Mika Mouse gives hard hitting interview to something called "USA Weekend"

[UTUSN]

A couple of years ago my local paper did away with the inoffensive, useless fishwrap called "Parade" magazine. At least it had some showbiz gossip at the front. They replaced it with something even more insipid called "USA Weekend" (I had to dig back through the paper to get the name right.) Today's is the first item in it I have actually read instead of flipping pages past.

What a BRAVE Mika Mouse as she portrays herself as a SERIOUS something or other, not mentioning the word "feminist." Funny how she claims her viewers are misogynists for commenting on her appearance, but USA Weekly can comment about her "suede platform hoo-haws" or something and this is all right. Not quoted here, the last question was how does she handle it when her male co-stars call her "HOT!1"

When we here comment on her cravenness, her possibly-literal kissing up to SCABROUGH, or her dim-wittedness, we have overlooked her actual "talent": She is, what the Brits call, a news READER. They're not reporters or journalists: They READ the copy to the mic or the camera. Notice that when the males are sexually harassing her and ignoring her while she tries to say, "Can I read the headlines now," she only gets CONTROL when she is READING (like a "real" newscaster).

And actually I have a fond memory of her from MSNBC in the months before 9-11: They had a bright, fast moving, 3-women daytime show with Mika (who was not then a Mouse), Ashleigh BANFIELD, and a third. But then 9-11 happened and the show was scuttled for the continual re-runs of the same 9-11 "news" 24 hrs per day. Actually, MSGENBC ought to ditch SCABS and team up Mika with Ashleigh, maybe leaving GEIST, DEFINITELY ditching BUCHANAN and BARNICLE, and *there* might be a winner!1

I *have* liked that Mika stops being a Mouse when she champions Dan RATHER and has him guesting frequently. But she overdoes it when she portrays herself as a woman pioneer, instead of saying that, just possibly, she got all these jobs because she's a legacy kid.


**********QUOTE********
http://www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/090621/090621tv-mika-brzezinski.html

Move over, Meredith
The morning talk show circuit heats up with Mika Brzezinski.

By Carol Clurman

.... The smart and saucy co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" has helped propel the show from obscurity to cable's hottest wake-up program. Named for one of its hosts, the irrepressible know-it-all Joe Scarborough, the show has become the thinking viewer's choice for company during the shower-and-shave morning minutes. In March, it surpassed its rival on CNN for the first time among viewers ages 25 to 54. ....

"I don't ever feel intimidated," declares the married mother of two, clad in brown suede platform boots with spike heels and a tight knit skirt.

Brzezinski, 42, made a splash two years ago when she refused on air to read a "news" brief about Paris Hilton. The video clip dominated YouTube and impressed the bosses, who soon promoted her from being a news reader to also co-hosting the show. ....

Are there still challenges to being a woman in the industry?
Yeah. It is a constant battle to be taken seriously. I'm talking about the viewers who write in about my hair or my weight. The problem is our society, our viewers. I would look at our viewers and start there with misogyny.

Meaning?
Look at segments on other shows, like "Inside Edition" on lingerie, and it will get the highest ratings on television. There's the problem. ....

CBS fired you in 2006. What happened?
I was 39 -- start the violins -- and it was my birthday. I got this great contract, I was making a lot of money, and I was going to be the Sunday anchor -- I was already filling in on Sundays when John Roberts filled in for Dan Rather. After I signed my contract, Dan Rather left, new management came in, and the week they hired Katie Couric, I was let go. My gut is that they couldn't have a woman during the week and a woman on Sunday, and I made too much money. When I was fired, it was a tremendous loss, not just for me, but for my children, and I felt very guilty.

How come?
I had brought my kids into the CBS fold. If I did the Sunday evening news, chances are that the kids were with me under the desk. I tried so hard to strike the perfect balance of motherhood and work. ....

********UNQUOTE********

[boobooday]

1. "The problem is our viewers"?

They're just not worthy, eh, Mika?

Interesting.

[monmouth]

2. Barbara Walters is a "pioneer"..Mika, not so much...n/t

[walkaway]

3. Meeka is the Kathy Lee Gifford of cable.

It's true that she makes Ashleigh Banfield look good but that isn't saying much. She is an embarrassment to women in the real world of journalism.

[AngryOldDem]

4. I liked this part:

<<Yeah. It is a constant battle to be taken seriously.<<

Especially when you let Joey treat you like an emotionally abused spouse/doormat every morning. Stop acting like Alice Kramden with the impatient eyeroll and stick up for yourself.

[Berry Cool]

5. She wants to know why she has problems with sexism? And she lets herself be written about like THIS?

Imagine if Joe Scarborough (or any other man) were written about like this. Would HE be taken seriously?

.... The smart and saucy namesake of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" has helped propel the show from obscurity to cable's hottest wake-up program...

"I don't ever feel intimidated," declares the divorced father of two, clad in brown leather shoes with pointy toes and a tight pair of jeans.

..."When I was fired, it was a tremendous loss, not just for me, but for my children, and I felt very guilty.

How come?
"I had brought my kids into the CBS fold. If I did the Sunday evening news, chances are that the kids were with me under the desk. I tried so hard to strike the perfect balance of fatherhood and work." ....

Since when does anyone ever call male news show hosts "saucy"? Since when does anyone ever describe their sexy footwear or the tightness of the clothes they wear? Since when do any of them do interviews in which they talk about the difficulties of balancing parenthood and work?

Jesus Christ on an underpass.

Women are NEVER going to have a hope of being treated as equals as long as they keep allowing themselves to be treated in a sexist way.