I’m going to write my paper about Oprah Winfrey, because I find it very interesting how one woman can have so much influence on people all over the world.

Oprah Winfrey is considered one of the most powerful women of our time. In 1984 she relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago. Within one month she becomes the number one talk show. In less than a year, the show expands and is renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 1988, she established Harpo Productions, Inc., a production facility that established her as only the third woman in American entertainment to own such a studio (and the first to own and produce her own talk show.

In 1998, she saw even more recognition by being named one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century by Time Magazine. She also received the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award.

Oprah Winfrey was also the first African American woman to become a billionaire.

My Main question in this paper is:

“In what ways can Oprah be seen as a community”?

Other sub questions that come to mind are:

‘Why is Oprah so popular’?

‘Why is has Oprah formed a community as a talk show host and are there other talk show hosts that form a community as well?’

‘In what way do her networks (angel network, Oprah’s book club etc…) help her with forming a community’?

Method: First I will analyze the oprah.com official site. I will describe what the viewers can see and what advantages members have over visitors.

Then I will compare the official site with fan sites about Oprah, what draws people to her?

My layout:

-         Introduction – Who is Oprah Winfrey, what has she achieved, what has she done to reach out to so many people all over the world? Main question and sub questions.

-         Middenstuk- Answer questions and compare sites, talk shows and networks with one another.

-         Conclusion- Is Oprah actually a community, and if so why. (summary)

Sites those are useful and interesting:

http://www.oprah.com/- Website Oprah Winfrey show

http://www.topblacks.com/entertainment/oprah-winfrey.htm- biography of Oprah

http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/oprah_winfrey.htm - Oprah’s quotes

http://www.stager.org/articles/oprah.html - Gary Stager about Oprah Winfrey and her book club.

http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=2634701&st=105

Forum where people discuss topics in Oprah’s shows.

http://www.freeessays.cc/db/18/ehc91.shtml - Oprah vs. Jerry Springer.

http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/people/oprahwinfrey1.htm - importance of Oprah.