Older newsreaders are hot
MARY, please don’t go. It’s just that you’re all we’ve got. Maxine McKew’s gone political, Jennifer Byrne’s gone to books, Anne Fulwood’s gone to APEC and Jana’s just gone.
Aside from the fact that Mary Kostakidis is so watchable, credible and believable, her presence on the box is vital because it’s one of the only national concessions to ongoing careers for women in TV.
Ones with grey hair at that.
It’s not just about saving Mary or keeping women on air into their twilight years for the sake of it, but for society’s greater good.
A complete dearth of women over 45 imparting information, replaced by women who grew up watching them propped up alongside veteran blokes for whom balding is an advantage, suggests that’s the norm, or the desired one anyway.
The symbolism isn’t lost on viewers.
A lack of older women in the visual role of authority figure sends out the message that they have nothing to say. Or is that reading something into it?
A profile of Mary Kostakidis in 1998 when, at 43, she was Australia’s longest serving prime time national newsreader, described her as an “enigma”, one of the oldest women on telly.
She said herself back then it was imperative to have older women as “role models” against “all the older, overweight, grey-haired men on the box”.
No one’s interested in tokenism or fulfilling gender quotas, in any field, but we’re all for talent and experience which, regrettably, seems to be walking out the door with no one stemming the flow.
It’s always baffled me why, that when we follow the US in everything else (don’t mention the war), we’re heading in the completely opposite direction when it comes to news deliverers.
In the US and Britain you rarely see female news anchors under 35 yet here you can count those over it on one hand.
The bloke will keep reading the autocue into his 70s, if he so desires, his credibility rising with each grey hair. His co-anchor will most likely be outa there by 45, 50 if she’s lucky and has a good plastic surgeon.
No kidding. Meanwhile Katie Couric gets $15 million to present CBS Nightly News at 50. Meredith Viera is a wanted woman at 53.
So is Oprah. Diane Sawyer hosts Good Morning America at 61. Barbara Walters is 77.
These women are revered doyennes of journalism and influence. While our 40-plus female anchors hang on for dear life. Youth rules.
I met a 21-year-old beauty pageant winner who told me she wants to be a newsreader. “Oh, you’re interested in journalism?’` I piped up thinking, we have something in common. “Nooo way.” She shook her gorgeous head of honey curls.
“I don’t care about the news and stuff. That’s depressing. I just want to wear all those gorgeous clothes.” She may just get there.
Until we redress the imbalance, we can never hope to square anything up in the real world because, consciously or not, the news is a microcosm.
A great chance exists to legitimise the older woman, in the workplace, relationships and politics by keeping them on.
Women who do make it to prime time are usually seated screen right and play second fiddle. One former commercial femme newsreader told me she asked her boss why she never read the lead story and was told: “Because you’re a woman”. Got it.
It’s the old question of whether we’re giving them (audiences) what they want or just what we think they want? Perhaps they wouldn’t object to female longevity.
Hang in there Jennie Brockie, Helen Vatsikopoulos, Lisa Wilkinson, Liz Hayes: your country needs you.