Kyle Hunter, a television weatherman, has sued CBS for sex and age discrimination for what he claims is an overriding preference given to young attractive women to give the weather forecasts. We have followed this controversy in earlier stories over whether attractive looks can be an appropriate (even an overriding) criteria for anchors, waitresses, or other professions. Hunter insists that he encountered a cold front at every term.
What is different about this lawsuit is that we have previously seen women anchors sue over such discrimination.
Hunter was a weatherman for Fox5 in San Diego but says that his gender and age has effectively barred him from the air. He is suing for unfair discrimination under California employment law on the basis of gender.
However, he alleges that he was only passed over twice for positions. He alleges that he was not even given an interview for either job despite strong credentials. Yet, his complaint insists that the stations “only want attractive young women, and only attractive young women, broadcasting the weather.”
This issue has long intrigued me. Most anchors and television personalities are attractive people. They are often revealed to abroad as mere “news readers.” It seems an act of tremendous willful blindness to ignore that looks are an obvious advantage for such work. Hunter himself is attractive and likely was preferred to less striking candidates in his earlier positions. The question is whether restaurants, news organizations, and shops should be able to openly hire people for their looks or gender as better for business. Actors and actresses are picked for their looks to pull people into theaters. Why can’t television studios do the same? Anchor positions and other television spots have never gone to the most qualified journalists . . . hence the expression “I have a face for radio.”
The obvious concern is a slippery slope. If a business can prefer women to work at Victoria’s Secret, can they openly prefer attractive young women or bar types of religious garb? What about restaurants like Hooter’s that draw customers in part on the promise of young attractive waitresses? We have seen such lawsuits even from strippers who are hired entirely for their looks.
We have long recognized the existence of bona fide employment qualifications, but we have danced around questions over whether businesses can prefer attractiveness and gender as more compelling images for attracting customers.
In the case of on-air forecasters, they are hired for their skills but work with a larger staff and often repeated independently generated data. They, like other television personalities, are expected to “connect” with viewers, particularly among the critical demographic audience. However, if you accept this reality, you must face the question of social judgments that differentiate between gender. Women anchors have long objected that studios reflect a social preference for younger women but not necessarily younger male anchors.
The one thing that is clear is that such judgments should never be applied to law professors where we only improve with age like fine wine.
While CBS is denying such discrimination, it is widely viewed as the standard in the industry. No one would argue that Chelsea Clinton was renewed as a journalist with NBC based on her skills or experience or perceived talents. She was renewed because she was a celebrity draw from the right demographic niche.
What do you think about the right of studios to such criteria as age and gender in selecting television personalities?
Of course, younger weathermen might need a bit of maturing in the job:
Source: Daily Mail
ID707:
no worries. You are a gentleman and so I assumed it was a mistake.
By the way what has been your experience with the health care in Sweden (right?)?
I am having a conversation on another blog with a Dr. who wrote a very negative piece about government controlled health care. Not that I agree with government control but what is the real story with it. I imagine it is rationed to some extent (and we certainly ration it here but by the individual and his doctor not a panel).
What has been your experience? Positive and negative. What is the tax level in Sweden? How much does health care cost per capita?
Do Swedes have the same maladies we do? What is the cancer survival rate and what is the average life span?
How do doctors treat you?
Did I write Bron, of course it was ANON.
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anon1, March 19, 2012 at 3:55 pm
@idealist707,
You’ve amply demonstrated you’re a paranoid conspiracy theorist troll.
I am pleased to know you serve[d] past tense in the Army.
Our Army and its members and its country deserves far better than crapola. It’s good to know you’re out and they and we are safe from you.
Piss off. Sir.
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http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/18/professor-defends-sandra-fluke-as-mere-extortionist-or-prostitute-not-slut-students-react-creatively/#comment-345851
My apologies to Bron. You have been the victim of my mistake in using names and mistakenly accused. Again my humblest apologies.
Thanks, Gene H.. Writing stuff at 1 AM and at 75 years is not a wise idea.
ANON, show your mil record, if you have one. I gave mine..and you disparaged me.
Yep. Same guy.
commoner,
lol
Is this the same Kyle Hunter??
He looks like Price Charming from “Shrek”!
My nephew is a TV weatherguy (a degree in communications and certified by the national weather service – which requires a hard course of instruction and test one has to pass). He feels this guy is wrong, they have to hire the person that gets (or they think will get) the ratings.
(I have asked him “How is it with all the computer models and science you have you are wrong an awful lot of the time?” He pretended I never asked. (*
Gene H:
thank you.
id707,
I think you may be confused. Bron is not anon and while I disagree with almost everything Bron says and in his choice of operating principles, he has never shown anything but respect for the men and women of our Armed Services to my knowledge.
Pete, Oh my 🙂 I think that’s the reaction CBS (or any network) can dreams about from its weather report.
i have no idea what the weather is but my day is sunnier
ID707:
if you are thinking I am anon, you would be wrong. You can ask Gene H if you dont believe me.
I have never insulted any one’s service and would not.
I think anon was wrong to say that about you. No matter what he/she may think of you personally, denigrating ones service is pretty low.
LOL, an excellent vid Tony C. Thanks. That pretty well sums it up doesn’t it?
Yea, a Silver Sow Award would help, no doubt. 🙂
Maybe if this guy had won five Buckeye Newshawk Awards and the coveted Silver Sow Award for hog reporting, he wouldn’t be looking for a new job.
I just remembered, The Daily Show did this back in 2007:
Samantha Bee, and “News I’d Like to F–k”.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-may-16-2007/news-i-d-like-to-f–k
Idealist707:
I am not sure how you think I scorned yours.
Please advise.
Didn’t some place in Europe have topless newscasters? If the women would just take their clothes off, it would eliminate all the hypocrisy. As for technical training, I’m sure that being able to distinguish an H from an L is all that is required.
@lottakatz: Well, at what point does a preference become a discriminatory act that is actionable?
I think that is so hard to define objectively that I would leave it up to a jury, but in general when the “preference” is just personal prejudice with no rationale.
But there is a rationale for casting a 22 year old, thin and pretty girl as the love interest in a movie, versus a 65 year old grandmother. There is a rationale for hiring young college women at Hooters or other such places, they have carved out a PG-14 position between G-rated “restaurant” and X-rated “strip club” that sells non-explicit sex appeal. (non-explicit in the sense that they couldn’t be arrested for wearing the same costume on the street.)
Hooters is a form of entertainment. So is the news and weather and anything else on TV, you can get the news and forecast without any human presenting it at all (just read the paper, watch the weather channel, or go online).
As entertainment, I think all channels boil down to personal preference, and there is a rationale for choosing attractive actors the producer thinks will get the highest ratings.
Looks like gender discrimination to me….. Be the hey at least he is nice to subject to death in the US yet…
Bron,
So, answer my question. What if any military service did you do?
None, I presume.
i asked you after you scorned mine on the other thread. Answer now or be called a coward.
Woosty:
“It’s nothing new…and your statement being wrong…that’s nothing new either.”
Real wages did double in the 1800’s, look it up.