Monday morning, the Today show begins broadcasting from Beijing where NBC's morning show will be for the duration of the Olympic Games. Matt Lauer is anchoring the program from the Great Wall starting Monday and the rest of the show's cast -- Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry and Al Roker -- is slated to join him later in the week. Even the weekend Today crew of Lester Holt, Amy Robach and Jenna Wolfe will be in China's capital city reporting on the Summer Games.
But the big question for NBC is whatexactly will the Today show be reporting?
Ten days ago, a grassroots group disrupted the taping of the Today show in Manhattan accusing the network of ignoring the Darfur genocide and what Darfur activists call "the China link," the Chinese government's complicity in the crisis in Sudan. Here is a video of last week's Today show protests:
A story appearing in Monday's Los Angeles Times suggests that NBC's morning show plans on tackling the controversial issues surrounding the Olympic Games that the Chinese government would prefer to be neglected, such as Darfur, human rights abuses in China, Tibet and the country's pollution problem.
Jim Bell, the executive producer of Today told the L.A. Times that the program will "answer the call" when it comes to reporting on these hot-button topics. Here's an excerpt from Monday's story.
"I do think there's an opportunity for us to shine a light on some of those questions," said Bell, who disputed the notion that NBC has paid too little attention to Darfur, noting that the subject is something of a passion for "Today" news anchor Ann Curry, who has made several reporting trips to Sudan.
"I think you'll see that we will answer the call," he added. "When there's news, we will deal with the issues as they come."
But it remains to be seen how many tough questions about China "Today" will raise on its own.
"We aren't going to go there as the guests of the Chinese government and deliberately poke sharp sticks in their eyes," said Lauer, who begins broadcasting from China today. "We're not going to go out of our way to do it. But we think there are going to be a lot of opportunities to bring the subject up, based on the events of the day."
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Designers for Darfur has always been grateful for our partnership with the Today show and particularly Ann Curry as she was one of the first to bring our organization to the forefront. Below is a wonderful video of DFD on the Today show...
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