"Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly blamed CBS’s ratings on the fact that Couric is a woman. “I think it’s a woman thing,” O’Reilly said. “It’s an authority position. Most middle Americans who watch news feel comfortable with men in that position. That’s what’s going on.”
O'Reilly claims that most Americans are nervous about receiving their news from a women, and this explains the fact that Couric has the lowest ranking among her counterparts at NBC and ABC.
"Even CBS News president Sean McManus has tried to dismiss — without evidence — his network’s ratings by blaming women, instead of Couric or his station’s programming: “There is a percentage of people out there that probably prefers not to get their news from a woman.”
A recent Gallup poll found that Couric’s personal popularity lags behind NBC anchor Brian Williams and ABC anchor Charles Gibson. But that poll surveyed responses to Couric specifically, not to women anchors in general. Neither Connie Chung nor Barbara Walters were solo network news anchors.
Americans may not like Katie Couric, but that doesn’t mean they dislike all women in “authority” positions."
So it is unclear whether Americans would rather have a man deliver the news or if they just don't like Catie Couric.
August 12, 2007, from ThinkProgress
Web site: http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/05/15/oreilly-katie-courics-low-ratings-are-a-woman-thing/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2F2007%2F05%2F15%2Foreilly-couric-women%2F&frame=true
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