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I grew up in a difference, so I'm always amazing how old are TV anchors
as if TV stations required 30 year experience before getting those jobs.
Let's look at the morning shows
NBC - Today Show - Matt Lauer (56), Savannah Guthrie (42)
ABC - GMA - George Stephanopoulos (53), Robins Robert (53)
CBS - This Morning - Charlie Rose (72), Gayle King (59)
Just for comparison... look at how much younger are the hosts of the American morning shows in Spanish channels
To a certain point, Americans like older anchors because they look like they have "lived" life and seen it on the front lines, exuding experience and authority. I've seen Walter Cronkite in news footage and he always seemed very old to me,but the truth is he retired way before his time. In 1963, I think Walter Cronkite was only 45 years old - when I found that out recently, I was shocked. He looked so grandfatherly or maybe like an older uncle and that really worked to calm the country down after the JFK assassination, I've read. Walter Cronkite, like many men in his generation, looked older because they came of age during the Depression and World War II and many served and came back like very "old" young men. They looked older than their age in many ways, but with age comes respect. People respect older anchors more than young ones.
Age doesn't matter much if one is simply a talking-head newsreader, as many current anchors are. But, if one is also providing some analysis or opinion, or doing serious interviews, then age/experience is beneficial. It takes time to become a serious journalist. It takes no time to be a happy face.
I bet the morning tv anchor spots are pretty cush jobs, ones that are earned by journalists who've paid their dues, so to speak. They don't have to travel constantly and be away from their families, or report from war-torn parts of the world as they may have had to do at the beginnings of their careers. Aside from being up before the crack of dawn, it's a gig that a seasoned reporter who wants a calmer, more settled job might like. I bet the Latin channels are looking more for eye candy and less journalism, too.
People got the jobs when they were younger and time passed. Maybe it's US News that actually doesn't fire people if they start getting some gray hair or wrinkles and other countries insist on 'showpieces' to read off the teleprompter?
I don't know, and I don't think it matters. The news is much more important than what age the person telling it is.
In many cases it isnt that the networks employ older people but those people have been with the network for 20-30+ years. Lauer has been with NBC since he was in his 30's. He has been hosting "Today" for close to 20 years. Do we suddenly fire him because he aged past 40?
Bothers me when some kids study hard to be journalists hoping to get a job in the future , then the networks hire people like Clinton & Bushes daughters , now NBCs hiring Pipper Middleton , it's all in the names I guess,
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