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| Peter Jennings: An image of tradition |
I am an atypical teenage consumer of media, I believe, at New Trier and as compared to the nation as a whole, because while I still engage in hours of television and online activity daily, any night that I arrive home during the week at a reasonable hour, I really enjoy watching the national news. This is a somewhat-daily ritual that has been ingrained in my system since I was young, and even though I didn't understand much of it, my parents always had Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw, or Dan Rather up on the TV at the perpetual time slot of 5:30pm CST.
This past Wednesday evening, I was just turning on ABC's "World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer," when my mom sat down in the room with me. I had always, out of habit, flipped to ABC because I had fond remembrances of Peter Jennings' smooth voice. My mom immediately said, "Turn this lady off! I can't stand her!" I had always disliked Diane Sawyer, because of her pleading, almost whiny voice, and squinted look. But I had always assumed that my parents liked the network. I quickly switch to NBC, where the sharply-dressed Brian Williams awaited my audience. It was an immediate flashback to the network news of my young childhood.
I then came to the realization that the network news is an arena that should be controlled solely by well-dressed, smooth-voiced males. Though this may seem regressive, and perhaps offensive, it is in my opinion that network news is most effective and connects most to the storied past of this media outlet when anchored by a man possessing those qualities listed.
It is not to say that a woman cannot physically read off words from a teleprompter, or hold her own behind a desk, nor is it a racial matter (although many aforementioned anchors were white), as I find Lester Holt of NBC's Sunday news programming to be very talented and effective. Simply, the sharply tailored newsmen of the past stirs memories of an institution which had a dignity and a stronger purpose; the evening news anchor has traditionally been the face of the news division of any network, and when most Americans relied on these people for information decades ago, that position held honor.
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| Couric: Out |
When I heard earlier this week that Katie Couric, the five year host of the CBS Evening News had submitted her resignation, I was very glad. As I read even more recently, Scott Pelley, a 21-year veteran of CBS is set to replace her, and I was even more glad. As the article above notes, I have trouble taking Couric seriously (despite grilling interviews, most memorably with Sarah Palin) when she once had the honorable position as a journalist on NBC's Today, where she interviewed celebrities, singers, presented great holiday recipes and budgeting tips, and showed off the hottest spring fashion trends in the fourth hour of programming.
It is a matter of personal opinion that the evening network news host be male for me, but if the networks ever wish to recover their coveted ratings, then a return to past tradition is necessary.
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| The traditional "Big 3" networks |
Le,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you led up carefully to why you prefer the "sharply-dressed" newsman of old -- a very honest reflection. But a bigger issue is not your own biases, but what does it say about American society that the serious news media can't seem to sustain a woman in the anchor chair?