama. The life of a news story very active, I guess you could say.

Works Cited

Harris, Joseph. “Rewriting.” Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. 2006. Print

Jarvis, Jeff. “The Press Becomes the Press-Sphere.” Buzz Machine. 14 April, 2007. Web/

“Oprah Ending Talk Show in 2011.” CNN. 20 November, 2009

“Oprah Winfrey Tells Audience Her Show’s ‘Yellow Brick Road’ Is Coming to an End.” FOX News. 20 November, 2009

Reiher, Andrea. “Oprah Winfrey Ending Her Talk Show, Plans ‘To Make History.’” ZAP 2 IT. 19 November, 2009

Ramos, Kelsey. “Oprah to End Her Syndicated TV Show in 2011.” Los Angeles Times. 19 November, 2009. Print.

Stelter, Brian. “A Tearful Winfrey Explains Her Departure.” The New York Times. 20 November, 2009. Print.

Usborne, David. “Oprah Winfrey quits TV show after 25 Years.” The Independent. 20 November, 2009. Print.