2. BACKSTORY The View, recipient of the 2003 Daytime Emmy® Award for "Outstanding Talk Show," is ABC's popular morning talk and entertainment program, It features a team of “dynamic women of different ages, experiences and backgrounds discussing the most exciting events of the day.” The program has received critical acclaim since premiering August 11, 1997. It's broadcast live weekdays from New York City (11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon, ET).
3. Facts The View is produced by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Barwall Productions For the week ending February 2, 2009, Nielsen Media Research reported the key demographic of women ages 18–34 and ages 18–49 favored the show. The View was tied with General Hospital for the top spot for both groups. For the fourth week running, The View was the daytime's third highest rated show with 4.42 million total viewers for the 18-34 group. The View is an hour long program geared toward middle-aged housewives. The actual program itself is about 45 minutes long, allotting about 15 minutes for commercials.
4. History The View has had ten co-hosts in its twelve year run. Barbara Walters and Joy Behar are the only original co-hosts that are still on the program with Behar appearing the most out of any other co-host. Walters appears, on average, three days a week. Sometimes guest co-hosts fill-in to ensure there are always four or five people discussing issues.
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7. Breaking Down Our Scoring Our ratings were given after analysis of several episodes of The View. We discussed our thoughts and feelings and came up with a collective score for each point. Our scale is from 1-10, with 1 meaning unprofessional quality or low standards, 5 being average quality among TV news shows and 10 representing exceptional quality. A 3 would be somewhat below average and a 7 would be above average.
8. Newsworthiness We defined “newsworthiness” as news that was directly relevant to the program’s audience. In terms of scoring we gave The View a 9/10 because we really felt that the show knew its audience and connected with the news that their audience wanted to know about. They focus on infotainment, politics, and other current events but as they pertain to women and mothers. They provide a fresh perspective on the varying opinions and thoughts that their key demographic have; thoughts that most shows avoid.
9. Fairness We defined “fairness” as creating an open arena to speak, deliver and spark conversations about important events and news. In terms of scoring we gave The View a2/10 because we often felt that too much emphasis was put on trying to get their individual opinions out, often resulting in the ladies yelling inaudibly over one another. In doing this, their messages get lost and nothing ultimately is accomplished or learned http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI1yn6G76Bc (5:19)
10. Timeliness We defined “timeliness” as how soon the ladies discuss/report on a current event or issue. In terms of scoring we gave The View a 7/10 because usually it takes the ladies a few days to discuss certain issues. Very popular scandals and breaking news is reported usually the next day but with littler stories they usually wait a day or two to see how much traction they will receive from the public. The View is only live Monday-Thursday, so often things are held over the weekend for Mondays live broadcast. Every morning however before the show, the ladies go through the news papers and news shows and select the stories they feel most strongly about.
11. Tone/Mood We defined “tone/mood” as the feeling the set has and the feelings you get while watching the co-hosts deliver the news. In terms of scoring we gave The View a 8/10 because the show is very upbeat and fun. The interactions between the co-hosts is very entertaining and comical. We felt in terms of news delivery that this upbeat fun approach really helped to start discussion and bring awareness to things that otherwise would go unspoken due to the uncomfortableness of its nature. The show is set up to make the viewer feel as though they are sitting around with a bunch of girlfriends discussing the important issues of the world and how they pertain to them as women in addition to the world as a whole.
12. Bias/Objectivity We defined “bias/objectivity” as how the co-hosts delivered the news. In terms of scoring we gave them a4/10 because each of the co-hosts strongly make their beliefs (both political & other) known which at times clouts their views. They are able to acknowledge and present (although not agree with it) the other side of situations but ultimately remain steadfast on their own beliefs. They sometimes let their own beliefs take over, resulting in emotional on-air fights and arguments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xht0HcPryWA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp891YJw_VY
13. Sources We defined “sources” as the people they are reporting on. In terms of scoring we gave them a 10/10 because they go out of their way to bring the primary source themselves on the show to clear the air and tell their own truths. We felt this was very crucial because not only do they report the news, they go that extra mile and extend a branch for the newsmakers to come on their show and have a platform to explain and discuss with the American public. They also use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to allow viewer questions and feedback. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT12F9Gujcs
14. Overall Score/Concluding Thoughts Our overall score for The View, was an 8/10. We felt that overall, this is a very informative and important news program because it reaches such a broad spectrum of people. Its an infusion of current issues - ranging from social and political issues to tabloid headlines and celebrity news.
