Page 499 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

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did you know?
CBS and Fox: From Wrestling to News to “Reality/Comedy Hybrid”

With no journalistic expertise, former beauty queen Lauren Jones made the transition from
being a WWE wrestler to becoming a news anchor for CBS affiliate KYTX in Tyler, Texas, in
June 2007. Female journalists have been systematically marginalized throughout the news
business, but Jones was retained in an attempt to boost the ratings of the self-described
“Eye of East Texas.” KYTX had been mired in a ratings slump, so station owner Phil Hurley
recruited Jones, who also had previous experience as one of “Barker’s Beauties” on the
game show The Price is Right. Publicity photos announcing the new position pictured Jones
in an alluring pose wearing a leopard-print V-neck top and a red miniskirt on the set. Zap2IT.
com reported that she also had on-camera skills from a former stint as the “Hobo Bikini
Model” on Wonder Showzen.
When Hurley hired Jones, the CBS affiliate also provided the premise for Anchorwoman,
a new FOX reality TV show billed as a “comedy/reality hybrid” that premiered in August 2007.
The FOX press release promoting the series promised that Jones would have ample oppor-
tunities for conflict with other station celebrities including reporter Michelle Reese and an-
chor Annalisa Petraglia. KYTX is also the home of the beloved mascot, Stormy the Weather
Dog, and industry reports wondered if Jones would get along with Stormy. With the hire of
Jones, the collaboration between CBS and FOX represents a qualitative leap in sensational
megacorporate media practices and a stunning merger of news with the reality-show pro-
duction values of shock, voyeurism, and revealing titillation. It also represents a step back-
ward for women with aspirations to serious journalism who continue to be evaluated on their
ability to allure instead of by their professional skills and dedication to keeping the public
informed.

Critics hold that media sensationalism stems from increased bottom-line
management and that media have been on a downward spiral, increasingly look-
ing for stories that boost ratings and sell papers instead of reporting that informs
the citizenry about important issues of the day. The axiom for some of the worst
local television news has been historically, “if it bleeds, it leads,” a phrase that
indicates the preference for graphic television footage. While the visual nature
of television lends itself to sensational news coverage, and dramatic footage can
often drive the news agenda, the pioneers of sensationalism forged a path long
before the video camera was invented.

ThE agE oF yELLow JournaLism

Attention-grabbing news is not unique to the present media landscape. The
print media employed the strategies and styles of the tabloid press in earlier
times during the era of “yellow journalism.” At the end of the nineteenth cen-
tury, the penny press had been flourishing for 50 years and editors were proud
of producing newspapers everyone could read, presenting news from the rest