ABC - EX-ABC ANCHOR SIMPSON "TV NEWS IS DYING"

EX-ABC ANCHOR SIMPSON "TV NEWS IS DYING"

Former ABC World News Sunday anchor Carole Simpson has suggested that she is somewhat cynical about the fact that two women, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, will be anchoring the nightly news. Simpson, the first African-American woman to anchor a network newscast, conceded that as someone who had worked for 30 years for the advancement of women in broadcast journalism, she ought to have been delighted by the announcement that Sawyer would be replacing Charles Gibson on ABC's nightly news program. "Why am I not?" she asked rhetorically. She then replied that Sawyer, and Couric before her, are taking over at a time when "broadcast television news is dying." She implies that TV executives probably concluded "With fewer resources and the death knell sounding, why not put women in charge of the network evening news programs? ... Sad to say, but I don't believe the evening network newscasts, nor Katie and Diane as the anchors, will be around for very long."

10/09/2009