Anchoring ain’t what it used to be
Why network news anchors are flying out the door
If there were a building where all network news anchors work, and you stood outside, you’d see bodies flying out the revolving door and landing with a thud on the sidewalk. What is going on with so many anchors leaving, or being pushed, out of what normally are high level jobs that pay extremely well?
Recent examples:
· CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell
· NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt
· MSNBC anchor Joy Reid
· Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd
· CNN anchors Jim Acosta, Chris Wallace and Alisyn Camerota
· NBC Today show anchor Hoda Kotb
The reasons are varied. Some got shoved. Some have been doing it a long time and it’s time to move on. Some likely were at the end of their contracts and were facing pay cuts as media owners slash budgets. The jobs still pay well, but not like they used to.
Anthony Adornato, chair of broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University, told USA Today that news organizations are putting “less of an emphasis on those big-name anchors who are making a ton of money” as news consumption habits change.
Most people would consider an anchor job to be a cushy assignment. The jobs still pay well. Indoor work. Nice clothing allowance. No heavy lifting.
But there are some common issues that can make anchoring less desirable for real journalists.
Reporting is the best job
I spent years as a local news reporter before moving to the anchor desk, where I worked for about five years as the late news co-anchor at KCCI-TV. I loved reporting. Every day brought a different assignment. I spent all day learning as much as I could about a topic and boiling it down for viewers. I loved being outside, even in lousy weather. I got to meet fascinating people. I got to meet horrible people. Many days were quite the adrenaline rush, covering floods, fires, tornados, plane crashes, a prison riot – all on a tight deadline. I was live on the scene. I wrote my own stories. I interviewed governors, senators and vice-presidents. I interviewed child murderers. Each morning when I left home, I really had no idea what the day might bring. And I loved that.
My reporting impressed the bosses enough that I got promoted to the late news anchor desk where – things got real quiet in a hurry. My formerly action-packed days turned into predictable, routine evenings seated in an air-conditioned studio, wearing a nice suit – but reading other people’s work instead of my own. Other reporters were out in the field. I read their intros. Producers wrote most of my copy. Sure, the pay was better, but as a journalist – frankly, anchoring is kinda boring.
My anchoring skills impressed the bosses enough, not in a positive way, that they said, “Dave, we think you have a future in management!” and so I left the anchor desk to run the news department for the next 30 years or so.
“It’s downright boring…”
The guy I was proud to sit next to on the anchor desk, Kevin Cooney, was also a consummate reporter who graduated to more than 30 years in the anchor chair at KCCI. This week, he told me that anchoring, once the pinnacle of a TV news career, is not the job it used to be.
“Anchors used to be managing editors or news directors,” Cooney said. “They were also producers. They had a great deal of input in assembling the newscast, selecting stories and writing. These days, newscasts are much more involved with graphics and production techniques.”
Cooney says, “The 21st century TV anchor’s job is perhaps more accurately described as the British do: a news ‘presenter’.” He says, “99.9% of the time, it’s downright boring. But it pays well! And that’s the thing that sucks you in.”
Stuck in studio
Local anchors are also doing many more shows than they used to. At local stations here in Des Moines, the main anchors are on at 4:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 pm. That’s a lot of your day sitting in a studio. And these days, with automated newscasts and robotic cameras, anchors are sitting in a well-lit, quiet, sterile environment all alone. It’s easy to feel disconnected from the real world and a far cry from covering stories in the field, which is why everyone got into the business to begin with.
The last point I’ll make is that news anchors aren’t the authority figures they used to be. Americans get news from all kinds of places now. They don’t hunger for the 6 pm news like they used to.
None of us need to shed a tear for anchors leaving these jobs. They’ll be fine. But now you know why the anchor you depend on today might not be there tomorrow.
Welcome to Lynn Hicks, the newest member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Lynn is the former editorial page editor of the Des Moines Register. A thoughtful guy who has worked in recent years for the Iowa Attorney General and the Polk County Attorney’s Office. Lynn’s column, True Justice, will look behind the scenes of Iowa’s court system. Take a look.
Here’s the complete roster of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.
Great perspective, Dave! Expertise, experience, empathy, information—thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this view from the inside. I suspect a lot of anchors are frustrated with the emphasis on graphics, the swooping visuals that bedazzle the audience, and not the actual substance of the news. Keep the computer generated audio-visuals flowing and then you don’t get married to the need for a Walter Cronkite?