The news anchor for Fox TV's Boston affiliate, don't know her name, don't wanna know to be honest...she was wearing spiked heels, a short black skirt--a sexually provocative dressing agenda you could say (roll tape, Tobias)...Anyhow, I was watching the "news" with my brother at his house in New Hampshire, and the choice was Fox. And there she was, sharing center stage with a male anchor wearing nothing I could see as sexually suggestive--there she was, setting up dispatches for reporters in the field. And after some commercials she was back, perched half-way up a spiral staircase, delivering the news! A mini-skirted vampy news anchor in spiked heels delivering the news on a spiral staircase in the FOX TV news studio! (It seemed like a well-balanced staricase, incidentally.) What red-blooded heterosexual male wouldn't want to see the news--murders, Massachusetts legislative controversies, wicked-bad winter storm updates, analysis of the global impact of Tiger Woods' apology--what's not to like about news delivered by a sexually provocative anchor standing on a spiral staircase?
And so we integrate the Fox News Boston broadcast, at least on a Wednesday night in late February 2010, into the cauldron of Sleaze Nation content. Why sexualize the news? Yes, yes, yes, we know, we know, we know--ratings, ratings, ratings, men like to look at sexy women. The mini-skirted anchor will keep ratings high, need to attract the men, what's wrong with that? The debate's been going on for decades: Why dumb down news? Why has news become entertainment? Why sexualize news? Why exploit women's sexuality for news ratings to help giant media corporations increase profits and meet or exceed quarterly earnings expectations? (Where have you gone Walter Cronkite?)
So here we go, in the spirit of shedding light on the mindset behind the layers of Sleaze comprising the Sleaze Nation. On we go to Fox News Boston with hopes to interview the anchor in the spiked heels and miniskirt who sets up shop on the spiral staircase as she dispenses "news" to millions of people. (Lust a Little With Your News, how's that to complement fair-and-balanced?) Who's idea, the staircase? Why spiral? Where does the spiral staircase lead to? Why spiked heels? Miniskirt? Why black? Is this news or entertainment? Why does news have to entertain, illicit lustful thoughts? Why do news anchors need to broadcast (no pun) their sexuality? Who'd be surprised Fox would raise the ante on sexploitation of news? Maybe crusty old Rupert Murdoch might weigh in on this.
So we'll try and interview the anchor in spikes (or whatever she's wearing, or not wearing, when we interview her, assuming she agrees), and any producers, directors, stage hands, etc. who put the show together. Why does news need to be delivered with sexual swagger? Why? Walter must be ducking under his desk in the grave. Once the most trusted man in the United States...now the model for news, at least a very powerful one, is Fox News Boston's Little-Miss-Spiral-Staircase-in-Spiked-Heels. Why not sit her down, just sit her down, settle for plunging neckline behind a desk, or maybe have her climb that spiral staircase to the set of a sleazy Fox TV show, like..............
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