[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday March 9, 2005 at 9:39pm]
Replacing Rather
Hewitt made a good point yesterday. Why pay 6 and 7 figure salaries to network news anchors? The ratings are down and continuing to fall. And Chris Mathews - who gets more attention from Laura Ingraham than the general public - why pay him several hundred thousand?
Rather has officially retired as part of his plea bargain no doubt. Now the "search" is under way to find his "successor" on the CBS Evening News. Why not start fresh with a fresh and inexpensive face? If you posted the job on Monster.com, say at $125,000 plus limo, wardrobe, some meals, I bet you'd have hundreds of qualified news readers applying, and thousands less than qualified. Qualified means can read the prompter, good looking, good hair. Maybe a woman this time? Maybe a minority? Maybe even a conservative?
CBS News could go off the air and no one would notice in that the market has a wide number of alternatives. The job should be priced as such.
Rather has officially retired as part of his plea bargain no doubt. Now the "search" is under way to find his "successor" on the CBS Evening News. Why not start fresh with a fresh and inexpensive face? If you posted the job on Monster.com, say at $125,000 plus limo, wardrobe, some meals, I bet you'd have hundreds of qualified news readers applying, and thousands less than qualified. Qualified means can read the prompter, good looking, good hair. Maybe a woman this time? Maybe a minority? Maybe even a conservative?
CBS News could go off the air and no one would notice in that the market has a wide number of alternatives. The job should be priced as such.