Oprah Winfrey and Her Career Profile - Essay Example

Running Head: ID Selection of one’s career path depends on personal preferences and skills set. However, environmental conditions, industry’s norms and globalization trends have a significant impact on any career and employment. Therefore, it is important that one is able to assess leading trends of industry in global context and have a capability of designing desired career path considering the obstacles and opportunities offered by this analysis. Pursuing my education in international communications, there are several options including journalism and public relations available in the given field. Given the nature of options available, the selection of role model for the given field will be Oprah Winfrey. Being a gifted and talented personality herself, various attributes of given global context such as emergence of feminism and counter culture, technological advancement and development of tabloid talk shows as an accepted genre, allowed her to progress well in her career. Oprah Winfrey managed to emerge as a leading brand name from a local radio station to a news channel and then the TV show having a viewership of millions per episode (Garson, 2004). Despite a troubled childhood, Oprah began working as an anchor in the local TV station however the monotony offered by this position pushed her to move foreword to another chat show with declining ratings. Her communication style and ability to relate to audience made the ratings spiked within months. The resultant was a creation of a leading TV show which was her own product called the Oprah Winfrey show that ran for over twenty five years (Garson, 2004). Another important name on her credentials is The Oprah Winfrey book club whose credibility has driven many authors and their work to top selling charts (Ward, 2011). Other than that, she has also worked in several movies as well. Although Oprah appears to be a media person however her PR strategies and ability to promote transparent journalism are some of the traits required for being an effective international communication strategist or a policy maker for global clients. After using TV as a medium for leaving her mark, she moved onto print media and has launched a women’s magazine with the name O followed by a launch of a radio station. It can be seen that Oprah has fully utilized all media at the right times to reach her viewers. However, more than the selection of right media at the right time, she has presented herself as a media personality who is reliable and responsible and can be trusted by audience. Her major projects, massive give-aways at her show and various other philanthropist measures have also made her a complete international brand in journalism and media industry (Hill & Zillman, 1999). If her career history is reviewed in a globalization context, it can be seen that she is a by product of a time period known for movements for equality of African American rights, emergence of feminism and a psychedelic era of 1960s which changed the landscape of west including UK and USA. Oprah was the first African American female correspondent and news anchor on a local TV station and from there, she emerged as the only leading African American to host a TV show single handedly. One can relate the rise of feminism; women’s liberation and acceptance of their rights and social stature to be the contributing factor in this regard (Roszak, 1969; Kutscke & Norton, 2013). Given these social and political transitions in mid 1960s and 70s, the landscape for women’s career progression was relatively favorable. Another important trend in the progression of Oprah’s career was the availability of TV in domestic household and audience’s accessibility to news and entertainment. With excessive demand of TV and rise of cable network, TV became the most powerful medium to reach audience (Stephens, n.d). In addition to that, emergence and domination of internet further provided her an opportunity to reach a greater mass. Hence, an episode which could have been telecasted only few times and watched by a limited geographic audience also became available to those living in other continents with ability to watch them unlimitedly. Hence, one can attribute technological advancement as one of the key features to her success. Other than above-mentioned factors, diversification and inclusion of different demographic segments in the audience further contributed to Oprah’s career progression. It is important to note that where children, teenagers and house wives were previously provided with limited content over TV, media in the period between 1970s to 1980s recognized these segments as potential audience and designed programs especially meant for them (Stephens, 1998). Trends changed when TV became less of a political medium and more of a source of general information regarding contemporary issues in 1970-1990s along with entertainment. Same transition can be seen in Oprah’s career as well. She further managed to exploit opportunity offered by this change in audience’s taste and discussed controversial issues like gay rights along with light subjects like recent book launches, celebrity interviews and self-help agendas i.e. weight loss, alcoholism etc. Oprah further moved onto founding and heading her own business ventures by beginning PR firm and a book club. Such diversification allowed her to capitalize on her brand name (Garson, 2004). While social and technological factors played their roles in Oprah’s success, it was also the development and popularity of tabloid talk shows in the late 1980s that made her show format more acceptable to audience (Gamson, 1999). The given genre allowed hosts and producers to intentionally induce controversy by in discussing emotionally provocative topics like infidelity and child abuse. With other similar shows like the Jerry Springer show and Geraldo, Oprah also gained audience’s acceptance. However, she did manage to maintain a certain degree of maturity and grace in her content which made audience connect to her on personal life. Her ability to discuss her vulnerabilities and personal pains with audience made Oprah a trend setter in the given genre. Where earlier shows like The Phil Donahue show touched rather controversial topics with host remaining neutral, Oprah introduced a new form of communication among host and guests called rapport talk (Glynn, 2000). Through this ability, she managed to draw extreme emotions out of her guests allowing audience and celebrities to blend at personal level. Although this genre existed before Oprah however her communication style transformed it and took it to a new hype. Presence of other similar talk shows with rather extreme content made her show more appealing to audience. Due to her therapeutic communication style, a term was introduced by Wall Street Journal called Oprahization referring to confession at public forum as a source of healing (Hill &Zillman, 1999). Oprah Winfrey and her career profile bear many lessons for those seeking careers in journalism and public relations. Her career profile took a turn from being a mere news anchor to one of the most influential and rich personalities of this century. Other than being an excellent communicator, she has managed to emerge as a marketing strategist and a PR manager as she runs a company with the name Harpo productions. She has managed to allow journalists from all forums and media to speak about her effectiveness and success. Other than her personal skills, the given global context also appeared to play its role in her career progression. Some of these factors including emergence of new TV genre, popularity of counter culture and feminism and development of audio and visual media as well from local TV to radio and internet. Oprah Winfrey managed to seize the opportunity whenever possible and exploit it well. Her personality and career profile further leaves a lesson that journalists and PR strategists should promote content that is transparent and relevant to the audience. References Gamson, J. (1999). Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity. Chicago University Press. Glynn, K. (2000). Tabloid Culture: Trash Taste, Popular Power and the Transformation of American Television. Duke University Press. Stephens, M. (n.d). History of Television.Retrieved from http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm Stephens, M. (1998). The Rise of the Image, The Fall of the World.Oxford University Press. Ward, R. (2011). Oprah Winfrey: A Career Timeline. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8343834/Oprah-Winfrey-a-career-timeline.html Garson, H.S. (2004). Oprah Winfrey: A Biography. Greenwood Press. Hill, J.R., &Zillman, D. (1999). The oprahization of America: sympathetic crime talk and leniency. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 43(1). Roszak, T. (1969).The Making of a Counter Culture.Doubleday Books, Kutscke, B., &Norton, B. (2013). Music and Protest in 1968. Cambridge University Press. Read More