God bless the Spanish channels, it seems the only qualifications you need to be a news anchor or weather girl on them is to speak spanish and have giant boobs.
I think it is increasingly becoming the case that every channel needs a "hot news anchor girl." It's all about demographics these days, and most stations are pretty sure that most men will stay on the channel for a little big longer than usual if they glimpse a young attractive, and intentionally dressed female (short-ish skirt, tight blouse.) At least this is the case in (who would have thought?) Los Angeles.
I mean, take Alysha Del Valle:
She usually does the traffic (and sometimes the weather) on ABC 7. However, at times, they'll let her do special interest stories around LA, and they just come off so awkward and unprofessional. I respect her aspirations to do something more than be the "hot traffic girl," (in men's eyes) but I also think that the she is in a catch-22: She "needed" her look to get her in the door, but now her look won't get her any respect. I don't think she has the work ethic and intelligence to back it up, but I'd be happy for her to prove me wrong.
Another example when I was a teen, Lauren Sanchez:
She was the main anchor on UPN 13 and every now and then on FOX 11 after that. Though she seemed to have her stuff together somewhat, she often was a deer in the headlights when they topics got too serious. Now she hosts Extra (I think) with Mario Lopez, where she seems to be far more comfortable, and really, more power to her then.
However, on a nightly basis flipping through the news in LA, you see:
Suzie Suh, KCBS, Channel 9:
Silbia Vargas, KCBS2:
Jackie Johnson, KCAL 9 Weather:
Leyla Gulen, Traffic CBS 2:
Whitney Drolen, KCBS Traffic:
Elita Loresca, Weather, KNBC:
Leila Feinstein: KTAL, anchor:
Megan Henderson, KTLA News Anchor:
Mary Beth McDade,KTLA anchor:
Vera Jimenez, KTLA weather:
Bri Winkler, weather KABC:
Kalyna Astrinos, KABC Traffic:
Sharon Tay, KCAL anchor:
Liz Habib, KTTV Fox 11, achor:
Jillian Barberie, KTTV Fox 11, Mornings:
And that's just the people that would be normally in the newsroom. A post with all the additional reporters, fill-ins, etc. that fit this general "type" in LA news would make this thread run slowly on any decent computer.
Now I don't mean to be mean spirited with this post, and I very much do not mean to say that these women aren't all talented, because that's not the case. There are definitely some intelligent and professional gals amongst this bunch (and others in LA local news), but it just makes me feel very cynically about the situation that these women are chosen by the networks solely for their looks. Is it surprising that some of these pictures (ordinary google searches) are basically modeling/glamor shots?
I know it might sound like I'm making too large a jump in conclusion here, but I feel insulted as a male viewer that it seems like the network feels they HAVE to have an attractive weather anchor for me to pay attention to their news casts. I feel more insulted for the women, who seem to become pawns in the ratings game. I mean, isn't it possible that the execs at KNBC or KABC see KLAC/KCBS getting good ratings with the hours Jackie Johnson is doing weather, and in turn counter with Elita Loresca in order to close the gap? To me, that's very possible, cynical as it is.
Can a female news anchor be beautiful, talented, and professional? Without question, of course! However, I just don't think that's at play here. It's become a matter of each station having to have SOMEONE attractive to read the news, weather, or traffic, regardless of whether they are competent or passionate about it. For some of these ladies, I'm sure it's just a gig. That's fine and all, I guess it's just the connotations that the whole situation creates makes me uncomfortable for all involved.
Sorry for the tangent.
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