It should come as no surprise that TV news shows are increasingly populated by attractive women as reporters, anchors, panelists, and hosts. They seem to be following the rule that People magazine uses for its covers based on what they think increases newsstand sales: young is better than old, rich is better than poor, pretty is better than ugly, and so on.

NPR’s media reporter David Folkenflik has written a book about the media empire of Rupert Murdoch. In a Q&A during his book tour, he reveals that Fox News has a ‘leg cam’, where they position the female panelist with the best legs in such a place that one camera gives viewers the best view of them.

I can well believe this because it ties in with what Gretchen Carlson, former member of the morning Fox and Friends show, said, that she was not allowed to wear pants on the show. I notice that in all the clips and stills I have seen so far, her successor Elizabeth Hasselbeck also wears dresses.

It is kind of pathetic that news shows need to do this.

There is one other magazine cover rule that definitely increases sales and that is that a dead celebrity sells a whole lot of magazines. It is only a matter of time before Fox News has a rich, pretty, young, dead panelist with great legs.