Page 232 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

A TYRANNY OF INTIMACY? 221

femininity. The high number of anchor-women in Dutch television
news might tell audiences that the public sphere, of which the news is a
constituent part, is no longer a male preserve, but an appropriate place
for women to reside too.
The Dutch case is not that simple, however. In the context of recent
changes in Dutch television news, the dominance of women
newsreaders presents another scenario. The increased number of female
newsreaders runs parallel with an ‘intimization’ of the Journaal, among
other things recognizable in its modes of address. I will describe those
changes below and argue that the dominance of women newsreaders can
also be seen as yet another articulation of traditional femininity.

THE INTIMIZATION OF DUTCH TELEVISION
NEWS
Dutch television news has undergone numerous changes since it was
first broadcast in 1956. The first bulletin looked more or less like the
newsreels shown in movie theatres. It went on air only three times a
week at 8 p.m. Due to technical limitations and personal preferences the
focus was on human interest stories and ritual functions of news,
labelled as ‘story journalism’ by Schudson (1978). Newsreaders
appeared infrequently in that period, usually only by necessity when
images to visualize events were not available. They were thought to
hamper the objective character of the news.

If a newsreader were seen while giving the news, any change in
his visual manner, a smile or a lift of an eyebrow might, however
little this was intended, be interpreted as comment. The sacred
dividing line between fact and comment would be blurred.
(Holland 1987:146)
Although newsreaders appeared ever more frequently on the screen, the
uninvolved and detached mode of reading the news remained common
practice until the mid-1970s. Personal traits and peculiarities were de-
emphasized. As one TV critic ironically put it:

In the first place a newsreader, be it a woman or a man, must not
be too attractive, and—although this is less relevant—not too bad
looking either. Of course it is strictly prohibited to read bad news
in any other way than good news. Objectivity would be
endangered by it.