Being “seasoned”, female, and a news anchor…
Broadcasting & Cable’s Anne Becker writes about the pressure of the TV news industry for female news talent who are over a certain age…
Even in an HD world, network news executives maintain that they do not discriminate on the basis of age.
“No one should be under the illusion that cable news networks are trying to attract 25-year-olds by putting on 25-year-olds. That would be a foolhardy effort,” Klein says. “Our stock and trade is our authority, experience, trustworthiness and objectivity. Those qualities develop over time, and you’d be shooting yourself in the foot to simply go for youth and looks at the expense of ability.”
CBS News Senior VP Marcy McGinnis says the network is proud of its record. “It’s important not to get defensive about hiring people who are going to move through the ranks,” she says. “I don’t want all 40-year-olds any more than I want all 30-year-olds or all 70-year-olds.”
Neal Shapiro, who left the NBC News president’s job in September, says that, under his stewardship, the network not only didn’t discriminate in matters of age but also tried to avoid sending the message to female on-air talent that they were expected to look younger than their years. “I know there are women at other places who feel that way,” he says, “but I hope that’s not the case at NBC News.”
Linda Ellerbee isn’t so sure. “No one ever said to Walter Cronkite, ‘Gee, you’re too gray,’” says the ex-NBC News anchor. “And yet these networks seem to believe that the audience won’t accept the news from women unless they’re young and look good. They might as well just hire ballerinas. Hell, they’re used to retiring early.”
How many full-time female cable news anchors can you name who would fall under the non-30 something demographic? I can think of nine or ten off the top of my head. Nine from five networks (CNN, FNC, MSNBC, HLN, CNBC)…that’s not a very high percentage. And out of those maybe four or five had relatively high profiles at their respective networks.
BTW, if you’re going to comment on this article…no names please. I’ll delete any posts that name names….
Whats the difference in a 30 and 50 year old when it comes to reading what CNN wants you to say on a teleprompter? You can read or not, period. IMO, the best anchors are the ones than can ad libb a story with the best possible wording. What does that have to do with authority or trust? Has Klein talked to anyone in the key demo? You have to make your own mind up whether what the network is pushing is logical or not. I just don’t see how CNN is suppose to get younger viewers when one of their star anchors uses “uh” at least ten times an hour. Why would you say “uh” repeatedly? Because your at a loss for words! And lastly, just because someone is young doesn’t mean they don’t have skills. Do you think a 30 year old than gets limited air time will have any more experience by the time their 50 at CNN?
Comment by Terance — October 30, 2005 @ 8:01 am
It’s called the foxification of tv news. Every channel is guilty of it.
Comment by Fred — October 30, 2005 @ 10:10 am
Anchors aren’t made or broken by their use of the word “uh” or whatever. The anchor in question that you have refered to before may not have the best personality but he certainly knows what he is talking about. Just get past that.
Comment by bravesfan — October 30, 2005 @ 10:55 am
How does saying “uh” 10 times an hour show authority(?), experience(?), or trust(?). What does the repeated use of the word “uh” mean to you, as a viewer?
Comment by Terance — October 30, 2005 @ 11:04 am
Oh one other thing, I will agree with the notion that you mentioned that just because someone is younger doesn’t mean they are less experienced or have less of a feel for how to do their job. It wasn’t stated explicitly in that article but it was implied. I see comments like this all over message boards that if someone is young and attractive then they are stupid or incompetent. I don’t think that is the case. I could name just as many young, solid reporters and anchors as I could old, incompentent ones. Or the other thing that I see on message boards is if someone who is young gets more airtime than someone who is older, then there is this automatic bias created against the younger one and they are judged with more scrutiny. If you want to be upset with someone, be upset with these network executives. Don’t take out on the talent and unfairly criticize them.
Comment by bravesfan — October 30, 2005 @ 11:08 am
I don’t take it the way that you do Terance. I realize that other people do and they are entitled to that opinion but to me that is really being picky with judging talent. No one is made or broken by that. There are people who talk like that in everyday conversation. It doesn’t make them know any less about what they are talking about. It may not sound the most free-flowing but it certainly doesn’t equate to inexperience in my opinon. For example, one of the big 3 network guys does that yet I definitely trust him to deliver the news. I think he does a superb job and I would by no means use that to define how good or not he is as an anchor.
Comment by bravesfan — October 30, 2005 @ 11:12 am
Delivery is a big part of whether the anchor is good or not, IMO. I do agree with a large majority of what you’ve said.
Concerning trust… These anchors read what their told to. So, in essence your trusting the network, not the anchor. Maybe some anchors have input into their shows. If you’ve been watching the same guy on tv for 20 years, I could see trusting him over a new young buck. But, if their reading off the same teleprompter, your still trusting what the network is saying. I’m over the “uh” word.. It’s just to ME it means the person is at a loss for words. Now, since someone in the 50 year old age range should have 20+ years of “experience” they should have long since mastered the language and self expression. If this person knows so much about what their talking about, why say “uh” instead of something like a sentence? I know they don’t like “dead air” so, I guess its better than not saying anything at all.
Comment by Terance — October 30, 2005 @ 11:27 am
I understand what you mean, and like I said, different people have different views on that. Alright back to the original article because I don’t want the comments to get off track :-). Age discrimination and gender discrimination can be found in many different lines of work. Maybe it is more prevalent in tv news than other jobs-I really don’t know. I don’t like the idea of someone not getting a job because they are older but I also don’t like the idea of assuming someone can’t do the job because they are younger.
Comment by bravesfan — October 30, 2005 @ 11:50 am
#2, CNN has been replacing older with younger long before Fox was even around. It’s what they do there, for on-air and off air women. They have had many law suits against them for it.
Comment by ITK — October 30, 2005 @ 5:07 pm