Dumb article blaming sexism for Couric's destrcution of CBS Nightly News...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/03/entertainment/e094116D76.DTL&type=entertainment

Ratings Raise TV News Sexism Questions
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Sunday, June 3, 2007

(06-03) 09:41 PDT New York (AP) --
With all the women in television news on both sides of the camera, you would think sexism was an issue relegated to the 20th century.
Yet recently a CBS News executive, herself a pioneer for women in the industry, said she believed that Katie Couric was having trouble catching on with the public as "CBS Evening News" anchor because she was the first solo female anchor for a network nightly news show.
CNN's male chief was also caught referring first to a woman's looks when asked why she got an important anchor job. And "The Daily Show" aired a wickedly funny segment on all the women in cable news who are — there's no other way to put it — babe-a-liscious.
"It saddens me," said Deborah Potter, a former CBS News reporter who is now executive director of the News Lab think tank. "I wish I could tell you I was surprised, but I guess I'm not. The people who do the hiring still look very much like the people who did the hiring 30 years ago. They still make decisions based on what they find appealing."
...
"I'm afraid that Katie's paying a price for being the first woman," she said. "But I think it's a great trail she's blazing, and I think if the broadcast continues to be as good as it has been ... people will start to watch. It takes time, I think. But I was surprised that there was an obvious connection between a woman giving the news, and the audience wanting to watch it."



Okay, first off, there is clearly much sexism at work in TV newsrooms, the standards for looks for men vs. women being one of the more obvious signs. But puh-leeze, the problem with Couric is NOT that she is a woman. Her style is totally incompatible with what people have come to expect from CBS Nightly news which is seriousness, objectivity, and a certain amount of gravitas, which Couric lacks. There are female journalists with gravitas, Christiane Amanpour, even Lesley Stahl have more, but CBS chose not to use them.

Now a good question is, would a female anchor with gravitas have still sunk the ratings? Just how sexist is the audience? That one is tought to answer, but I don't think sexism is the right villain in this one. Couric was seen as "fluff" coming from a fluff morning show, and received an insanely lucrative pay package to join CBS. And in no time she gave viewers THIS:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mD0qx6_Uua4

Doing a video of herself getting made up, segueing from talking about people dying in natural disasters to the salad she's eating. I really don't think Rather, Cronkite, or Amanpour would have done something like this.

Couric has been long loved for her "perkiness", but her on-air persona never really did much for me. She's occasionally done a good, hard-hitting interview, but there are better women in the biz with lower "cute" factors that might have been a better match to the job.

I hope CBS will try again with another female anchor. Only this time, I hope it's one who can be taken seriously.

...when they hired her.

CBS tried foisting a cutie on the public. While I'm nearly as surprised, the viewers balked.

CBS got what they deserve.

eye makeup - Sorry I just can't take her seriously.

As my brother says about doctors, "I want to see some grey hair" - same thing here - no "flibbertigibbets".

Be it a man or a woman - lets have someone who is a serious person - no Barbie or Ken dolls.

She is all fluff.

Fluff is sickening.

If I want fluff I would watch ET.

and maybe I'd watch corporate news again.

:kick:

Sorry, dear. You're just bad.

and nothing about the program. Opening standing in front of the desk, displaying her legs at the side interview chair and closing sitting on top of the desk were extremely off-putting.

I left Today because of her, Matt, Al and all. I was a viewer way back to Dave Garroway. I watch a program for the program value and not the personalities. When the personalities make the program about themselves they lose me.

Put the blame on mame not sexism.

commentary before leaving CNN. He said "Very simply, Katie
Couric's problem is -- she is a woman." I agreed then
and continue to believe that.

The problem is that she was a women with minor journalistic credentials who was brought in to front a conservative news-lite program. Had the woman in question been Christiane Amanpour or someone of that ilk, and had the newscast been the same hard news format that CBS had under Dan Rather, there would have been less of a problem for her. Women who support other women in non-traditional roles tend to be more liberal. (More conservative women tend to reject women's strides into non-traditional territory.) More liberal women are also less likely to respond positively to a "free speech" segment starring Rush Limbaugh as Katie had the week of her premiere. A Christiane Amanpour would have brought younger and more liberal women into the evening news audience as well as men who respect real news.

CBS lost me when Rush Limbaugh was one of their first guests. It showed me what to expect. I have not tuned in to see Katie.

... more specifically an attractive, perky, woman with sex appeal and a large fan base that CBS thought would follow her. The problem is that she is not a woman with journalistic integrity. That is the reason people are dismissive of her and are not watching.

Playing the sexism card when it is not merited is disgraceful and harms any real efforts toward gender equality.

agree with you, but then read the rest of this thread. Even some of the respondees who are quite SURE they<'re not sexist are being sexist about Katie.[br />
I do think you're correct, except that sexism is also a factor. Let's put it this way: add sexism to YOUR perfectly valid and more important (and I believe more widespread) reasons and you've really got a problem.

NT