The Today Show - Top News Stories

The Coffee Shop
1

The spouse had on the Today Show this morning and I happened to overhear the top news stories they opened with for their West coast broadcast.

  1. Somalian pirates hijack US flagged cargo ship carrying humanitarian supplies.
  2. New developments in case of missing Tracy (CA) girl found dead yesterday.
  3. New sex spray to help men “last” longer in bed.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with what our national media deems “top news stories”? OK, I’ll give them the hijacking story. There has been a rash of hijackings off the coast of Somalia as of late and this is the first time a US flagged ship has been hijacked. I might even give them the little murdered girl story, but it has shades of Fox News and their almost daily breathless reporting of the latest little missing white girl stories. And I don’t mean any disrepect to the little girl’s family or her memory, but I question if this story would have made the top three on the Today Show if the little girl had been Hispanic, Black, or Asian.

But, the last story, c’mon people, a sex spray??? Really, this is the 3rd most important story the Today Show leads off their broadcast with??? Nothing else happened overnight that warrants a top news billing on the Today show. How about reactions to Obama’s Iraq visit or an update on the Italian earthquake or even GM’s ploy to solve all their woes by launching a two seater Segway?

A sex spray, really. Ugh.
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2

Appalling, isn’t it? Where was the story on Obama bowing to the Saudi king, for heaven’s sake!

3

Looks to me like they know their target audience really well (stay at home moms I assume).

  1. talking about Pirates…what woman doesn’t go crazy when you talk about Jack Sparrow?
  2. Women care for small children.
  3. What woman doesn’t want their man to go longer in the sack?!!! Well aside from my fiancee of course. :wink:
4

The Today Show??? thats your problem right there. Its not a news show, its infotainment.

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  1. New sex spray to help men “last” longer in bed. \

You remember the name of the company, I have a friend…(-;

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  1. New sex spray to help men “last” longer in bed. \

You remember the name of the company, I have a friend…(-;

I wonder if the name of the spray is similar to Easy Off Oven Cleaner: Hard On Penis Maker, or something like that :slight_smile:

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Appalling, isn’t it? Where was the story on Obama bowing to the Saudi king, for heaven’s sake!

I’m guessing that the producers of the Today Show know that the people who actually watch their drivel are more interested in a sex spray for men than they are in foreign affairs.

Or perhaps they realize that their audience is more likely to understand the former, while the latter, not so much… :wink:

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I think it’s call “No More Easy Off”…

~Matt

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I wonder if the name of the spray is similar to Easy Off Oven Cleaner: Hard On Penis Maker, or something like that :slight_smile:

I think it’s called “No More Easy Off”…

They should have contest for the best name and the winner would get a one year supply.

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Your first mistake is not coming to the lavender room first to see what everyone is bitching about.

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  1. Violence
  2. Murder
  3. Sex

Seems to be pretty standard interests for a majority of Americans.

Today Show doesn’t try to be a news show anymore.

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  1. Violence
  2. Murder
  3. Sex

The first two get much more air time. Americans are more comfortable with violence and murder than sex.

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**The first two get much more air time. Americans are more comfortable with violence and murder than sex. **

I think Americans are more comfortable talking about violence and murder but they are darn interested in sex. If not, Victoria’s Secret would be out of business.

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Well if it’s any consolation, catastrophic climate change has great potential for violence and murder; kind of kills the mood for sex however.

Two out of three though, not bad.

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The first two get much more air time. Americans are more comfortable with violence and murder than sex.

I think Americans are more comfortable talking about violence and murder but they are darn interested in sex. If not, Victoria’s Secret would be out of business.

Privately, I agree. But on the mainstream media airwaves? No way. “News” shows rarely touch on the subject of sex. But on a daily basis you can hear about the latest murder, or kidnapping of a young white girl etc. Remember the Janet Jackson Super Bowl “nipple incident”? Christ, the story was covered as if it were a terrorist attack.

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But this like Viagra commercials. It is fairly “sterile” and put in the context of a medical story. Safe sex :slight_smile:

Dirty sex, I agree, not so much.

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um, I’m pretty sure the girl who was killed was Hispanic. What makes you think she was white? Just because she didn’t have an overt sounding hispanic surname? Her mother’s name is Chavez and when they interviewed her - repeatedly on local news here in the Bay Area - it was clear she was of hispanic origin.

As for it being a lead story? abductions by random people are pretty rare and in this case that appears to be the case. There is no indication that it in any way points to a family member.

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I guess I based it on the picture I saw of her. She appeared to be white, or at least have very caucasian features. But I think you were missing my point. I was not arguing with the newsworthiness of a missing little girl, but rather the inclusion of a new sex spray in the top news stories of the leading morning news shows. Yes, I do realize that the Today Show is considered by many as “infotainment”, but it attempts to compete against the other network and cable morning news programs. Supposedly the real fluffy stuff is relagated to the second half of the today show, the after 9 or 10AM slot when Matt and Meredith disappear. I thought the sex spray story would have been better suited for the late morning audience.

Makes me wonder what the top stories for the BBC or CBC morning news shows were today?

19

your point is totally valid. And, it’s a hell I’m living this week. I am staying at my parent’s place and every morning they have not one - but two - TV’s tuned to the Today show (the rest of the day is on either CNN or MSNBC…it’s a form of torture on their conservative son) for the entire 4 hours it’s on.