With a call to do better, WTIC reporter Sarah Cody wrote an op-ed in the Hartford Courant about the latest “hottest News Woman” poll.
CTboom.com, an entertainment and lifestyle website for residents of the Nutmeg State, is looking for “Connecticut’s Hottest Newswomen 2016.” The site asks readers to give a thumbs-up or thumbs down to rank the hotness of 24 local female on-air personalities.
“I know a lot of the women on this list (which I am not a part of),” said Cody. “They are strong, capable news gatherers and storytellers who don’t deserve to have their careers reduced to a thumbs-up/thumbs-down button, as if they’re a song on Pandora. They are hot. Nothing wrong with being hot. That can be powerful in its own right, showcasing a woman’s personal pride and sense of self. But, a rank in the court of public opinion? Really? Featuring a ‘thumbs-down’ option? It feels mean, sexist, misogynistic — just plain wrong. It does.”
“If this was going on at a local high school,” says Cody. “It would be a news story.”