Carole Simpson: Why I'm not delighted by Sawyer move
[Carole Simpson, who anchored the weekend editions of "ABC World
News," is leader in residence and a full-time faculty member in the
journalism department of Emerson College. A recipient of three
national Emmy awards with 40 years experience as a broadcast
journalist, Simpson was the first black woman to anchor a network
evening news broadcast.]
Diane Sawyer now joins Katie Couric as anchor of a major network
evening newscast, leaving Brian Williams the sole man.
Since I have personally worked for 30 years for the advancement of
women in broadcast journalism, I guess I am supposed to be delighted.
Why am I not?
Because it took so darned long -- and TV news is on life support.
No disrespect to Diane or Katie. I consider them friends and I take
pride in their accomplishments. They have proven their talents and
journalistic credentials. But, come on. We had to wait until 2009?
Women began entering television news in significant numbers in the
1970s during the women's liberation movement. In fact, I started my
network career in 1974.
The major impact on the hiring of women resulted after 16 women filed
a class action sex discrimination suit in federal court against NBC in
1975. Two years later in a $2 million out-of-court settlement, the
network promised to act affirmatively and hire, promote and raise the
salaries of a large percentage of women over the next five years.
CBS and ABC saw the writing on the wall and suddenly discovered many
women -- inside and outside their news divisions -- qualified to be
more than researchers and secretaries.
We women in television news thought we had "arrived" when ABC chose
Barbara Walters to co-anchor the evening news with Harry Reasoner in
1976. It turned out to be a match made in hell. Harry was so upset
about sharing airtime with a woman that he refused to speak to
Barbara, except on the news set. The ill-fated experiment ended two
years later when Harry left in disgust for CBS and Barbara was ousted
as anchor.
While newswomen were continuing to move onward and upward in network
television, it took another 16 years -- 1993 -- before we saw another
woman in a network anchor chair. At CBS Connie Chung was paired with
Dan Rather on the "Evening News."...
Read entire article at CNN
News," is leader in residence and a full-time faculty member in the
journalism department of Emerson College. A recipient of three
national Emmy awards with 40 years experience as a broadcast
journalist, Simpson was the first black woman to anchor a network
evening news broadcast.]
Diane Sawyer now joins Katie Couric as anchor of a major network
evening newscast, leaving Brian Williams the sole man.
Since I have personally worked for 30 years for the advancement of
women in broadcast journalism, I guess I am supposed to be delighted.
Why am I not?
Because it took so darned long -- and TV news is on life support.
No disrespect to Diane or Katie. I consider them friends and I take
pride in their accomplishments. They have proven their talents and
journalistic credentials. But, come on. We had to wait until 2009?
Women began entering television news in significant numbers in the
1970s during the women's liberation movement. In fact, I started my
network career in 1974.
The major impact on the hiring of women resulted after 16 women filed
a class action sex discrimination suit in federal court against NBC in
1975. Two years later in a $2 million out-of-court settlement, the
network promised to act affirmatively and hire, promote and raise the
salaries of a large percentage of women over the next five years.
CBS and ABC saw the writing on the wall and suddenly discovered many
women -- inside and outside their news divisions -- qualified to be
more than researchers and secretaries.
We women in television news thought we had "arrived" when ABC chose
Barbara Walters to co-anchor the evening news with Harry Reasoner in
1976. It turned out to be a match made in hell. Harry was so upset
about sharing airtime with a woman that he refused to speak to
Barbara, except on the news set. The ill-fated experiment ended two
years later when Harry left in disgust for CBS and Barbara was ousted
as anchor.
While newswomen were continuing to move onward and upward in network
television, it took another 16 years -- 1993 -- before we saw another
woman in a network anchor chair. At CBS Connie Chung was paired with
Dan Rather on the "Evening News."...