after seeing the newsreaders dancing on CIN, am wondering if you need to be a size 10 to read the news

[ssd]

they all looked great, but jesus talk about skinny

dont they eat?

and they all have a bunch of kids too

jesus

"I get sick of women who are utter BITCHES over weight. Your weight is your problem NOT mine so don't project it on to other women as you have a chip on your shoulder about it.

There is sizism in both direction and it pisses me off when women dress it up as feminism. Its not."

Hear, hear NICEynice

Many years ago when I was working part time in a shop, I was removing my work overall when one of my colleagues said "Ooh, aren't you skinny". I was so incensed that I replied "Aren't you fat"

I will repeat once more - being called skinny is not a compliment. Perhaps it is if you are fat, but I am not fat or skinny - I am slim and intend to stay that way.

Blair WAS better looking Major. Cameron WAS better looking than Brown. (theory works for men and women btw). It wasn't just about charisma. I personally wouldn't go anywhere near either, but its frightening just how we are influenced without even realising it by appearance.

Moria was axed at age 57. Whilst Anna Ford continued at the same time until age 62.

At the time there was a shift in the BBC from pure news readers to journalists who had a greater range of skills. Anna, did a lot more discussions and debates. Moria just read the news in the old traditional fashion.

In the end Anna retired to do other things indeed partly because she didn't want to get pushed off to the News24 graveyard shift as she wouldn't enjoy it. She did infer agism.

Incidental, Michael Fish also suffered the same fate. He got axed for a young woman.

I would say there is agism in the BBC - but then I think they have an incredibly difficult balancing act in the fact that they do have to bring through new talent when there are limited roles and opportunity to do that.

I would definitely say it was less about sexism though.

-" I am slim and intend to stay that way"

Well,you're all set for a job on Newsnight- you're perfectly qualified! Doesn't matter that you seem to have missed the point of the thread- your slimness will see you through!

I don't think you as an individual can judge the relative attractiveness of politicians. Suffice to say that very very few are "traditionally good-looking". Cameron better looking than brown? Depends who you ask. Blair better looking than major? Again, depends who you ask. What Blair had was charisma. Not looks. Brown looked miserable, tired and ill. Never a good look. John Major was apparently quite dishy in RL (over 6 foot and terribly charming).

The OP was talking about how skinny she thought the newsreaders were. I said they weren't. I reckon it depends on what one's perception is of skinny.

OK, my last comment was irrelevant.

Are there really people still denying sexism in the media?

Hollywood, anyone?

I think anyone who hinges their argument on David Cameron (he of the hamshine) being a right bit of eye candy is on to a loser personality. I feel more disposed to understand people who profess to fancy boris johnson. At least his looks are interesting.

I dont care if people are super skinny-as long as they are not killing themselves to get that way.
I certainly don't have a chip on my shoulder as I am perfectly happy with my size 12 bod, and I don't care if the people on TV are fat either. I'm glad that Dawn French lost a lot of weight,for e.g, for her sake, as she was morbidly obese and that's not a good thing, but as far as aesthetics goes, I prefer my newsreaders to be intelligent, and that's all.

Carrie Gracie - so not skinny. Nor is Maxine Mawhinney.

Well see Sardine, I like men who make me laugh and who are intelligent. David Mitchell makes me weak at the knees but noone could say he was classically good looking.

I just don't think the BBC have got that just yet. Selina Scott wasn't she merely seen as the token blonde bit of fluff to Frank Bough's heavyweight intelligence in days of yore?

It is wrong. But whilst we have a thread like this when there are comments over who is under/over weight it will continue. Because how can we say we just want credible journalists to interview our Political leaders and whoever else when we end up calling people bloody lollipop heads?!

The question should be, can Sian/Suzanna et al hold their own when they are quizzing the people we want answers from?

at people in denial of sexism in the media. Am with seeker in banging my head against a brick wall, what a depressing thread!

Stop bickering about whether so and so is too thin and start thinking about the inequality!

Where are the female equivalents of Andrew Marr, john Simpson, Eamon Holmes, John Snow, John Simpson, David Attonburgh, Bruce Forsythe.......

Surprise, surprise, it's the same in print media and no doubt radio too. Another example, the furore over female sports commentators on 5 live.

www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/mar/04/women-national-newspapers

It's a disgrace and so are those on this thread who are in denial.

The thread wasn't originally about sexism in the media, but at how skinny the OP thought the newsreaders were. I was merely sticking to the original point.

Yes, there is sexism in the meida. Do I care? No.

That is a real shame bunbaker.

I don't deny there isn't sexism in media. Just less than some people here are trying to infer - especially with the BBC. I see agism as a much bigger issue tbh.

And controversially, I do think that female newsreaders should keep in relatively good shape and don't deserve to be villified for doing so, like the OP seemed keen to do. Appearance is important in a visual medium.

Female equivalents of Andrew Marr, Eamon Holmes, John Snow, John Simpson, David Attonburgh, Bruce Forsythe.......

Shall we go back to when all they all started their careers, and look at the sexism back in the day and why women didn't have parallel careers? No what you want is to plonk some woman who hasn't had all those years of experience ahead of them! Cos thats equality! Er, no unfortunately we still have several decades of inequality to die out. You can not erase the sexism of the past. It will take time for todays young women to work their way through the system and become older women and have roles and careers like them... as I said in one of my other posts, look at the women NOW and see how they are able to have kids and a career...

I just find your comment utterly beyond stupidity tbh.

Btw John Simpson = TOTALLY outdone by Alex Crawford in Libya (should I get annoyed at her for being slim btw?).

Should male equivalents also keep in good shape, Nice???

Men don't get ripped apart about their appearance as women do by the media and other women, that is the truth of it all.

Which is just so much shit.

But niceynice, it's women who experience the ageism.

Fair point about it taking time for women to work their way up, but strongly suspect that even now it's the men coming through, as evidenced, for example, by the print news stats.

Which comment is "utterly beyond stupidity" btw?

"Men don't get ripped apart about their appearance as women do by the media and other women, that is the truth of it all."

Oh, don't they. Come and work in my office. I find overweight men physically unattractive, and so do my workmates.

Really?
My sympathies.

Who on this thread has mentioned that perhaps Bill is looking a tad craggy? Pan came up and had (another) pop at Charlie. Nah, just that Sian is too thin and a lollipop head and then we have the skinny/fat debate.

I usually find that women are a lot more discerning and can see through that shite.

Bunbaker - are you saying that you are your workmates bully overweight men?

Or did I get the wrong end of that post?

I am a journalist and have done tv news from age 26 to age 39 and fully intend more when I return from mat leave. I've weighed 8 stone and 13 stone (thanks to first pregnancy) during that time. Not a single person (apart from me) has commented on this.

My husband, who is a tv news producer, has worked with many presenters of both sex. They need to look appealing (no strange squints, well groomed, etc) and they need to look within the range of perceived 'normal' (we could debate that endlessly) but gravitas, authority and ability to communicate are the deciding factors. Whether or not the presenter themselves wants to diet, go mental with the hairdos, etc, is up to them.

But then there is a type of person who is desperate to appear on tv. It is that sort of person, rather than the producers, who is driving this.

I used to go to college with Natasha Kaplinsky. To Die For ring any bells?

the men I know who do news are also like this. It's not a male/female thing. It's an egomaniac/normal thing

But then there's Anderson Cooper. Who has zero body fat.

"krishnan gurumurthy is no longer the slim whippersnapper he was"

I was at college with him as well, and you don't want to tower over his bald spot!

Don't dash my fantasies from 15 years ago, damn you news person

Am going to google anderson cooper. Interesting post from the inside thanks otchayaniye

NICE, If every time I refute your argument you claim that my answer is a 'rarity,' you will of course always win.

But might I suggest that politicians are not of necessity physically attractive in a media-enforced way.

They successful ones have talent, character and charisma and because of that sometimes people start finding them attractive. Thatcher was an example of that.

Other much admired politicians include John Smith, Shirley Williams, Paddy Ashdown, Charles Kennedy and Chris Patten.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=anderson+cooper&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnslo&tbnid=UC3yHjs5yhFSGM:&imgrefurl=www.theschronicle.com/%3Fp%3D1498&docid=vxbnJ7H1HED0hM&imgurl=www.theschronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/anderson-cooper.jpg&w=400&h=317&ei=YiLITvvZAc358QO3stmNAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=571&vpy=179&dur=80&hovh=200&hovw=252&tx=135&ty=130&sig=107566779655659111226&page=1&tbnh=127&tbnw=151&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0 anderson cooper

do our male newsreaders look like this? i think not.