Today's female anchors have to worry about such pressing matters of international importance like whether their highlights are blond enough or if they're hot enough to make local magazine covers, but back in the 40s, female news anchors were actually, um, making news history. The Nation reminds us that Martha Rountree was the first (and to date, only) female host of Meet the Press. She even invented the format, which was based on Rountree's radio show, "Leave it to the Girls".

As Laura Flanders writes on the Nation website, "Leave it to the Girls" consisted of a "panel of celebrity women (who) fired questions at a guy. For Meet the Press (which she also hosted on radio before moving to TV,) Rountree and producer Lawrence Spivak, replaced the women with a panel of journalists." (Probably male!). Oh well, At least Fox News is focusing on its female employees' assets: the right-wing, Murdoch-owned news cabler seems to be overly concerned with making sure its graphics aren't covering the cleavage of lady guests and anchors!

Meet The Press And Leave It To The Girls. [The Nation]
Chyron of the Day: Boobs [Huffington Post]
The Latest Washingtonian [Mediabistro]

Earlier: Elle Investigates The Tyranny Of Paula Zahn Highlights

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