I kind of scoffed the first time I heard news stations were looking not just for journalists, but also for theater talent who could speak well and look good doing it. Just the idea of it, I wanted it to be untrue, but I guess that's the way the market is headed.

Good thing I'm print.

Thanks for piping up, Dale.

What a shame, indeed.

Here's something else about where the market is heading: Given the everchanging technology affecting the ways in which we practice and present journalism, many more journalists are going to have to be comfortable standing in front of a camera. And good writing is going to be valued everywhere because you can't escape writing online (broadcasters everwhere have told me they're brushing up on AP Style ...).

We only can hope that the posers are seen as just that -- and booted to make way for true talent.

This is a sad statement about broadcast journalism. I have a very good friend (and very qualified as well) who was passed over at ABCNews for a promotion because a 'higher-up' called in a favor. The person who got the job was a former cheerleader with no broadcast experience.
There's got to be a way to tell these stations that what the public wants isn't just beauty - it's brains and experience too! But sadly, I don't think the public notices.

Elysse, you raise an interesting question: Does the public notice stunts such this? I have a couple of thoughts:

1. Yes, I think they do -- and that they laugh at the media for such obvious pandering.

2. If the public doesn't notice, I wonder less about what that says about the public and more about the quality of the journalism they're consuming.

Christie:

Here's another consideration:

Because the quality of the "news" on the teleprompters for them to read has deteriorated in terms of intelligibility (grammar, mispronunciations, etc.), I expect the "wince" factor will be ratcheted up even more!

Best,
kac

Talk about boob tube. Check out this story, written darned well by Cary Darling of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Ay, yai, yai. The "anchorwoman" is even worse than I thought ...

I'd hate to be pessimistic here, but I think the public in general doesn't really notice these kinds of stunts.
People are so used to things such as this occurring that they can't see publicity stunts or obvious advertising plugs as such because it's what many people have come to expect from the media in recent years.
I totally agree with the arguments you made as far as ratings and money trumping good journalism Christine! I've only been a professional for a year now and I can see the motivations at work here.
In the case of "anchorwoman," what worries me more is who is calling the shots as far as what the model covers. Is it ultimately Fox and their producers?
Having the beauty pageant winner make the full transformation into competent broadcast journalist during the show's run is the only route I can see the program going.
And then, what does that communicate to the public about what we do?
Forget the years of training in school and internships journalist generally undertake, as long as you've a handsome or beautiful person with the ability to read and speak, we've got a job for you!

David, thanks for writing! Please promise on this very blog that you'll spend the rest of your career fighting cheap stunts such as this. :)

This is depressing. I do think the public notices. Members of my family have asked me about broadcast and where the anchors come from. I'd love to say they're all qualified journalists who worked their way up, but sadly that's not the case anymore.
The other day I met a woman who was an anchor for years. She said she just 'fell into it' but she still was a reporter and did her own research for years. She had been a print journalist previously.

You know, I don't watch much local television here in Austria, but when I do, it's always a shock because the people look... human. They look like us, not Barbie-ized versions of us.
I think the American public gets it, but I also think the public is immune to it. It's been going on for a long time -- what was that song about 20 years ago? The Bubble-headed Bleach blonde... comes on at 5...She can tell you about the plane crash... with a gleam in her eye....

we used to sing it in my high school newsroom.

--Patti McCracken
www.pattimcc.blogspot.com

Well, how do we know that she's a bad journalist?  I mean, not judging people by how they look, that should cut both ways, correct?   Being ditzy 'looking' shouldn't disqualify her from journalism any more than NOT looking like a cheerleader, yes?  From what I read, she's a double-major (design and management) from Parsons.  Perhaps she has a genuine desire to be in journalism.  Is it her fault that she's getting the opportunity of a lifetime?  Hey, if I could have picked up a living by wearing a bathing suit all through my twenties, I'd probably have taken it.  It would have made my buckle-down thirties a lot easier if I’d come into it with a bit of a nest-egg.

Don't forget, the same things were said about Leslie Stahl and Diane Sawyer.  If Brinkley was good despite his looks, maybe Ms. Jones can be - despite hers.

Now, imho, Journalism has done it's fair share to squander it's OWN ethics and integrity over the last 6 years, without much help from glam anchorwomen.  Journalists gave an unethical administration carte blanche on baseless invasions, sweetheart contracts to business cronies, human rights violations, tax breaks etc. etc.  I don't see we have a lot of moral high-ground left from whence to look down on Ms. Jones.

Maybe, just maybe, she’ll be a good journalist despite all the opposition.  If so, we’ll win on two fronts – Journalism and a touch of humility.

Dear Christie:  As a former network radio and TV news anchor with a master's in journalism, I concur with your comments.  I've blogged ad infinitum on this Lauren Jones and the salivating suits at Fox.  Here's today's Chickaboomer entitled "Send In The Clowns."

Just in time for Wednesday's dubious debut of bikini babe and former WWE hostess Lauren Jones Fox reality show "Anchorwoman." Fox News brings a bonehead blonde anchor recently hired for overnights from under her rock to face the best disinfectant - sun - on Fox & Friends this am.

Ainsley Earhardt, easy on the eyes in her tight white long-sleeved T shirt and short, body-hugging camel skirt, but hard on the ears, Valley-Girled her way through the news with her high-pitched, tinny, non-credible sing-song canter. The South Carolina girl has never anchored an evening newscast in her thin career as a "journalist."

The flat-ironed flaxen-haired girl awkwardly attempted to engage the seasoned veterans in her vapid banality on the new Fox News sofa set. The one who needs to be on the couch is the guy who hired this bimbo.

It appears that the new Tee Vee anchorbabe uniform of mini skirts and plunging necklines adorning blonde boneheads with virtually no journalism experience is the Dress For Success ticket to TV News gigs.

The aforementioned Lauren Jones who, like an errant, defiant schoolgirl, was ordered home to change by the Tyler, Texas TV GM after she showed up with skirts barely covering her ass ("I have long legs and a small waist," she whined). And the skirts naturally are too short in such small sizes. Give me a break, lady. I'm a size 4. I'm tall with long legs. The skirts hover appropriately above my knee or below, depending on the style.

After initial skepticism, resentment, and howls of laughter, Jones claimed the tiny Texas TV station incubator for the Fox ANCHORWOMAN! "unreality" show offered her a real gig because she's "good." [Don Kaplan, NY Post] The boob reveals she's getting legitimate offers from networks and much bigger markets than pukey little Tyler, Texas.

Miz Jones and Miz Earhardt (and that other bikini babe bonehead Fox News banished to red carpet Siberia, Courtney Friel), meet a Real Anchorwoman. [B & C] You boneheads will never be competent enought to pronounce her name. Hota Kotb. The Fourth Woman Anchor on NBC's fourth hour of the "Today" show. Miz Hota is good enough to win a Peabody Award. Uh, like, what's that, you implore? Read her bio and find out.

Or go to Wikipedia where you non-critical thinking tarts believe everything you read. Like Wolf Blitzer's real name is Irving Federman. Classical pianist Condoleeza Rice plays the "penis." George Walker Bush's middle name is "Wanker." [NYT]

To save your long, manicured, blood red nails from goring the backs of Tee Vee execs, I'm doing it for you here. Girls, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no "Body Award."

Chickaboomer is an equal opportunity poison pen, so let's turn to Tee Vee anchordudes, shall we? This 42-year-old conservative Tee Vee blowtorch, self-styled “alcoholic rodeo clown,” Attention Deficit Disorder-riddled brain, politically independent Mormon will be lucky to see 43. Liberals are crying for his head. I cannot stand to listen or watch him. He's annoying and strident. But the younger demo adores this clown. [GQ]

The santimonious, annoying, narcissistic, bombastic Christiane (I Am Poor No More) Amanpour bores us to prefer stoning to her six-hour CNN spin on how religions justify killing and violence in the name of God. [Variety]

Thanks for sharing your Chickaboomer dispatch, Marty! Really appreciate it.

And Gman, I don't blame Lauren Jones for taking this gig. I do, however, blame the "news" executives who dreamed up her particular job description. Having a person who is clearly inexperienced anchor a newscast (sorry, even Sawyer and Walters started out as reporters, and each worked for roughly a decade before being given significant anchor duty) and bumble her way through reporting assignments for the sake of "reality TV" is reprehensible.

The Washington Post's Neely Tucker honed in on my "despicable" line for a take on this mess that ended with lyrics from Don Henley's classic song, "Dirty Laundry."

And then there's Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, who writes that Anchorwoman is even a lousy reality-TV show. I thought this particular graph was particularly on target:

"Dan Delgado, the station’s news director, and Annalisa Petralia, the station’s anchor, are frequently shown defending their newsgathering credentials and expressing dark thoughts about what Jones’ arrival says about the state of journalism (though it appears to be more of a statement about local news broadcasts — or what Fox executives are willing to do)."

I'm not so delusional to think that any of the smack-talking we SPJers have done about this stupid show helped Fox see the error of its ways -- but let me dream. Fox pulled the plug on this show yesterday. After one episode. Anchorwoman was more bomb than bombshell.