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Cable News Anchors- Where Do the Networks Get these People?

T

The Voice of Reason

During my lunch hour I managed to catch about 1/2 hour of news while channel surfing CNN, MSNBC, and FOX.

The two anchors on CNN and MSNBC (between noon and 1pm EST) have to be the worst I've seen on national television yet.

Contessa Brewer, I believe her name is, on MSNBC and the female anchor on CNN reminded me of bad actors trying desperately to win Academy Awards rather than newscasters delivering the news.

Arms flying in the air, inserting editorial comments between each news story, and, in the case of Brewer especially, not being able to finish a sentence without stumbling over her own words.

I am truly surprised that national networks like MSNBC and CNN would even hire these two individuals. My God there is certainly enough on-air talent out there!

At FOX there was a male/female anchor team. The female anchor was desperately trying to be amusing by including very lame jokes after each story. The male anchor looked a bit miffed to be honest.
 
Have to agree. They seem to hire the same way Hooters does. Doesn't matter how bad you are at waiting on tables as long as you look good doing it and are blonde. Way back "in the day" there were only a handful of AM radio stations in each market. Therefore, to get a full time gig was difficult. You had to be really good just to even get a part time gig. Along comes FM and voila! There are twice as many stations. Same in baseball. Once upon a time there were a handful of teams. You had to be really good to get to the majors. 24 hour cable news has changed the quality level of on air talent. My personal favorite is the news tease at 5:30 break in the Beck program. A gal gives a few headlines and then intro's Bret Baer for a tease of "Special Report" with "HEY Bret" and he answers "Hey so and so". Just waiting for Goober or Barney to chime in with "Hey Andy"
 
The Voice of Reason said:
During my lunch hour I managed to catch about 1/2 hour of news while channel surfing CNN, MSNBC, and FOX.

The two anchors on CNN and MSNBC (between noon and 1pm EST) have to be the worst I've seen on national television yet.

Contessa Brewer, I believe her name is, on MSNBC and the female anchor on CNN reminded me of bad actors trying desperately to win Academy Awards rather than newscasters delivering the news.

Arms flying in the air, inserting editorial comments between each news story, and, in the case of Brewer especially, not being able to finish a sentence without stumbling over her own words.

I am truly surprised that national networks like MSNBC and CNN would even hire these two individuals. My God there is certainly enough on-air talent out there!

At FOX there was a male/female anchor team. The female anchor was desperately trying to be amusing by including very lame jokes after each story. The male anchor looked a bit miffed to be honest.
Click to expand...

There are some doozies on-the-air these days; that's for sure.

Isn't Brewer the same person who had a verbal clash with Don Imus several years ago? If memory serves me correct, she worked at the same station as Imus and was a news reader on his show. Heated words were exchanged over something either Imus or Brewer said. Can anyone fill in the blanks?
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Isn't Brewer the same person who had a verbal clash with Don Imus several years ago? If memory serves me correct, she worked at the same station as Imus and was a news reader on his show. Heated words were exchanged over something either Imus or Brewer said. Can anyone fill in the blanks?
Click to expand...

From Wikipedia:

In the spring of 2005 Brewer served briefly as a news reader on the Imus in the Morning radio show, which was syndicated nationally. Her tenure was brief; she became embroiled in a public feud with Don Imus after the New York Post published a gossip item[2] in which she was allegedly overheard disparaging the radio personality. Imus replied, on air, with his own disparaging remarks directed at Brewer.[2] She later appeared as the news reader on Verdict with Dan Abrams before its cancellation in 2008. She and Dan Abrams would discuss the "Winners and Losers" of the day, as well as reading responses from readers. She hosts MSNBC Live weekdays at noon.

Brewer was criticized live on air by New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg. Gregg said she was "absurd", "fundamentally dishonest", "irresponsible" and lacked "integrity" for her handling of interviews.[3]

In May 2010, Brewer received criticism for her comments about the Times Square car bomb attempt:

There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country, because there are a lot of people who want to use this terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry.

This woman has quite a history doesn't she?

I also remember that during a heated interview with a guest on MSNBC that she told the control room to turn off the guest's microphone when the guest was getting the better of her pertaining to the subject (of which I forgot) being discussed.
 
Frank Ferreri said:
Have to agree. They seem to hire the same way Hooters does. Doesn't matter how bad you are at waiting on tables as long as you look good doing it and are blonde. Way back "in the day" there were only a handful of AM radio stations in each market. Therefore, to get a full time gig was difficult. You had to be really good just to even get a part time gig. Along comes FM and voila! There are twice as many stations. Same in baseball. Once upon a time there were a handful of teams. You had to be really good to get to the majors. 24 hour cable news has changed the quality level of on air talent. My personal favorite is the news tease at 5:30 break in the Beck program. A gal gives a few headlines and then intro's Bret Baer for a tease of "Special Report" with "HEY Bret" and he answers "Hey so and so". Just waiting for Goober or Barney to chime in with "Hey Andy"
Click to expand...

You hit the nail right on the head regarding the hiring practices of networks and especially local television operations. I am reminded of the movie "Network News" with William Hurt. Hurt played this good-looking ken doll type who had no concept of what real news was yet managed to be the lead anchor of a major network.

I'm no Edwin Newman, but when I hear someone starting out a sentence with the word "Hey" I feel like screaming! But I did get a laugh out of the "Hey Andy" comment. ;D
 
The Voice of Reason said:
Mark_Giardina said:
Isn't Brewer the same person who had a verbal clash with Don Imus several years ago? If memory serves me correct, she worked at the same station as Imus and was a news reader on his show. Heated words were exchanged over something either Imus or Brewer said. Can anyone fill in the blanks?
Click to expand...

From Wikipedia:

In the spring of 2005 Brewer served briefly as a news reader on the Imus in the Morning radio show, which was syndicated nationally. Her tenure was brief; she became embroiled in a public feud with Don Imus after the New York Post published a gossip item[2] in which she was allegedly overheard disparaging the radio personality. Imus replied, on air, with his own disparaging remarks directed at Brewer.[2] She later appeared as the news reader on Verdict with Dan Abrams before its cancellation in 2008. She and Dan Abrams would discuss the "Winners and Losers" of the day, as well as reading responses from readers. She hosts MSNBC Live weekdays at noon.

Brewer was criticized live on air by New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg. Gregg said she was "absurd", "fundamentally dishonest", "irresponsible" and lacked "integrity" for her handling of interviews.[3]

In May 2010, Brewer received criticism for her comments about the Times Square car bomb attempt:

There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country, because there are a lot of people who want to use this terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry.

This woman has quite a history doesn't she?

I also remember that during a heated interview with a guest on MSNBC that she told the control room to turn off the guest's microphone when the guest was getting the better of her pertaining to the subject (of which I forgot) being discussed.
Click to expand...

Considering the information you have provided me I have one question. How does Brewer manage to keep her job?
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Considering the information you have provided me I have one question. How does Brewer manage to keep her job?
Click to expand...

I'll give you two BIG guesses and a pretty face. ;D
 
The Voice of Reason said:
I also remember that during a heated interview with a guest on MSNBC that she told the control room to turn off the guest's microphone when the guest was getting the better of her pertaining to the subject (of which I forgot) being discussed.
Click to expand...
The guest was John Ziegler and they were talking about David Letterman's lame jokes about Sarah Palin and her underage daughter. When John attempted to jab MSNBC (citing Olbermann's false claims) Contessa stopped the entire interview to ask him if he wanted to do the interview as though she was doing him a huge favor.

And people wonder why MSNBC is dead last in the ratings.
 
I have not done an "official" study on this, but I believe there are countless former cable anchors who are now back in local tv. What does that tell us?

To answer my own question: cable news seems like a step up, but in reality, being a big star in a local market carries many more benefits.
 
Just to be fair I watched MSNBC for a second time during lunch again yesterday and came away with my original opinion that Contessa Brewer is a frustrated actress pretending to be a serious journalist.

Apparently Ms. Brewer feels that she must be the center of everything with her snide comments and her constant hand-waving.

Just read the damn news lady! Or better yet quit calling yourself a news anchor and ask your bosses for a job as a commentator or talk show host.
 
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