Too Old, Too Ugly
Anchorwoman exemplifies what broadcast journalist Christine Craft argued in her 1981 federal lawsuit - that the TV news industry values looks over experience. Craft's case hinged on her claim that a double standard exists for male and female TV news anchors, and that physical signs of "age and experience" are acceptable in males but detrimental to females.
Craft herself was demoted from TV news anchor to reporter at KMBC in Kansas City, MO, when the results of a focus group deemed her to be too old, too ugly, and not deferential enough to men. Although two separate juries voted in favor of Craft, the rulings were twice overturned at the district court and circuit court levels, and her case was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"All About the Hair and Makeup"
Decades later, women still bristle at the idea that looks trump training in television. TV/ media critic Eric Deggans, writing in the St. Petersburg Times, described the reactions of a handful of women broadcast journalists attending a seminar on anchoring skills at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. After watching the initial broadcast of Anchorwoman on August 22, 2007, former anchor Jill Geisler, now a Poynter faculty member, observed, "There's a real pain when women watch this. We didn't see a guy from the WWE anchoring in a tank top. It's just hurtful - unnecessarily hurtful."
WBTW TV anchor Martha Hunn of Myrtle Beach, SC, echoed that pain. "It just made me sad on so many levels. It plays to every stereotype about anchors - that it's all about the hair and makeup and looks and all you do is sit in front of a camera and read."
KYTX put Jones on the air for a thirty-day trial period starting with a live news broadcast at 5 p.m on June 11, 2007, forming the basis for the Fox reality series.
TV Anchor Idol
According to Broadcasting & Cable, KYTX general manager Phil Hurley and Brian Gadinsky, a former co-executive producer of American Idol, cooked up the idea when they met at the National Association of Television Programming Executives convention.
Unlike American Idol, however, Anchorwoman was extremely short-lived. Three days after its debut, Fox cancelled the show due to low ratings, leaving viewers to ponder if KYTX's own ratings with Jones in the anchor chair fared any better.
Sources:
Malone, Michael. "Lauren Jones: Anchorwoman or TV News Travesty" Broadcasting & Cable 07 August 2007.
Birk, Thomas A. "Christine Craft" The Museum of Broadcast Communications
Deggans, Eric. "What do real anchorwomen think of 'Anchorwoman'?" St. Petersburg Times 23 August 2007.
