Men
are becoming the minority in newsrooms across the country. According to the Radio-Television News Directors
Association, 42% of anchors are men. That's down from 46% in 1996. One of the reasons? The ultimate goal for many male
journalism students is in sports. But, sports is a dying genre at local news stations across the country. Another
reason, stated in an article in the Boston Globe, is that
anchoring isn't really as manly as it used to be back in the days of Walter Kronkite and Edward R. Murrow. They were a
breed of anchor who came across as tough on government corruption, whereas anchors these days are pretty boys who are
more even-tempered and less aggressive. News readers, really.While it's nice to see that women are kickin' butt in television, it's also a sad commentary on the role of the anchorman in our society and in news in general. These days the anchors are hired as personalities, not news gatherers.
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