Hooked on Looks

Monday, Dec. 21, 1998 | 11:42 a.m.

Congratulations, Alyson McCarthy, on the birth of your new child: a healthy baby boy.

He's adorable. He has your eyes. Nicholaus is a fine name, very distinguished.

Oh, incidentally, you've been demoted.

Sorry. In the TV business, those are the breaks.

"It's a fact -- pregnancy will put on 40 or 50 pounds," McCarthy, an evening anchor on KTNV Channel 13, said. "I was demoted while I was on maternity leave."

It was no coincidence, McCarthy says, that the decision to strip her of the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. slots by Channel 13's former management team in 1993 was made after she gained weight during pregnancy.

As a result, McCarthy was awarded the dying-on-the-vine 6 p.m. broadcast, the station's lowest-rated newscast at the time, and wished good luck.

"I got the old, 'It's time for a change' speech, but I was working 12 to 16 hours a day while I was pregnant, and I had a very good reputation," McCarthy said. "I didn't have a doubt it was because of my appearance. It was my first demotion and it was a real eye-opener."

McCarthy realized the risk in altering her appearance. In the ever-turbulent world of local television, even the slightest change in hairstyle can cause multitudes of finicky viewers to zap to an alternative program.

Still, McCarthy was stunned.

"I was literally re-negotiating my contract with an infant in a baby carriage at my side," she said. "When you just come back after maternity leave and your hormones are racing, you're feeling a lot of guilt. ... You either take a new gig or quit, but I was not in a position to quit."

McCarthy recovered nicely, strengthening her reporting and anchoring skills, and remains a staple at Channel 13. But her concerns regarding emphasis on physical appearance are shared with her broadcast brethren.

Stories of "a revolving door of blondes," as one local anchor (who didn't want her name attached to that comment) put it, still pervade the local television news industry.

"I wish we could get past that," Nina Radetich of KVBC Channel 3, said. "We haven't turned the corner enough. There are a lot of women who want to get into this field, and they are afraid that (whomever) looks best is going to get the job."

The fear is real among female anchors nationwide.

In a survey conducted by Erika Engstrom and Anthony Ferri, associate professors in UNLV's Hank Greenspun School of Communication, a large majority of female anchors nationwide cited overemphasis on physical appearance as the No. 1 career barrier in local television journalism.

Seventy-five percent of the 128 women responding to written questionnaires said they agree that too high a priority is placed on physical appearance in the television news industry. Eighteen percent disagreed, and just seven percent had no opinion of the question.

The second-most pressing concern listed was a conflict between filling roles of wife, mother and newscaster. Third was a related concern: balancing family and career.

But the findings were clear on the women's primary concern. In television news, looks -- or, more pointedly, bad looks -- can haunt female anchors.

Trend unchanged

The UNLV survey was actually an update of a poll conducted by the university in 1986. The results were published two years later, and were remarkably similar to the most recent Ferri-Engstrom survey.

That, Engstrom said, was alarming.

"It's disheartening to know that 10 years ago, or even longer than that, women reported the very same thing," Engstrom said. "They still feel physical appearance still matters, that there is an overemphasis. It might not deter their career or make them quit in every case, but it is something they have to contend with."

Survey results also indicate a trend in local stations employing youthful women. The 1986 poll showed the average age of respondents was 28, Engstrom said. The most recent survey's average age was between 30-34, and no respondent listed an age older than 49.

"Again, it shows emphasis on appearance, in this case a more youthful appearance," Engstrom said. "There is a feeling that as men age, they become more distinguished while women just get old."

UNLV has also conducted a survey of male anchors. The results haven't yet been published, but there are two significant discrepancies: overemphasis on physical appearance was listed as the 27th-highest concern among men (out of 34 possible responses) and those who responded were older than their female counterparts.

"We had many men over 49," Engstrom said. "One of our concerns is that there were no women over 49 in our sample, but a lot of older men."

The men's primary career barrier? An absence of a national network, support group, union or association to cater to the career needs of local TV anchors. That concern was listed as No. 4 among women.

"When asked the same question, men and women in the field are giving very different responses," Engstrom said. "It hasn't changed in the past decade."

Addressing the issue

Local anchors, however, have attempted to distance themselves from the issue while concurrently arguing that physical appearance remains too prevalent a priority among news directors and viewers.

Often, their contentions are contradictory: Yes, looks are important and good looks are vital to the success of female anchors -- but not in my case.

"There's a lot of emphasis on appearance, and more so for women than men," Juana Hart of KLAS Channel 8, said. "But my biggest barriers have not been related to appearance, but by my choices in balancing a family."

Hart said the trend nationally is for networks to showcase diversified on-air talent.

"For a long time there was a perception that a blonde, blue-eyed anchor was the most appealing to the audience, but to an extent that's started to shatter," Hart said. "When you see Bryant Gumbel as an African-American man teamed with Katie Couric, a little brunette who's not a glamour girl, you can see that there are some positive changes being made."

Still, Hart has felt pressure from viewers to tailor her on-air image.

"If someone is unhappy with how you look or appear, you hear about it immediately," Hart said. "Even if you get a haircut, there's instant response. Someone once told me they thought I should wear more jewelry on the air. But I consider myself a person of substance who has a lot to say, and I could live in jeans and a sweatshirt and be perfectly happy."

Kim Sherwood of Channel 13 said Las Vegas in the late-'90s doesn't compare with mid-'80s Los Angeles in the superficiality department.

"I worked in L.A., in radio, in 1985 and 1986," she said. "I saw more of this in L.A. than anywhere I've worked. I felt that if you weren't a raving beauty and a blonde, you didn't have a chance.

'We still have some challenges in that regard, but since the early and mid-'80s we've made some strides."

But that doesn't prevent some female TV broadcasters, McCarthy among them, from obtaining disfigurement insurance to ensure that an appearance-altering accident won't leave an anchor financially strapped.

"It's offered through the company, and if my face or part of my body were disfigured and would prevent me from being on the air, I'm covered," she said. "It's a sad commentary in a way, that of all the things you have to worry about in our industry, that's one of them."

Paula Francis of Channel 8 was among the women surveyed by UNLV and held mixed feelings after learning of the results.

"From a personal standpoint I don't agree with the answers," she said. "They didn't jibe with how I feel. Respondents are saying they are concerned, but I don't think it should be a concern.

"Television, for good or bad, sort of subscribes to -- I hate to say this -- the entertainment field, and the presenter of the news is always in the public eye and is conscious of appearance."

Is it a bad thing?

There is a prevailing opinion that physical appearance does matter in television -- and for good reason.

"People on TV have a little better than average physical appearance, and I think it's just one of the qualities that draws people into this career," Francis said. "If a person has above-average physical appearance, psychologists tell us they are more outgoing, confident and this is the type of career they'll enter. It's the same with actors and, unfortunately, even with politicians.

"Just as a person with good math skills might go into the computer field, a person with good looks will look at a career in television. Looks, in a lot of cases, are a given."

There is no shame in looking good on the air, Las Vegas 1 anchor Deborah Levy said.

"It's part of the business. Part of your job is to look professional," she said. "It's not just women. Anybody who works in this business has to be aware of the fact that you should look good. You can't just roll out of bed and go on TV."

Said Sherwood: "You're looking for someone who won't turn viewers away. For a lot of us, you're taught as kids to take care of yourself and to look good and professional, so to that extent appearance is important."

The idea, naturally, is to be competent as well as well-presented.

"Hopefully, people are getting hired because of their talents, because you sniffed out stories and became a competent reporter before becoming an anchor," Radetich said. "I think in this business, we've started pushing away from looks being an all-important issue."

Sherwood notes that, nationally, importance placed on looks varies depending on the type of news program.

"If you're looking at a serious news program, a legitimate network news program, it doesn't matter at all because the priority is quality news coverage," she said. "But if you're looking at tabloid TV, there are different standards, obviously, and beauty might be the best means to get high ratings."

Who makes the call?

Engstrom contends that the importance of physical appearance is determined by the viewing audience.

"Every decision is made to satisfy viewers' demands, and it's all about ratings," she said. "What do the viewers like? If they don't like your anchor's looks, it'll show in the ratings."

Sherwood has been hearing that argument for years.

"Consultants always tell you their decisions are viewer-generated," she said. "But the industry is setting its own standards. It's a chicken-or-egg question. Are we guided by consultants who are guided by viewers, or are the consultants themselves dictating what's going on the air?"

KVVU Channel 5 news director Gwen Castaldi has experienced industry trends as an anchor, reporter and management figure for more than two decades. She contends that news directors are more conscious than ever about appearance discrimination.

"I come from both sides," said Castaldi, an anchor for 19 years, most recently at Channel 3, before taking over the fledgling Fox news show earlier this year. "The days of total glamour that permeated the industry in the past seem to be fading, or over, but there is still that concern among many anchors that they'll suffer if they don't look good."

Castaldi added: "I don't know anyone who would hire someone based on looks. People want real people, they appreciate down-to-earth people and good communicators."

Then why do so many women list appearance as a chief concern?

"Because there was a time when, to some degree, news directors valued looks over anything else," Castaldi said. "That's unfortunate. If that's still the case, I've never run into it. Everyone I've dealt with, my concern is how they communicate.

"Whatever sense of barriers women see in this business doesn't need to exist. In management, looks are not a criteria I use. Presence on the air is my biggest concern."

Radetich, for one, is encouraged by such talk.

"Barbara Walters can be an inspiration," she said. "She gives people like me some hope that when we're 50, we can still be doing what we love."

For a generation of female anchors, that would be welcome news.

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