BBC presenter dropped because 'she was not young and pretty enough'

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

A second Countryfile presenter axed from the BBC1 show was told by a member of the production team that she did not pass the "primetime test" because she "was not young or pretty", a tribunal heard today.

Charlotte Smith was one of four female presenters who were dropped from the rural affairs show when it switched from Sunday mornings to a new Sunday teatime slot last year.

She was giving evidence today at the tribunal in Holborn, central London, hearing an age discrimination complaint from Miriam O'Reilly, another presenter dropped from the show.

Smith, who had presented on the show for a decade, told the tribunal that she had light-heartedly suggested she could fill in on the show when it found itself short of presenters last year.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/09/bbc-countryfile-presenter

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Ugh, more sexism. Look at the photo of the current presenters



ESPECIALLY the man on the far right. So lemme get this straight: women have to look "young and pretty" to present a TV show, but men have it easier...as long as they can present the program effectively even with wrinkles and graying/balding hair? (which is why Dan Rather got to present the CBS Evening News even up to his early 70s). and the media wonders why women are so self-loathing of their body images.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. Oh look at that handsome white haired young man. Brad Pitt eat your heart out. nt

[brooklynite]

22. No, no, no, you don't get it...

This is all about casting...

You need:
1) a young energetic go-getting male to be the primary face for hard-hitting news
2) a young attractive sensitive female to show concern for the audience and handle human interest pieces
3) an old professorial male to offer "perspective" on the issues of the day
(and optionally, a jolly fat guy for weather and "light" stories)

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. LOL. Yes the white haired guy provides the "gravitas" that the young energetic go-getting male

might lack.

[Javaman]

38. isn't that the same forumla used for 1950's sci-fi movies? nt

[treestar]

2. One of the reasons I hate news shows

so many young women - you'd think the older ones would have more experience and hold those positions.

It's just so silly.

[alp227]

3. do you count Rachel Maddow or Democracy Now as "news shows"?

Those programs are both female-hosted, but the hosts care more about reporting news than looks.

[treestar]

6. Never heard of Democracy now

Rachel Maddow doesn't seem to be under 35 to me. No offense if she's younger.

I'm thinking more of the local ones - how you'll see a panel with some silver haired man and a very young woman.

[alp227]

7. Maddow was born in '73, according to Wikipedia n/t

[Blue_Tires]

8. link

http://www.democracynow.org/

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Never heard of Democracy Now?

Wow.

[treestar]

24. You know I bet I've heard of a few things you haven't

[Demoiselle]

26. I don't think of Rachel as a "presenter."

She's a commentator who hosts her own show and takes very definite positions on issues. "Presenters" just read the news. I think that the vapid echo chamber pap that "presenters" read doesn't require them to be very discerning, able, or experienced. And the msm intends to keep it that way.

[whathehell]

28. It's still an old boys club, unfortunately. n/t

[Uzybone]

4. the only news here is that the producers were honest

[Crazy Dave]

5. People (even on DU) used to rag on Rita Cosby all the time

But I always thought it was great to see someone that wasn't Barbi Doll perfect have a successful news career.

[jancantor]

11. and Greta...

she is definitely not barbie doll anything. Otoh, Julianne Malveaux is achingly beautiful

[Blue_Tires]

9. wow...how MTV of them...

BBC must be taking a page from Sky News (and yes, their on-air presenters are hotties)

[Turborama]

25. I don't like Kay Burley

And I'm not talking about her looks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Burley

[Blue_Tires]

27. i guess i was thinking more of the Sky Sports news show...

[Blue Owl]

10. a tad Boylesque

n/t

[sabrina 1]

12. Well, the woman in the middle will probably have a short career.

The guy in the red jacket though, going by the guy in the blue jacket, will be set for life.

I don't care how old they are, I just want to see professionalism return to journalism. CNN seems to go out of their way to find the least professional, most fake, painted, died-hair women to host their various shows. I can't watch them. I always feel they are auditioning for some local beauty contest rather than delivering news.

Their best and most gracious and naturally beautiful, most professional female journalist was Christiane Amanpour. Other than that, I can't think of a woman there that I feel confident is a real journalist who does anything more than just read the memos.

[kurtzapril4]

20. Linda Ellerbee! n/t

[Coventina]

13. The most unforgivable crime in our society: being an old woman. n/t

[Monk06]

14. Young and pretty only applies to women at the BBC .........

They don't even insist on decent clothes and haircuts for
these three BBC millionaires.

[Turborama]

29. That's bit of a stretch! Looks have nothing to do with it, those guys are hilarious! n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. You won't get very far saying John Craven shouldn't be there

He's a legend in BBC broadcasting. For years he was the presenter of 'Newsround', a serious news programme for children, and which deserves to be mentioned alongside Sesame Street as good children's programming. He is universally known in Britain, and I think he's been with Countryfile since it started. Having him there gives the show both seriousness and accessibility.

The question is whether they were ageist by chucking the other previous presenters in favour of Baker and Bradbury; and I think they probably were. Mind you, Julia Bradbury is only 4 years younger than Michela Strachan, one of the axed presenters. And Charlotte Smith is only 2 years older than that. I suspect it was done on looks as much as anything.

[dipsydoodle]

30. I was just thinking that

I can't believe they've axed Michela Strachan

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. There are fairly credible reasons for dropping her

He said he would have welcomed the former Really Wild Show presenter Strachan on the new show, but said her availability had become limited after she moved to South Africa. He said her availability was limited further because as a vegetarian, Strachan refused to present reports about the meat production process.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/08/miriam-oreilly-bbc-countryfile

From 2005:

Chard still lives in Bristol, and Strachan now lives in South Africa, but they are on good terms. "Duncan and I don't have a huge amount of contact, simply because we are on different continents and don't really need to talk to each other a lot," she says. "But there is certainly no animosity there and he knows about the baby."

Strachan, 39, met Chevalier during one of her regular visits to South Africa to check on her house in Cape Town. "A friend introduced us and then, each time I came back, we'd meet. It was a hard relationship to maintain because of the distance. I was away a lot, including returning to Britain to film for my BBC series, Country File.
...
Strachan made her last trip to Britain in April to work on the Country File series, and to do voiceovers for several projects, including her new series, Elephant Diaries, the latest natural history project from award-winning film-maker Jonathan Scott, creator of the long-running Big Cat Diary, which will be first shown as part of the BBC's Africa Week in July.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3644014/Ill-be-taking-my-baby-to-work.html

And it's true that Countryfile is not in the business of knocking farming for meat.

[dipsydoodle]

33. Ta for that

Didn't realise she was outside of commuting distance.

[pacalo]

17. The clowns who make these decisions should focus on trustworthy news content

& that'll attract more viewers than having one presenting the news naked. We're that desperate for substance.

[nunyabidness]

18. So?

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Romulox]

21. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

The chief (perhaps only?) qualifications for a "news presenter" is the ability to read a teleprompter, and how one looks. Please lets not pretend that these women who are now suing didn't get these jobs on one of those bases in the first place!

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. No, not true at all in O'Reilly's case

Her résumé: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/about/miriam_oreilly.shtml - reporter, producer, and presenter, "she has won the Foreign Press, Royal Television Society and British Environment Media Awards".

And Charlotte Smith came via radio, so teleprompters and looks weren't relevant: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/people/presenters/charlotte-smith/

And since she's been a producer too, it's not just about 'reading a script', before you say that.

[bc3000]

34. Of course there is a double standard.

Men generally like young, pretty women. Women generally like powerful men with money. If the nature of women changes then the old guy on the right will get canned. Or if the nature of men changes then old women will start getting more TV jobs.

But before women get angry about the way things are, they should realize that it's not the fault of men that women generally don't share the same tastes as men in regards to the opposite sex. The programmers are putting people on the air that generally appeal to everyone. If that's not equality, then what is?

[Darth_Kitten]

37. Sorry, how do you know what women like?

Women like handsome,too...and young doesn't necessarily mean pretty. They most certainly wouldn't deny a man a job (if they even had that power) just because he wasn't Brad Pitt.

Women don't need to change their natures.

[sakabatou]

35. I hope she sues

[24601]

36. You don't really think people watch faux for the news? And don't

forget the boob jobs!