The Chickification of the News at the Network Level

With Diane Sawyer taking over the ABC network news helm 2 of the 3 network broadcasts are now anchored by women. Some see that as an advance, but not Ann Althouse:

"2 of the 3 broadcasts being anchored by women is nothing to sneeze at..."

Well, I'm sneezing because I think it means that the network news isn't important anymore. That's not progress in feminism. It's what is conventionally a symptom of anti-feminism: That women do something signifies that it isn't considered important.

Certainly network news shows don't have the same importance to daily life they had when Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley, and whoever had ABC back in the 60's and 70's were a nightly ritual for millions of Americans.

We started seeing more women anchors at the local level when the broadcasts started moving toward the chatty "happy news" formats that are so common now. There are just so many sources for news and information these days we no longer have to put up with silly broadcasts if we don't want to, and most of the time, I don't.

A little over a year ago I wrote a piece on the Chickification of the News at a local station in LA. You can revisit that rant here.