Group 3 Post Question 1

The wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince Williams has been hyped up for the past year around the world, and it all ends today. It was estimated that over 2 billion people watched the event this morning and it drew in record number crowds. The publisher of our source "A Tale of Royal Love" is a well-respected news agency known as Cable News Network, or CNN for short. This site really makes the implicit, explicit in its background picture, side advertisements, and social networking site links. In the background there is a picture of Anderson Cooper (news reporter for CNN) talking and laughing with United States marines overseas. This picture portrays the idea that CNN cares about what goes on across the world and that they support all who fight for our country. It is interesting to note that the mood is not serious or sad but rather joyful and bright. To show their viewers that they are involved and integrated in their stories, they chose this picture to be viewed on every page of the website. There is also Tiffany & CO. advertisement on the side of page which defiantly goes "hand-in-hand" with the video's message. It can be implied that Tiffany & Co. is using this site as an appropriate resource in promoting their product to their desired target market. Viewers of this video want to know more about the background of the couple and the road to their marriage, so it is expected to see an engagement ring company advertise their product on a video that is explaining the biggest wedding of the century. Finally, there are links to Facebook and Twitter so that the viewers have a place to share what they think about the video and the wedding itself. On the side, CNN, shows a list of recent Twitter comments made by people around the world which allows for personal opinions and individual, local news. This is CNN's way of connecting to their viewers and allowing for conversation and debate to take place. This is commonly seen on many news sites now and has been a good tool in communicating with "everyday listeners". Integrating all of these aspects, what do you think the message CNN wants to get across to its viewers is? Does CNN do a good job promoting this message?