Calling Texas TV viewers - WIMN needs your help! (Asinine “Anchorwoman” sneek peek tonight makes mocking women journalists a prime-time sport)
|
Posted by Jennifer L Pozner June 11th, 2007 |
Regular readers of this blog know that two of my biggest pet peeves about the media are sexism in the reality TV genre, and marginalization of women in the news biz. Turns out, FOX has figured out a way to pinch both of those nerves with the production of “Anchorwoman,” a new FOX reality show that will feature a busty blonde bikini model and former WWE wrestler as an on-air anchor of KYTX Channel 19, a local CBS affiliate in Tyler, Texas.
Women In Media & News is seeking a volunteer in Texas (or with access to Texas TV) who can record KYTX Channel 19’s 5 p.m. newscast for us, for blog-worthy fodder for WIMN’s Voices, as well as for research for my book on reality TV and gender issues.
KYTX has hired the voluptuous former beauty queen Lauren Jones as an on-air news anchor not just despite her lack of journalistic expertise but specifically because of it. Jones has been retained by the news department to boost the affiliates’ ratings but, more importantly, to provide the premise for “Anchorwoman,” which will premiere in August. Here’s how FOX’s promo materials describe the show:
PHIL HURLEY is the owner of a middle-market Texas news station, KYTX Channel 19. Desperate to turn the tide of his news rating woes and compete with the longtime ratings giant, Phil has shocked the station and town of Tyler, Texas, by bringing in a gorgeous model and ex-WWE diva with no previous news experience to be his next ANCHORWOMAN – all in hopes of reinventing the look of Channel 19 and overhauling its below-average 6 share to a number more like his competitor’s 36.
Former Miss New York and über-vixen LAUREN JONES packs up her Versace dresses and heads to Tyler, Texas, to start a new career. Can this bombshell make it as a serious reporter? Will she save KYTX, or make it the laughingstock of the Lone Star State? Lauren wants to show everyone she’s no airhead, and this is her big chance to prove she’s more than just a pretty face.
The entire newsroom thinks the boss has made a giant mistake. Reigning anchor ANNALISA PETRAGLIA is not about to lose her Queen Bee status to some L.A. hottie. News Director DAN DELGADO is fit to be tied as his beloved journalistic standards go out the window. MICHELLE REESE, a hard-nosed reporter bound for CNN, will take no prisoners. Lauren has a big job in front of her as she struggles with her news team and an unfamiliar town.
How will it all turn out? Only the ratings will tell, so stay tuned for the next ANCHORWOMAN: Lauren Jones.
How fun! A bikini model is going to try to read news copy from cue cards! Her coworkers will hate her because she’s so vapid! Let’s place bets on how badly she’ll mangle the news! It’s bad enough that so many news stations hire “uber vixens” as “weathergirls” – now, we’re casting them as journalists? If only this was the stuff of satire, as when “The Daily Show’s” Samantha Bee spoofed the sexualization of women in journalism as “N.I.L.F.: News I’d Like to Fuck.” Yet, once again, reality TV sinks to a low that humorists consider a bad joke.
Female journalists are systemically marginalized throughout the news business, so it’s particularly frustrating that a reality show would exploit the idea that women aren’t cut out to deliver the news. As far as Jones herself, her most notable experience outside the wrestling ring has been as one of “Barker’s Beauties” on the game show “The Price Is Right” and as “Hobo Bikini Model” on “Wonder Showzen.” (Check out the publicity photo of Jones perched seductively on a news desk in a low cut, leopard-print halter top and red micro-mini on Zap2it.com).
This stunt casting says as much about sexism in the media industry as it does about the cross-promotional degeneration of broadcast journalism and hypercommercial entertainment programming.
(It’s also worth noting that as scripted entertainment, Jones’ appointment would be far-fetched, but as “real life” practice, hiring a news anchor based solely on her looks and setting her up to fail in her job performance while also placing the rest of the women on her team into a hostile workplace environment smacks of employment discrimination, at best improper, at worst illegal. Any legal experts reading this want to weigh in on whether there’s any sexual harassment law or employment practices liability policy being broken by this thing?)
Women In Media & News would like to capture the footage of this journalistic low in advance of FOX’s rollout of “Anchorwoman.” If you’re in Texas and can record KYTX Channel 19’s 5 p.m. newscast for us (today especially, but ideally all month), please do so, and contact info[at]wimnonline[dot]org so that we can get the footage. (Alternately, if you have digital clippings access and can post clips from Jones’s segments on YouTube or to WIMN’s Voices, this would also be helpful.)
PS: as always, if you’re interested in bringing WIMN to your campus or community group for a multi-media discussion about representations of women in reality TV, contact WIMN using this form, or let us know at info[at]wimnonline[dot]org
June 13th, 2007 11:45
[…] This is just part of the same ideological continuum that led to the “Anchorwoman” reality show I wrote about the other day, in which CBS and Fox are teaming up to cast a bikini model as a news anchor for a CBS affiliate in Texas, and then filming the vapid fallout for the Fox reality show. […]
June 16th, 2007 05:01
[…] So are the news gatekeepers pushing tartiness? A recent AP piece proclaimed “Porn is becoming the ideal of what’s sexy,” explaining, “(T)he message is clear: In today’s world, sex doesn’t just sell. The pervasiveness of porn has made sexiness — from subtle to raunchy — a much-sought-after attribute online, at school and even at work.” If that isn’t blatant enough, try the new “Anchorwoman” reality show that will, as Jenn Pozner explains on the WIMN’s Voices Blog, “feature a busty blonde bikini model and former WWE wrestler as an on-air anchor of KYTX Channel 19, a local CBS affiliate in Tyler, Texas.” Not much room for doubt there. […]
June 18th, 2007 13:56
Please also note that the press release has set up the required “cat-fight” by mentioning how Ms. Petraglia is a “queen bee” who won’t take kindly to this “hottie.” Meanwhile, Ms. Reese who is “hard-nosed” is viewing it as war, because she won’t be taking “prisoners.” Rwooorrr!! Maybe their tops will come off and they’ll end up KISSING!!! (only if Ms. Petraglia and Ms. Reese are “hot” that is.) What about the man mentioned, Mr. Delgado? Well, HE is worried about “journalistic standards” naturally! Not like those catty females.
Clearly, Ms. Reese and Ms. Petraglia would never consider trying to help this poor woman as she gets ritually humiliated by her inability to read off cue-cards. No, they hate her already. Probably becuase she’s pretty.
This is all disgusting.
August 23rd, 2007 07:40
By this means the average American viewer becomes gradually convinced that journalism, much like the legal system and the political process, has become a joke.
There’s a direct line between Judge Judy, Ann Coulter, and Anchorwoman. Tort law? Catfights run by a ballbreaker who shafts the guy every time. Politics? Let the blondie speak, she’s easier to look at. News? Bimbos can do it.