Ratings, incidents raise question of how far women have come in TV news

NEW YORK -- With all the women in television news on both sides of the camera, you would think sexism was an issue relegated to the 20th century.

Yet recently a CBS News executive, herself a pioneer for women in the industry, said she believed that Katie Couric was having trouble catching on with the public as "CBS Evening News" anchor because she was the first solo female anchor for a network nightly news show.

CNN's male chief was also caught referring first to a woman's looks when asked why she got an important anchor job. And "The Daily Show" aired a wickedly funny segment on all the women in cable news who are -- there's no other way to put it -- babe-a-liscious.

"It saddens me," said Deborah Potter, a former CBS News reporter who is now executive director of the News Lab think tank. "I wish I could tell you I was surprised, but I guess I'm not. The people who do the hiring still look very much like the people who did the hiring 30 years ago. They still make decisions based on what they find appealing."

Linda Mason, who was the first woman producer at the "CBS Evening News" 30 years ago and now is the news division's standards chief, speculated that a tradition-bound audience was reluctant to get the day's news from a woman.

Couric has twice set records in the past month for smallest "CBS Evening News" audience in at least 20 years. The network hardly believed she'd have lower ratings than predecessor Bob Schieffer at this point in her tenure.

In an interview with the CBS News Web site Public Eye, Mason said she had no idea that a woman delivering the news would be a handicap.

"I'm afraid that Katie's paying a price for being the first woman," she said. "But I think it's a great trail she's blazing, and I think if the broadcast continues to be as good as it has been ... people will start to watch. It takes time, I think. But I was surprised that there was an obvious connection between a woman giving the news, and the audience wanting to watch it."

Mason told The Associated Press that her opinion came from her gut, not from any particular research. She stressed that there were other factors in Couric's slow start.

But she's sensitive to things like critics commenting upon Couric's wardrobe and lack of makeup while covering the Virginia Tech shooting story, comments she said certainly wouldn't be made about male anchors.

NBC sinking too

The chief weakness in her argument? Brian Williams.

The NBC "Nightly News" anchor has been sinking in the ratings, too, over recent months. ABC "World News" anchor Charles Gibson has vaulted to the top.

Couric said she doesn't really know how much being a woman plays into things.

"I've always felt that the novelty of a new person -- female or male -- and the novelty of someone from a different network who wasn't homegrown in their current environment might be slightly discombobulating for people," she said. "Like anything, it just takes time."

Audiences are certainly accustomed to women newscasters on a local level, where the on-air jobs are distributed pretty evenly among women and men, according to the Radio and Television News Directors Association.

Women have 40 percent of all jobs in TV and radio newsrooms, the RTNDA's latest survey found.

News credentials didn't seem foremost on CNN U.S. president Jon Klein's mind when he was explaining to reporters why Kiran Chetry was named co-anchor of "American Morning."

"One look at her tells you why she deserves the slot," he said. "She's a fantastic anchor. She lights up the screen. And she's got a passion for news."

Physical attractiveness is certainly a plus for a job in television news, Potter said. It doesn't mean knockout looks are the only factor, but without them, it's that much more difficult to get a job, she said.

"Some people will tell you the standards have changed a little bit and now the men have to be as good looking as the women," Potter said. "If that's progress, I don't know."

To be fair to CNN, Christiane Amanpour and Candy Crowley have earned prominent roles for their skills as reporters, even without movie-star looks.

There are enough good-looking women on cable news to lead comic Samantha Bee to lampoon them on "The Daily Show" last month. She used a vulgarity to describe them as newscasters you'd like to, uh, spend time with.

"Their coverage proves that war is hell-llooo ladies," she said.

A parade of gorgeous women rolled by, including CNN's Chetry and Jennifer Eccleston, and MSNBC's Alex Witt and Chris Jansing. Bee even had them categorized by network. CNN had the "fresh-faced yet supple anchors next door." MSNBC promised the "dirty over 30 anchor with just a hint of salsa." Fox News Channel? "The Hustler of news networks," she said.

"News anchors used to be just pretty enough that you could spend a half hour a night getting informed," she said. "But now they're so hot I just want to stay home, draw a steamy bath and inform the (expletive) out of myself."

For news executives, it could not have been the proudest of moments.