[Jamie]

You often see young women with older men presenting the news, but never young men with older women. Does anyone know why?

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[Robert29551]

All TV stations are slaves to ratings, and viewers (particularly male viewers) are far more inclined to watch attractive young women deliver the news rather than watch older women. As women grow older and their ratings slide, they are replaced by younger, more sexually attractive women. This may not be fair, but it's true.

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[Janet]

The reason why there are no older women news anchors is because networks do not believe that viewers want to see an older woman on television, they are not marketable. I strongly suggest reading 'The Beauty Myth' by Naomi Wolf. She goes into great detail about the discrimination of ageing women newscasters and the pressure on females in that industry to preserve their youth (ultimately their beauty) because that is her marketable commodity, not her being distinguished or wise, like an older man is percieved.

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[lh]

There are, but not in your country at this moment. See, for example: http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/

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[Andrew J.]

In Seattle we have a couple of older ladies in newscasts. One in particular is as old (within three years) as the male anchor. In answer to your question, though, I would like to offer that in the time that our older generation was at the age to decide a carrear path, most women didn't go into broadcast journallism. During the last 15 years many women have chosen that field. Thus, you're noticing only the age group of the anchors. Of all age groups, women have gained many positions.

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[Kyle26149]

News stations will always tend to have older men delivering the news because ratings studies have shown that an older male, especially a blue-eyed one, garners the most trust from a viewer. Younger females, more often blond than not, tend to develop a sense of attractiveness about the program. This isn't a sexual attraction, per se, but more of a general attraction. Much like the fact that people tend to gravitate toward the more attractive and confident people in our daily lives, the same holds true for television.

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[Eric]

Most women have too much pride to be on TV when they're fat and wrinkled, while men have no such qualms. Or, their contract is not renewed, and the boss seeks eye appeal - as in the lyric 'The bubble-headed bleach blonde comes on at five, she can talk about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye,' From Don Henley's song 'Dirty Laundry'.

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[HMOG]

How old is old? In our province in Canada, our TV news has a 50-year-old female news anchor who works mostly side by side with 30-something women, but also with younger men who do sports. So it does happen, but you're right, probably because of the Oedipus Rex issue (mother and son, sexual tension of the genders ) they don't pair up an older woman and younger man.

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[Anne23870]

I think attractiveness plays a huge role in it. Women in the public light are expected to be attractive, which draws more viewers of both sexes than someone who is unattractive. With a few exceptions, after a woman becomes too old, she either quits or is replaced. Looks are also important for male anchors, but a paternal (in control; everything is OK, etc.) and intelligent demeanor are more important.

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[Jessica]

Western pop culture has glorified youth, particularly female youth. At the same time, it has glorified material wealth and equated such with the male age bracket over 50. So you can see why a desirable news anchor might fall into an older male or younger female category - each of these categories is put on a pedestal by Western pop culture.

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[Benjamin S-H.]

Check out Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth for a really great discussion of this... She argues that beauty (and youth) are used as tools to prevent women from becoming too powerful. Men become 'wise' as they age, with a dignified, white-haired man being a symbol of respect. Women are taught to dread age, however, and are only allowed the power of youth and beauty. You'll also notice the lack of older women on magazine covers, advertising, &c. http://btobsearch.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?sourceid=00395996645644787198&btob=Y&pwb=1&ean=9780060512187

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[RhondaOutlaw]

Lee, the average age of female anchors in New York is 35 and up. It is actually the reverse here; it is rare to see a very young anchor woman.

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[therocdoc24754]

Would you rather watch an old bag of bones stumbleing over the script she has to read with tri-focals or would you be more willing to watch a sexy blonde with big jugs and a pearly smile! Huh?Well huh?

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[R Hunt]

Good question Lee, the only one I can think of on The Big Three is Connie Chung. However there are a number of older females anchoring their own news programs on Cable. Some I may add are still very hot 'Birds'

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[Melissa]

I'm guessing you mean figures like Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, etc, on night-time news. Well the answer that pops out first to me is that when these men that are highly respected journalists were first starting their career, there were not many women in news period. So by the time they make the big spot, they are older. But, there is Barbara Walters, who also has night-time stories and is respected also.

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