Rephrase: How do physical attributes play in picking talking heads?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

I was reminded of this nagging question while glancing at a CNN financial show where an attractive woman with a Barbie type body seemed to be there for no reason other than eye candy for heterosexual men.

We have our Anpours, who are average looking women who really do a good job reporting and we have our Edies (see fox morning) who can read and serve as a sidekick to others.

Barbara Walters, for all her faults, tried to be a reporter (for a while) and telejournalist to a great deal of success. Why can't the news networks put away the Faux model and trade in their sexy talking heads for someone who has something worth saying and an intelligent way of suying it? WHY do they think that we are not going to want to watch the news if there is not a flash of a drop dead gorgeous girl every 10 seconds?

I'm not saying hire the elephant woman, I'm just saying PLEASE hire people who are worth watching.

Hey, CNN, ABC, Fox, NBC and all you others! We want the news! If we want dreams, we'll go to the internet!

(rant over)

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Those of us who do not watch CNN

need a photo to properly gauge what you are talking about, here.

For research purposes only, of course.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. *I'm afraid I would have to go to a porn site to find a pic...

The person in question did nothing but nod, chuckle and offer rehearsed talking points. But filled out a sweater very well.

It was one of the most obvious panderings I have ever seen and I find it offensive to both men and women.

[mitchtv]

2. there sure has been a flurry of cute weather readers

on cable tv. I pay more attention

[GrpCaptMandrake]

4. Long before there ever was a Faux News

CNN had bizbabes. When I was there in the late 80s, she was Deborah Marchini. Sizzlin' hot! And there was the woman at headline news: 6' tall, wore stilletto heels and leather skirts and was a martial arts master. Lynn Russel.

I think the anchor-babe phenom actually started at Headline News.

But your point viz. anchorbabes has the ring of truth. That HAS gone up with the rise of Faux.

[Kenroy]

5. You think Christiane Amanpour is average-looking?

Man, I'd like to see the women in your world.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. I live in the South, Dawg!

LOL... :hi:

[LiberalPartisan]

7. Brains and beauty

are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Jennifer Eccleston, formerly of Fox News and presently of CNN is a cracker-jack field reporter.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. She could eat crackers in my......

(Never mind). She's an attractive woman, but I'm not familiar with her.

I guess where I'm heading with all this is that there is a noticeable vacuum in the area of good female television journalists but not in "pretty women" behind the desks. The men tell the stories and the women nod and bob and read the teleprompter.

Just my opinion and I hope I'm wrong.

[LiberalPartisan]

10. She's bounced from network

to network..FNC, NBC and CNN. Though not as intrepid as Amanpour she's one of the few female reporters to consistenly report from various hotspots.

But I do know what you mean about what Don Henly famously named the 'bubble headed bleach blondes'. On CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Rudi Bakhtiar is a regular after doing the overnight slot on Headline News for a few years. While eminently easy on the eyes as soon as she goes off script it gets very interesting.



She is Iranian born and it would very interesting to see her report on Iran.

[Lengsel]

13. ...

I really liked Rudi. I thought that I was going crazy or something but then I realized that a lot of people like newsanchor girls. I miss her being on TV every night.

Zain Verjee if pretty too.

[tuvor]

9. Here's another

BBC World's Mishal Husain

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. Goodness!

[mitchtv]

12. more my type

CNN Rob Marciano

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. Yikes! It's a living Ken Doll!