Wheatish and Balanced?

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foxanchors_lgl.jpg Fox News Channel launched a new Business Network today, creatively named Fox Business Network (FBN), and available in almost 30 million homes. In the ever-competitive cable news market, Fox is trying to fish for viewers in a most unusual way:

Fox News Executive Vice President Kevin Magee, who’s in charge of FBN’s day-to-day operations, says it doesn’t want to trade blows with CNBC, (GE) or even Bloomberg TV, the current channels of choice for financial market watchers…Instead, his new business channel aims to draw viewers “from soap operas, game shows — any place we can.”
FBN executives hope to do that with personality-driven programs heavy on personal finance and with stories offering business insights into general interest news. There is some traditional market news, along with an on-screen crawl showing the latest stock prices.link

But you know what they really have? What they’re using to chum the waters?

Hot chicks, duh.

Almost all of the on-air talent that’s plugged on the site are skinny, youthful beauties like Shibani Joshi (a former model in India), Cheryl Casone (a former flight attendant), Jenna Lee (she played Division One softball in college), and Nicole Petillades (she loves slalom waterskiing!). link

Of course, the foxy ladies are also quite talented. Take Ms. Joshi, for example: shibani_joshi_ourteam.jpg

Shibani Joshi, based in New York, joins from her role as a reporter covering breaking news for News 12 Westchester. Before this, Joshi was a producer for Reuters Television and TIMES NOW, the joint venture news channel with The Times of India, where she was responsible for producing news packages and interviews broadcast all over India. Joshi has also served as a contributing writer for ABCNews.com and ABC News Now covering business and technology stories. She began her journalism career as a news production assistant at CNNfn where she contributed to Lou Dobbs Moneyline and CNN Money Morning. link

I think I read about an MBA from Harvard to cap that sweet resume, so, you know, I’m not hating the beautiful. Much. And networks are notorious for playing up the youth and sex appeal of female anchors. But this crew is exceptionally young, and Fox is blatantly plastering their glamor shots everywhere. Is this sort of business plan a harbringer for Naked News (NSFW!!) on network TV? Doesn’t seem so far-fetched, does it?

More on the the FBN at Adweek, USAToday, Forbes, DealBreaker, etc.

69 thoughts on “Wheatish and Balanced?”

  4. CNBC still has Maria Bartiromo – come on, when Joey Ramone writes a song about you, you’re hot.

  5. Of course, one should not forget to heed the advice of Ned Flanders, “Watch Fox and face eternal damnation!”

  7. wwwwoooh! I reload my SM to see this post. that made my afternoon.

    I lavishly illustrated a sarcastic post about Fox using hot chicks to draw viewers with said hot chicks. And lo! You came. See what I did there?

    😉

    Something tells me this network will do extremely well in the ratings, even if not in the name of advancing journalism.

  8. I lavishly illustrated a sarcastic post about Fox using hot chicks to draw viewers with said hot chicks. And lo! You came. See what I did there? 😉

    im like a fly to honey…or honies…or..err…never mind.

  9. Ms. Joshi appears eminently more qualified to report on business news than Ms. Bartiromo. Her business credentials are impeccable. Much of the coverage in the media appears to be weak attempts at the salacious.

  11. Ms. Joshi appears eminently more qualified to report on business news than Ms. Bartiromo. Her business credentials are impeccable. Much of the coverage in the media appears to be weak attempts at the salacious.

    theres no better way of getting the inside scoop than b*nging the CFO of citi and flirting with the fed chief. maria has it covered. it will be hard to beat the bartiromo.

  14. Just as sad as FBN joining a long line cable ‘news’ nets luring audiences with hot women (and the probem is that they’re ALL hot women) is that it’s totally going to work. I’ll just keep hoping that the major players in this country still care more about Darfur than Britney. Then again, Ann Coulter is still on air, ugh.

    An appropriate video for this discussion: http://www.jibjab.com/originals/what_we_call_the_news

  19. I bitch about Fox as much as the next guy, but all networks do this. At leat Ms. Joshi seems to have the credentials to repot on business (HBS and a decent reporting background). Maria, Erin and the rest of the CNBC gang are not exactly bad to look at either.

    Now, actually if some business channel can focus on labour rather than just capital that is a channel I can watch. I being a socialist, consider labor part of business.

  20. it may be that being good looking gives the good newscasters an extra edge, but there are some good people who wouldnt be called hotties in the conventional sense. its been a while since i followed us media, but candy crowley is one such a person i remember from the mid nineties who stood apart from the slick ones for her very earnest, polished and clear commentary. the cnn correspondents out of india werent picked either for sartorial excellence or for good looks. they were what would be called ‘bechara’ by my parents – but they spoke well and passionately about their subjects.

  21. if it gets the aam janta to be more in control of their money, i’m all for it. i just don’t think they needed to approach it with this angle, since they have ready material from the wall street journal (read more than the NYTimes).

    but again. it is fox news. so i suppose it’s expected.

  22. Khoofia, on the subject of Candy Crowley, I’m amazed CNN hasn’t tried to dispose of her thus far, given the trend that Cica (Xica!) and others are commenting on. (Not that I think they should.)

    I’m always glad to see a woman who’s over 30, smart and can do her job well, and who isn’t being held to the same-old, same-old unoriginal mold that all the networks follow (NDTV 24 included).

    I guess if CNN did try to remove her, she’d sure for discrimination.

  24. A former model in India.. is she DBD? Does this mean the Americans will actually hear a real Indian accent on TV and desis will stop sounding like.. don’t know what to call it. Maybe Sendhil R should mutate into a woman on Heroes and Shibani should step in.

  26. Does this mean the Americans will actually hear a real Indian accent on TV and desis will stop sounding like.. don’t know what to call it.

    no, hank azaria is dubbing her voice.

  27. Reminds me of Samantha Bee’s segment on the Daily Show titled ‘NILF’ – News Readers, I’d like to…

  28. Dang fellas,

    I’ve clicked on the links that you have on Shibani Joshi and Asha Tanna. But I myself am very smitten by the looks of Suchita Vadlamani on Fox 5 Atlanta’s “Good Day Atlanta.”

  29. LOVE the title of this post!

    I second that.

    Nothing more to say except that it’s so good to have you back, Ms. Cicatrix!

  30. No, I don’t think she is a DBD. Her Harvard profile says she grew up in Oklahoma City. I think its interesting that she chose to work in the entertainment industry in India….would be interesting to hear her perspective on what that was like….

    http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/2004portrait/Portraits/JoshiS.html

    She sounds balanced….don’t know what Fox’s ‘balance’ would do to her…

  31. Khoofia, on the subject of Candy Crowley, I’m amazed CNN hasn’t tried to dispose of her thus far,

    Oh! I am really glad she is still around and doing well. I’m trying to place where I first noticed her, but notice her I did over a period of time. She was distinguished by the depth of her commentary. I felt she was neither talking down nor stating the obvious facts. Just the realization that one is in the presence of an intelligent person. And, in regard to the hottiness I wouldnt underestimate aural stimulation. 😉

  32. Samantha Bee did touch on this topic on TDS with Jon Stewart and even mentioned Kiran Chetry’s short skirt revealing a sunni triangle(I prarphrase). Is it just me or will these gals all wear short skirts too? One screen shot of FBN already shows this happening. I can see why FBN wants to attack the Money honey and Street sweetie Erin Burnett with these fembots.

  33. Look, as far as I see it, as long as we are still getting quality, balanced news, then whats the harm in the anchors being attractive. It is about the content, after all..

  34. As usual, the unsophisticated American philistines are late and found sadly lacking. These fox news harlots are but ugly step sisters compared to her.

    Melissa Theuriau

    She is beautiful enough that I would literally drink her bathwater.

  35. 34 · Jing She is beautiful enough that I would literally drink her bathwater.

    tres sophistiqué!

  38. yeah, melissa thireau is DA BOMB. go to google images to do some more research on her, it’ll be worth it 😉

    re: crowely, i long noticed that they tend to show only her face on ‘inside politics’ and stuff. she’s been around a while so i think she gets seniority…i don’t know what she looked like when she was younger, she might have gained her weight later. also, she has a degree in math, can’t diss that.

  40. She is beautiful enough that I would literally drink her bathwater.

    really? in generally, the more beautiful the person, the more reluctant i am to drink her bathwater. if she is that beautiful, imagine how much dirt and exfoliated skin must be in that bathwater.

  41. No matter how hot they get, nothing will ever tear me away from Al-Jazeera English…These fox girls will never be able to bring in a british accent like their counterparts in Doha!

  47. So it looks like the hot chicks weren’t exactly brought in for serious reporting:

    The mood on Rupert Murdoch’s latest television venture was so giggly and upbeat that it belied its own crawl, showing sinking stock prices…

    FBN provides economic news for people who don’t follow the economy very closely and hate to hear bad news. Sunny, informal and downright perky, Fox Business Network comes off as a blend of CNBC and a fifth hour of the “Today” show— with the underlying political drumbeat of Fox News. (Global warming is natural and so are tax cuts.)

    Anchors described record oil prices with a lilt, they delighted in the fall of the dollar as a boon to American exports.

    it was Bill O’Reilly of “The O’Reilly Factor” who laid out FBN’s business model during a cameo appearance. “You want to basically have fun,” Mr. O’Reilly told the anchor Cheryl Casone. “Its so intense, the whole business world. The more fun you can have with it, I think the more people will watch.”

    Five o’clock is “Happy Hour.” To inaugurate that segment, the anchors Cody Willard and Rebecca Gomez sat in the bar of the Bull and Bear in the Waldorf-Astoria and chatted about business against a backdrop of vodka bottles and blondes. Yesterday, they congratulated Ivanka Trump on her new line of jewelry and sampled ice wines and cheese. link

    Just when you think Fox couln’t sink any lower. This is just embarrassing.

  48. Back to Shibani, is that her real eye color or contacts? What is the consensus on desi’s who wear colored contacts? Too jarring? Acceptable depending on their overall looks? Too wanna-be?

  49. While we’re putting in votes for ‘personal favorites’, I hope I can mention Zain Verjee. Vinod blogged about her some time back, it’s in the archives.

    I like how healthy and wholesome she looks. I liked when she was more explicitly set up as ethnic, over this, but this goes too far, imo.

    How can you not like someone who said: “Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder” 🙂

  50. Cicatrix,

    I am waiting for this model to be applied to the Wall Street Journal now that Rupert and company are running it 🙂