There isn’t anything I love more than a little superfluous drama queen indignation with my morning coffee and bacon. New Republic writer Eliza Gray concludes that the reason you see so many women in second banana positions on television is because programming heads are sexist:
One Monday morning in November, according to the admittedly rough transcript provided by the Federal News Service, “Morning Joe,” anchor Joe Scarborough spoke 3,213 words; his co-anchor Mika Brzezinski spoke just 644. Most of her words seemed merely to remind the audience that she was still awake: Yeah. Okay. Yes. No. Maybe. Right. Terrific. Scarborough dominated the meaty segments; Brzezinski piped up mainly during the transitions.
[…]
But if Brzezinski is the true second pillar of the show, why is she so quiet? Maybe the better question is, why is Scarborough so loud? And why does MSNBC, supposedly leading the liberal charge against conservative cable news, stand for such a dispiriting and old-fashioned gender dynamic? Anyone for a little sexism with their morning joe?
Granted, Gray illustrates the history of news and the role that women journalists, anchors, have played in morning coverage. What she misses entirely, however, is the dynamic of broadcast news and the types of individuals attracted to the medium.
Beta males and females historically fare poorly in anchor positions and whoever has the dominate, or more alpha personality, will always win out in spoken word count simply because they don’t wait for an opening. I don’t watch “Morning Joe” because I don’t think that they do beyond partisan opining well, but that’s irrelevant. It’s not “equality” to expect producers to cap the stronger personality so the weaker one has a chance to perform. Such decisions result in bad programming. It lowers the standard for the show by adjusting the curve to the weaker personality. No producer in their right mind would encourage such a choice. How is it in any way “empowering” for women to lower the show’s standards based on the premise that the woman is unable to meet the higher standard of broadcast journalism by way of presence? It handicaps women, it doesn’t help them. This is the sort of backwoods reasoning which permeates liberal feminism.
More importantly, Mika Brzezinski is the second banana. Gray is absolutely right in her observation that Brzezinski isn’t the star of the show; her job is to play the straight man to Scarborough’s lead. Gray almost goes the distance in understanding this but then continues to lament Brzezinski’s lack of a meaty word count. This isn’t sexism; it’s Gray’s non-understanding of how show business works. Broadcast news is still news but there’s a massive element of show business to it and any good show recognizes this.
Gray notes the imbalance of Parker/Spiter as well. It’s not Elliot Spitzer’s job to make sure Kathleen Parker performs to his equal. The DNA of progressivism shines throughout Gray’s reasoning: it’s the dominant individual’s fault that the subordinate personality isn’t performing as strongly as the dominant personality; it’s the fault of the network, it’s also the fault of the producers; it’s the fault of everyone apparently, but the people who aren’t performing to Gray’s standards. Gray again almost goes the distance in having Brzezinski own this:
Scarborough should not shoulder all the blame for this dynamic. Brzezinski seems to have settled into a deferential role in which her primary responsibility is to keep order. Like Vanna White, turning over the letters on “Wheel of Fortune,” she keeps things moving, announcing the segment transitions and welcoming viewers back from commercial breaks with niceties like “Pretty shot of New York City!”
However, that’s her role as the show’s second banana.
I can’t believe that I’m defending any MSNBC program, but to note Gray’s subhead, “The pathetic gender dynamics of MSNBC’s hit show” – notice she typed hit show. Obviously the pairing and discourse between Scarborough and Brzezinski is working.
Just so long as people like Eliza Gray stay out of the realm of broadcast programming. Let’s not cry wolf.
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