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Monday, January 22, 2001
Opinion
Page 11
THE BATTALION
Pretty is as Pretty /Joe s
Playboy poll adds to debate over female appearance and professional talent
fa
I stl
jtyboy magazine
las never been a
stranger to debate,
and Hugh Hefner’s com
pany found a new way to
place itself in the middle
of controversy this
month. On Jan. 12, Play-
boy.com announced that
CBS sideline reporter Jill
w
RICHARD
BRAY
Arrington won its “America’s Sexiest
Sportscaster” poll with 26 percent of more
than 221,000 votes. Arrington was offered
$1 million to pose nude in the magazine,
which she quickly declined.
Critics immediately said the poll objec
tified women and set the struggle for
women’s rights back a generation. Sports
Illustrated, which often faces similar criti
cism for its annual swimsuit issue, said in a
recent article that the poll “only contributes
to the difficulty in distinguishing which fe-
^ males on television are pursuing sports
ators'll J ourna ** sm an( J which are merely pursuing
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If experience and ability
were more important
than appearance,
attractive young women
would not make up such
an overwhelming
majority of the females in
the business. While at
tractive female journalists
should not be stereotyped
as unprofessional or un
qualified, they may not
always be the best
journalists available.
Newspapers such as the Boston Globe
nd the Philadelphia Daily News and
sportscasters such as Keith Olbermann of
SPN also blamed Playboy for damaging
he credibility of female journalists,
ibila'stb However, Inga Hammond, co-anchor of
babwe,» “Sports Tonight” on CNN/S 1 and one of
ongotosfflhe 10 finalists named in the poll, said she
id not find the poll to be demeaning,
s in thee; “It’s a compliment,” she told the Chica-
i ” [go Sun-Times after placing sixth-in the poll,
eking tot “I know my sports, and I know my stuff, so
|l don’t worry about the credibility issue.”
from Cot Perhaps Hammond realizes that Play-
as unm boy’s poll reflects the way female sports
ross the 1 - journalists are hired today. After all, the
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poll is not much different from most net
work hiring practices, in Which female
broadcast journalists enter their field with
the understanding that their employment
will last only as long as they can make
men stop changing channels to ogle at a
pretty face.
If experience and ability were more im
portant than appearance, attractive young
women would not make up such an over
whelming majority of females in the busi
ness. Attractive female journalists should
not be stereotyped as unprofessional or un
qualified, but they may not always be the
best journalists available.
Network executives realized long ago
that men are more likely to pay attention
when the camera is focused on a smiling
blonde discussing the intricacies of the 4-3
defense instead of, say, Mike Ditka talking
about the same thing. Executives under
stand that their job is to increase ratings
and advertising revenue. Young, attractive
female sportscasters are an inexpensive
way to accomplish these goals.
Even male broadcast journalists must
battle to keep their jobs against those who
have little or no experience in their field.
Dennis Miller was certainly not hired by
“Monday Night Football” because of his
vast football expertise. He was hired for
his entertainment value and his ability to
improve ratings.
Beautiful young sports anchors are often
hired over veteran women of more modest
appearance for the same reason. They may
not always be the most knowledgeable or
the most qualified, but they keep the rat
ings up.
Rather than setting back the battle for
equal rights, Playboy’s poll brings the is
sue to attention by making readers aware
of how the public selects which female
sportscasters will be allowed in front of the
camera. It may be sexist and offensive, but
it also reflects a sad reality of sports broad
cast journalism: Youth and beauty beat out
age and experience a majority of the time.
While eye-catching women are often en
tirely capable of performing their jobs (and
attracting male audiences in the process),
they may not always be the best people for
the job. As a result, qualified women jour
nalists find themselves out of work when
their abilities are reaching their peak, but
their beauty is beginning to decline. As
Leo Tolstoy wrote in The Kreutzer Sonata,
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion
that beauty is goodness.”
Richard Bray is a sophomore
journalism major.
V?*
RUBEN DELUNA/Th e Battalion
Misguided efforts
lintons attempts at Mideast peace agreement have not had desired effect, hurt relations
MARK
PASSWAEERS
IT
TlS
ost presidents worry
about how they will be re
membered. As a result,
ey spend a good deal of time at-
itempting to cultivate a positive
legacy. Bill Clinton has spent more
time than most attempting to im-
Brove his image, as he has no in
terest in being linked with an over
weight, beret- wearing young
woman for the rest of time.
1 Unfortunately, Clinton might consider himself
lucky if that is all he is remembered for. It looks as
though his quest for remembrance may end with the
Middle East in flames.
I Clinton has spent much of the last six months try
ing to do the near impossible: broker a peace agree
ment between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Clin
ton has pushed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
into so many concessions that Barak’s political future
might be destroyed. Without Barak in power, war be
tween Israel, the Palestinians and other Arab nations
may become more likely.
As Mort Kondrake, executive editor of Roll Call,
a Capitol Hill newspaper, noted in his Jan. 8 article,
“In his all-out effort to achieve peace — and perhaps
win a Nobel Peace Prize — Clinton may even have
sown the seeds for a regional war.”
Clinton has repeatedly pushed for a peace agree
ment that is not finding many takers on either side.
Decades of hatred and bitterness make any sort of
agreement hard to come by, and the differences be
tween the two are far too large to be remedied in a
couple of weeks. However, Clinton continued to rush
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the impossible, regardless of the effect it could have
on the principal players.
Any hope for peace hinges on the continued pres
ence of Barak, who has risked the wrath of his coun
trymen several times by making generous offers to
the Palestinians, including returning 90 percent of
the territory Israel seized during the 1967 Six Day
War. Instead of backing Barak, Clinton has demand
ed that the Israelis give up even more, including
control of East Jerusalem.
Barak’s previous plans cost him political leverage;
his willingness to even consider Clinton’s ideas has
ruined his political fortunes. Two-thirds of Israelis
are opposed to negotiating about the. future of
Jerusalem; a leader who would concede partial con
trol of the holiest city in the world becomes a politi
cal leper at the drop of a hat.
Unwittingly, Clinton assisted in making Ariel
Sharon of the opposition Likud Party the over
whelming favorite to win Israel’s Feb. 6 election. If
Sharon is elected, any chance of peace will go out
the window. Sharon is the man who planned Israel’s
disastrous 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and he is
strongly opposed to negotiating with the Palestinian
Authority.
Indeed, Sharon is the man who set off the latest
round of bloodshed by making an ill-advised trip to
the Temple Mount (a site holy to both Jews and
Muslims) and announcing that Palestinians would
never have control over any part of Jerusalem.
Clinton has damaged the peace process by inad
vertently boosting the political hopes of a man many
Arabs despise, but he has made things worse by
treating the Palestinians with kid gloves. While
Sharon is to blame for starting the violence, Yasser
Arafat has done next to nothing to stop Palestinians
under his control from provoking the Israelis. Known
terrorists imprisoned as part of the Wye and Oslo ac
cords have been released from Palestinian jails, and
Palestinian police have made no attempt to curb at
tacks against Israelis. In fact, there have been reports
of Palestinian officers firing on Israeli troops.
Still, Clinton continues to badger the Israelis while
asking little from the Palestinians. If the Israelis will
be forced to accept concessions that are contrary to
their desires, the least the United States can do is ex
ert pressure to make Arafat act responsibly.
Peace can come about only when
the governments and the people
of two nations want it. It cannot
be readily supplied by a third
party, even an overly
anxious American president.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far too bitter and
intense for it to be settled in a matter of weeks. The
United States should not expect one side to do all the
giving while the other side does all the taking. Mak
ing a lasting peace requires both sides to give up
something in order to achieve their final goals of
peace, land and security.
Instead, Clinton has made an already tense situa
tion far worse in an attempt to make himself look
good. His repeated prodding of the Israeli prime min
ister has made Barak look like an appeaser in the
eyes of most Israelis. Clinton has helped boost the
political prospects of Sharon, who can described as r
an anti-Arab hawk.
Peace can come about only when the governments
and the people of two nations want it. It cannot be
readily supplied by a third party, even an overly anx
ious American president. In the end, it would be
good for Bill Clinton if he is remembered for “I did
not have sexual relations with that woman” instead
of “I did not cause this war.”
Mark Passwaters is a senior ;
electrical engineering major.