Watching the election coverage was almost like watching the Sunday morning political shows. It was almost like living in the 1960s.
It was a man's world.
But the politics the men covered did not look quite so much like an all boys club.
Alessandra Stanley breaks it down for us:
On a night that crowned Nancy Pelosi as the first female speaker of the House and Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic front-runner for the 2008 presidential race, the tableau of men talking to men all across prime time was oddly atavistic — a men’s club from around 1962.
* NBC: Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw "formed a triumvirate of pinstripes and percipience."
* ABC: Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos "were so cozy and old-school" that they only perfunctorily turned, via satellite, to Cokie Roberts.
* Fox News: Brit Hume, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams, Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke, "a funereal barbershop quartet."
* CNN: "Anderson Cooper did turn for help to Candy Crowley, who was sandwiched between John King and Marcus Mabry of Newsweek, but the panel behind them, CNN’s so-called “brain trust” (Bill Bennett, J. C. Watts, James Carville and Paul Begala) looked like a police lineup on Mount Athos."
* MSNBC:Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, with correspondent Andrea Mitchell wedged in alongside Joe Scarborough, Eugene Robinson and Howard Fineman.
CBS may be number 3 in ratings, but in Ms. Stanley's review it comes in as number one in gender fairness:
Throughout the night Ms. Couric looked comfortable and confident. And, perhaps more significant, CBS showed the confidence to give other female correspondents high-profile positions: the political reporter Gloria Borger had top billing on the special, and so did Sharyl Attkisson. CBS’s panel of experts was evenly balanced: Mike McCurry spoke on behalf of Democratic strategists and Nicolle Wallace for the Republicans.
To many, gravitas still comes in a necktie and cuff links. CBS is showing that sometimes pearl earrings and lipstick can also do the trick.
via Ann at Feministing
Gender Politics News Media Election 2006 Democrats Bush Speaker Pelosi Katy Couric CBS
