Recently Fox launched the radically unsuccessful series, Anchorwoman. The show plopped a blond model with no experience in the middle of a newsroom and taped the ensuing "hilarity." The show got a lot of criticism before it aired for devaluing the work of real journalists. It was immediately cancelled.Thank God.
Unfortunately rating-grabbing pretty faces, or in Katie Couric's case, short skirts are still exploited in broadcast to a certain degree. In fact some big name broadcast journalists don't even write their own columns, instead leaving that task to lesser reporters.
So do some reporters have more in common with Lauren Jones than we, as the professionals, would like to believe? Does the fact that the show tanked show that the American public is unwilling to knowingly get their news from beautiful bimbos? Or does it mean watching the process makes for uninteresting reality TV?
Of course, as an aspiring female reporter, I'm insulted to think that that's how any woman in the media will be thought about. So, are the Katie Courics and Lauren Jones of the world ruining for the rest of us?
2 comments:
Yes, Katie is ruining it.
She wasn't qualified for the job. And as you note, CBS news ratings are sinking, sinking sinking.
Just because she chatted up celebs on a morning show doesn't mean she's a journalist with sources and savvy.
As a result, news executives will be reluctant to gamble on another woman, no matter how golden her credentials.
News ought not be showbiz.
Just because you look good in a short skirt, doesn't mean you can report the news. Sorry to say, the real journalists won't stand for a beautiful facade, we want you to back it up with actual knowledge. Of course, broadcast is different than news, but a short skirt can't be seen on camera, so you have to ask who is the person really wearing the short skirt for??? Catching the eye of the producer perhaps??? If you're not qualified, it'll show, and then the network will be worse off than it started.
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