Samira Ahmed resigns

You know, it's odd. Newman's hair is wavy, not "super curly". But it's not that dissimilar to Ahmed's. So could it be down to Ahmed's apparent hair loss (which I've never noticed)? Or perhaps they just don't like her and were making up excuses.

The curly thing really is a problem, isn't it? Well, obviously not a REAL problem, but a perceived one for TV people. This is a horrible story.

I don't think this is about curly hair. The article mentioned that Cathy Newman is coming on board as a presenter. Cathy Newman has super curly hair. But it is groomed. This is more likely about women presenters being held to a higher standard of grooming and conventional attractiveness than men.

I love Samira Ahmed (and her curly hair)

So few women in public life with curly hair. It's not seen as SERIOUS. Do you remember how Chelsea Clinton had to loose her curls to be taken at all seriously?

Women on TV have to have completely different hair than in real life. I have a friend who reads the news on a major channel. On screen her hemet hair looks 'normal' for TV-land but if I ever bump into her on her way home from studio, out on the street it is so clear NOONE has hair like that .

I think the thing they're not saying about Samira Ahmed is that she is going a bit thin on top, and god forbid they would have a balding woman on TV. I think that is why they've pushed her out.

Trisha doesn't count - that's a trash show, not a chat show.

Emily Maitliss, Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney all have a good slew of appearances on Newsnight, at least. But are Mrs Merton and Davina's failed show the only examples of British women hosting mainstream chat shows in the past 20 years? Seriously? This cannot be down to a lack of female talent

There have been a couple of female chat show hosts:
Trisha, Caroline Aherne/Mrs Merton

But you're right, MASSIVELY outnumbered by male hosts.

As for female newscasters, where I worked, the main TV news anchor had straight blonde hair (!) but still lost her contract after several years of enduring popularity because the management (I have good reason to believe) had decided she was getting too old (yup, ageism is awful when it comes to female tv presenters) and too expensive (she had a good agent).
Certainly, the female presenter/s that replaced her were all younger and cheaper....

It's bollocks, the lot of it. Pah.

Even Fern Britton had a gastric band to lose weight.

actually I've just thought of one, Fern thingy.

but that's a magazine programme, are there any fat woman newsreaders?

Sybil - damn right. He is still gorgeous, but I don't see any fat women presenting anything on TV.

vesuvia, I wan't very clear, it was Sue Turton who got groped by a random fuckwit while she was broadcasting. Just in case it sounded like I meant Samira.

Anyway. This stinks and I hope ITN won't get away with it.

they are all good-looking Speedy but a woman wouldn't be allowed to stay on tv if she put on as much weight as Krishnan Gurumurthy has.

I bet it's cos she's 42 as well.
Also because there is nothing patriarchy-compliant about her look; she is very attractive IMO but not in a girly primped up way.

I am gutted, I love Samira Ahmed.

If there's a new line up I doubt it'll be all male but there if there are any new women what are the chances they'll be young and pretty?

Ha. You know it, (as do I)Speedy

Judging from my experience of work, I am still convinced there is both racism and sexism at play.

1. The demotion to reporter is often the outcome for older female journalists.
2. The article mentions the production team wanting wanting to impress another executive team....I can see some little shit producer getting all het up about her not presenting a Sky News glossy' image
3. Being good at recruiting ethnic minorities at junior levels is not the same as being able to support the senior level team...how diverse are their senior production/presentation/management teams I wonder?

I've always had a bit of a thing for krishnan guru-murthy (sp) as well...

Sorry not really on topic am I

Jon Snow has ludicrous ties. He gets a lot sent into him and he always picks a really loud outlandish one to wear. That's what he said on an interview I heard a few years back.

Honestly look at his ties, they are almost always garish to the max, always makes me smile I imagine an old lady somewhere sending him one and getting a real kick

Can't imagine that a female presenter would be allowed to do anything like that, TBH.

But on age and women - yes. You are right, sunshine. And the BBC has recently bowed to pressure to recruit more female newscasters over 50. There shouldn't have had to be that pressure, should there? So there is definitely a problem with age-based sex discrimination against women, on TV in general. All the clever, older women end up on Radio 4, regardless of how attractive they are.

And has anyone else noticed that chat show hosts in the UK are always male? The US doesn't seem to have a problem with female hosts. Grr.

sunshine - re attractiveness of female presenters, I was about to agree wholeheartedly. But then when I think of the male newscasters who spring to mind, they're all good-looking as well. Jon Snow, Hugh Whatsisname, George Alagiah...can anyone name a newscaster who is unpleasant to look at, male or female?

I think that's just telly for you. It's a shallow business.

As for the outfits they wear...isn't that just the boring conventions of fashion? Men generally dress in boring dark suits when they want to look formal. You've not convinced me that those two points you raised are discriminatory against women.

No worries, snowmama! But get yohself a 'fro, sistah!

I was stating that since curly hair is not exclusive to brown-skinned folks, and since the report states that C4's objection was only against her hair, there is no evidence so far that the clash between Ahmed and C4/ITN is about anything other than hair (forgetting for just a moment the apparent pro-male bias).

I then went on to say that C4 has an excellent track record of recruiting brown folks to train in news, which further contradicts the claims on this thread that this is an act of racism.

Sorry for multiple posts but another thought: the move from presenter to reporter also seems to happen a lot with older female presenters, whereas the men get offered the anchor slot.

I think on all news channels there is sex discrimination. I am always struck about how perfectly coiffed and co-ordinated the women presenters are whereas I don't even notice what the men wear because they all stick to the same dark suits. And while many of the female presenters may not be supermodel types, they are all more attractive than most. I never noticed any of this before feminism.

Speedy, Sorry! Making assumptions....

....but why would you ask about white women having curly hair too? I do blowdry my Afro hair so have zero moral authority here...

snowmama, I've seen Good Hair. And have nearly 40 years of experience of living with natural (i.e. unstraightened) afro hair. So I know a thing or two about this!

It has always bemused me that every time I've watched C4 news over the past 15 or so years they've had mostly male presenters. Their production team, on the other hand, has a lot of women - including senior production staff. So I don't understand why the face of the programme is so male compared with the other mainstream news programmes in the market. As much as I'd like to believe there is not sex discrimination on C4 News, they are not helping themselves.

Channel 4 News said it ?did not recognise this version of events? leading up to Miss Ahmed?s departure. It said it was ?focused on the fantastic new appointments to our presenting line-up?.

No doubt the 'fantastic' new line-up will be male. After all, they won't have to worry about scruffy hair then.

Amen, Dittany,

Speedy there is lots out there on the significance of race and hair. The basic premise being the long straight haired blonde being the most acceptable/beautiful, so the further away you are from this 'ideal' you are the more unacceptable/scruffy you are. Watch Chris Rocks (ironically) Good Hair for an example of how it can affect women's psyches.