Posted on 09/12/2006 11:51:19 AM PDT by pissant
The buzz about Katie Couric has an oddly familiar ring to me. And to Barbara Walters, Connie Chung, Lynn Sherr and Judy Woodruff -- all of us women who have sat in a news anchor chair.
Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson, recent successors to the anchor chairs on NBC and ABC, didn't have anywhere near the same buildup or scrutiny. Nobody mentioned their clothes or hair, and nobody made anything of the fact that Gibson had been on a morning show, but Couric was criticized for not coming from prime-time news. Nobody mentioned the word gravitas. (Couric was accused of not having it.) Nobody made a fuss about Williams and Gibson's salaries, but much was made of Couric's $15 million.
Walters, who is writing her memoirs and has been reliving her TV news days, remembers that when she left NBC in 1976 for the co-anchor evening news job at ABC, she was offered half a million dollars for the anchor job and half a million for four specials a year. She was roundly criticized for making so much money. "I was vilified," said Walters.
At a time of turmoil in the Middle East, she landed interviews with Anwar Sadat and Golda Meir. It was a big coup. "I was killed for it," she said. People asked, "Why is she doing interviews on the evening news?"
Sound familiar?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
CBS needs to relax the rule on the length of Katie's skirt.
Hey Sally ... if she can't ride with the big boys ... she shouldn't saddle up.
Us? Who the hell is Sally Quinn?
I'm gonna gag.
If CBS wanted ratings, they would hire Laurie Dhue and put her in 5 inch heels and a miniskirt.
As far as I'm concerned they're all overpaid, glorified teleprompter readers, regardless of their plumbing.
She's a bitter old hag now, ain't she?
A hasbeen socialite that slept her way to riches.
Except Brit Hume. He's priceless.
She was perky 15 years ago. She looks more like a turd sandwich eater now.
Oh ladies. Get me the WAAAAAMBULANCE. You want to go to the top, you better toughen the F up. You give women a bad name.
They were promoted from within; both had extensive news reporting credentials. Couric was brought in from the "light news"/entertainment wing of morning shows, which are infotainment. This is a gigantic change--isn't that WHY so much was made of her? "A new kind of newscast" Couric brayed herself.
Nobody mentioned their clothes or hair, and nobody made anything of the fact that Gibson had been on a morning show,
Because that wasn't ALL he'd been involved in. But I do agree women get commented on about their looks in this industry and men don't--look at Chrissy Matthews talking about Ann COulter's looks.
Of course, Sally, it's these liberal TV commentators doing 90% of this...
but Couric was criticized for not coming from prime-time news. Nobody mentioned the word gravitas. (Couric was accused of not having it.) Nobody made a fuss about Williams and Gibson's salaries, but much was made of Couric's $15 million.
That's just ridiculous on its face--she's being paid the most of any of these people, a huge amount for someone just coming into hard news. So please, enough with the whining--it makes the sexists' case for them--you look like a little girl in a man's business, complaining that "men" are being mean to you when your sister vaults over the men with more news experience and gets paid MORE in the process.
Washington Compost trying to cover for Katie now she's in 3rd place.
Love the Britt!
(maybe show your neck waddle or the armpit mudflaps...)
The word that links the past failure to the present failure is LIBERAL.
Come on now, she's a liberal, and a tad 'mature', but Katie's a pretty lady.
They do indeed. Airheads are selected to be anchors. At least the football sideline reporterettes have only one function.
I'm a certified sexist. If you are gonna be doing the evening news, look like Laurie Dhue or Kiran Chetry is my logo.
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