I heart xkcd
Art Project
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Appearance Over Content
In chapter seven of AOTD, there is a fascinating story about a co-anchor. The co-anchor, Christine Craft was fired because her appearance, "hampered viewer acceptance"(101). Basically, she got fired because she was not very attractive. You would think the networks would hire someone for their journalism or mass communication skills, but no. They are looking for people who are good looking. It is clear that the media continues to focus on appearance, rather than the content that is being published to the society, but that is not going to change. It is true that people like to view appealing people, but the focus on looks should not get in the way of the context of the information. It is not surprising that FOX news, who has considerably better looking anchors, has thousands of more viewers than other news stations such as CNN.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I noticed recently - and confirmed using research - that the majority of female FOX news anchors all look similar: blonde with primarily blue eyes. Isn't it odd that people care more about how blonde the anchor is rather than how interesting, relevant, or hard-hitting the news they are reporting on is?
ReplyDeleteI agree. I made a post similar to this, where I pretty much shared a similar opinion on the topic. True, the media at present has shifted to the focus on appearance. However, the context of the information (like you said), should definitely be of more importance than the newscaster's appearance.
ReplyDeleteTo Jessica Mendoza, it IS quite odd that the public have begun to care more about how blonde (or how good looking I should say) the anchor is aside from a focus on the news itself. Has quality and visuals of entertainment become a greater importance to society rather than the content?
I have to agree on the fact that today in society appearance and first impression matter a lot more than they should. The people who run the television network air only what the audience would want. They cater to the people who value appearance more than anything else. I don't value appearance a lot and I know I may sound a bit shallow, but if I were to see a Victoria Secret Commercial that had an unappealing person endorse their product, I would not be inclined to shop there at all. This was just an example. I don't shop there to begin with.
ReplyDelete