COLUMN ONE : Why No Women Anchors? : A high-priced, high-profile corps of veterans have cracked nearly every gender barrier in network TV. But they still can’t capture the most prestigious prize--the nightly news chair.

Jane Pauley looked around the table at a lunch of some of the most powerful female anchors and correspondents in network television. Barbara Walters, Judy Woodruff, Katie Couric, Lesley Stahl, Sylvia Chase and Cokie Roberts were among those who had gathered to support an embattled Connie Chung.

The 44-year-old Pauley noticed something striking. “Here we were, a group of middle-aged women, as opposed to young chicks,” she said later. “That’s the biggest single improvement I see in the status of women in TV news.

“There’s a group of us at the networks who have shown we can get the job done,” said Pauley, who joined NBC’s “Today” show as a 25-year-old anchor from Chicago and now co-anchors the network’s “Dateline” newsmagazine.

“We’ve developed brand loyalty among viewers, and we’ve been allowed to mature on television.”

The women at the table have come a long way since the 1970s, when the networks, under pressure from affirmative action laws, hired their first group of female correspondents.

But, in looking at the controversy over Chung’s dismissal in May as co-anchor of “The CBS Evening News,” some are asking if being allowed to mature is enough.

For all the progress that has been made, is there still a double standard that allows women to succeed to a certain point, but keeps them from the most coveted jobs?

“Believe me,” Pauley said, “it is still problematic for women to be middle-aged in television. And there is not a single woman in this business who has not experienced sexism . . . from the emphasis on looks and youth . . . to the inherent rivalry between management and on-air ‘talent’ that causes some male executives to pitch an anchorwoman out on camera, with or without a career track, to see if she fails or is an overnight sensation.”

Some say that women on the air have cracked the biggest barriers--anchoring their own prime-time newsmagazines, making multimillion-dollar salaries and competing with men for the most prestigious assignments as correspondents.

Others say that not enough has changed since Walters was the first--and, until Chung, the only--woman to co-anchor the nightly news on a broadcast network, in a brief stint with Harry Reasoner on ABC in 1976.

Walters, Pauley and Diane Sawyer have found highly successful careers in newsmagazines, a genre that has proved to be very popular, especially with female viewers. “We have so much creative and journalistic freedom on the newsmagazines that I don’t see how we could complain,” said Sawyer, 49. The trio’s salaries, including Sawyer’s reported $7 million a year, make them among the highest-paid anchors, male or female.

But the only time women sit in the anchor chairs on the three big network newscasts are on weekends or as substitutes, with NBC’s Giselle Fernandez the only Latina and ABC’s Carole Simpson the only African American.

With the ugly breakup of Chung’s pairing with Dan Rather, the broadcast networks’ evening anchor slots have returned to being the province of men: Rather, ABC’s Peter Jennings and NBC’s Tom Brokaw.

Importance of Symbolism

As a measure of how far women have succeeded in TV news, the symbolism is important.

“It’s Tom Brokaw--not Jerry Seinfeld or even Jay Leno--who represents NBC in the minds of viewers,” said Steve Friedman, former executive producer of “The NBC Nightly News” and “Today.” “That’s one of the reasons why these jobs are important--and why Tom isn’t going anywhere any day soon.”

“Women still are on the fringes as evening news anchors,” said former ABC News executive Marlene Sanders, a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. “The networks regard these newscasts as their symbol of seriousness, and they’re reluctant to give a woman the job.”

ABC’s Cokie Roberts said she believes the networks are reflecting the culture as well as their own corporate conservatism. “I’m sure there are still a lot of viewers who would prefer to see a man sitting there when they turn on their TV set in a time of national crisis,” said Roberts, a National Public Radio analyst who joined ABC News to cover Capitol Hill in 1988. “It’s father in charge.”

Walters disagrees: “Cokie substitutes for Ted Koppel on ‘Nightline,’ and Diane Sawyer and I have substituted for Peter Jennings without any loss of audience. Women play important roles in TV news today. I believe viewers today would accept a woman as evening news anchor.”

Indeed, cable’s CNN has a woman co-anchor its nightly news.

Judy Woodruff, a former NBC News correspondent and Washington correspondent for PBS’ “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” co-anchors the hourlong “World Today” 6 p.m. newscast as well as the weekday “Inside Politics,” with Bernard Shaw.

Woodruff, 48, who joined CNN two years ago, believes that the network has promoted women as anchors because it is newer than its broadcast counterparts. “CNN is less bound by years of tradition than the broadcast networks,” she said, “and the model of dual male-female anchors in local news was already established when CNN began.” In addition, as a 24-hour news channel with hourlong newscasts, CNN has more room for anchors.

No one is suggesting that Jennings, Brokaw or Rather should step aside from jobs they worked years to earn. They “are very, very good at what they do, and they were there first,” Sawyer said. “They have deep roots in their organizations, and they’ve all paid their dues in the field.”

Brokaw--who has been with NBC News since 1966 and has been the sole anchor of “The NBC Nightly News” for 12 years--says he, Jennings and Rather are probably “the last of a breed” as three white men anchoring the evening newscasts:

“[We] were well-positioned [by earlier assignments] at the network, and I have no doubt that gender bias played a role at the time. But this business, like society, is changing. It seems unlikely to me that, when we retire, we’ll be replaced with three white males.”

Morning News Shows

Before newsmagazines, women already had considerable longevity on morning news shows. Women have been part of the on-air “family” of contributors since these shows began in the ‘50s. “On morning news, you’ve always had a mother, a father and someone who’s like your funny Uncle Charlie,” Friedman said.

These broadcasts have always had a strong hard-news component as well as lighter features. And the women have advanced a long way since the pioneer days of the 1970s when Walters joined “Today” after a stint as a writer for the show.

“The rule then,” Walters recalled, “was that I had to wait for [anchor] Frank McGee to ask three questions in a hard-news interview before I asked one.”

When Couric joined “Today” four years ago, “I made it clear to management that I wanted to do hard news, not just Martha Stewart and movie stars,” said the former CNN reporter, who is teamed with Bryant Gumbel. “I told them I didn’t think those coveted female demographics in the audience would tolerate a feeling of inequity.”

Couric, 38, said male executives were more accustomed than their predecessors to working with women.

Although Gumbel and Couric alternate the first hard-news story of the morning and share the big, hard-news interviews, Gumbel has it in his contract that he greets the audience every morning and has the “host” title to her “co-host.”

“He’s been here for 14 years, I’ve been here four. I believe we share the workload equally,” said Couric, adding with a laugh, “Next contract.”

She sees a “wake-up call” for women anchors in the Chung saga: “She was criticized for chasing after Tonya Harding and other tabloid stories for her newsmagazine. You don’t see Dan Rather doing celebrity interviews and tabloid profiles. Women anchors have got to be careful about their story selection.”

Women Advancing

Overall, women have been advancing as network correspondents, after stagnation in the 1980s. Women make up close to one-third of the correspondents (on newscasts and newsmagazines combined) at the major broadcast networks, according to figures from the networks. At ABC (the only network with a record of past percentages for comparison), that’s double the amount (16%) 11 years ago.

One in four stories on the evening news on ABC, CBS and NBC was reported by a woman in 1993, according to an annual study by Joseph Foote, dean of the School of Communications at Southern Illinois University.

Yet, Foote said, “Women remain underrepresented in the number of stories they get on the air because they’re still not being assigned to some of the most prestigious, hard-news beats such as the Pentagon and other Washington agencies as well as assignments abroad.”

Women’s percentage of stories on the newscasts seems to be hitting a ceiling at 25%, according to Foote’s latest figures. But the discrepancy in assignments appears in recent months to be changing.

Women are slowly making their way into the executive suites, although they still are far outnumbered by men. Half of the executive producers of the six network newsmagazines are women. But the executive producers of the network morning shows are all men, as are the producers of the weekday evening newscasts.

At ABC, Kathryn Christensen, executive producer of ABC’s weekend newscasts and senior producer of “World News Tonight,” is regarded as a possible heir to “World News” executive producer Rick Kaplan.

Executives at each of the networks acknowledge the need for more women in key jobs. They said they have been making changes in recent years that will help women reach those jobs.

“We’re seeing the fruition of changes begun 10 years ago,” said ABC News Vice President Amy Entelis, who was named to head talent recruitment in 1986 after a group of newswomen there protested the lack of progress at ABC. “There are a lot of strong women in the pipeline now.” There is little talk of a specific successor for Jennings, 56, whose newscast has been top-rated since 1989.

NBC, Brokaw said, “does not have an obvious, immediate” choice to replace him if he retired. But the 55-year-old anchor cites Pauley and Couric as possibilities. (NBC executives also mention Fernandez, 34, as an up-and-comer, along with White House correspondent and weekend anchor Brian Williams, 37.) Brokaw says that Sawyer also is “very well-positioned” to be an evening anchor.

In recent years, Foote says, “NBC lost a lot of talented female reporters” because of layoffs and turmoil in the news division. Under new President Andrew Lack, the network has made promoting women and minorities a priority. Since joining NBC two years ago, Lack has appointed “Nightly News” producer Cheryl Gould as a vice president and has named several women as bureau chiefs. Of the last 16 on-air people hired at NBC, nine are women, six are minority women and seven are minority men.

“It’s important that we have diversity,” the 48-year-old Lack said, “but I really don’t see people in terms of male-female. I’m just trying to get the best people for the jobs.”

ABC has four female and eight male anchors. The network appears to be the most willing of the broadcast networks to have a woman substitute for its two main news anchors, Jennings and Koppel.

ABC has three female vice presidents in addition to Entelis (among 16 vice presidents overall). It also has five female executive producers (out of 15).

“We believe it’s important to have women in positions of authority on camera and off,” Entelis said. “It makes for better, more diverse news programming.”

Still, with all the advances for women, Entelis added, she believes the network needs to make more progress in putting women into some high-profile, hard-news beats. ABC recently has given several women foreign correspondent and foreign bureau chief assignments; and the network also has hired Julie Johnson, Michelle Norris and Lisa Stark to cover Washington beats.

When it comes to bringing in minority correspondents, Entelis said, “The networks in the past have not been as successful as they might have liked.” To combat the problem, ABC has a program that uses local affiliate stations as a kind of “farm team” for young women and minorities. Norris came to ABC through that program.

CBS was one of the first networks to put women on the White House and other hard-news assignments. And, Foote says, “CBS continues to have one of the best track records in terms of putting female correspondents in high-profile beats, while they’ve also been strong among the networks at promoting minority correspondents.”

The network also broke the Sunday morning all-male barrier in 1983 by naming Lesley Stahl anchor of “Face the Nation.” (She left in 1991 to join the mostly male cast of “60 Minutes.”) But men outnumber women among anchors today at CBS. The network has four female and 12 male anchors.

CBS has two women among 10 vice presidents and two female bureau chiefs (out of nine).

CNN was ahead of the other networks in anchors and executives, with Mary Alice Williams as an anchor and CNN bureau chief in 1980. (CNN today is about equally divided among men and women as anchors and as correspondents. The network has nine female and 19 male executives. All of its domestic bureau chiefs are men.)

Shaw, who has been with CNN since its beginnings 15 years ago, has a more senior title than Woodruff, who was hired two years ago after 10 years at “MacNeil/Lehrer.” Shaw is called “principal anchor,” while she is called “prime anchor,” but they are equals on air.

In the early days, women may have been more willing to come to the fledging network, CNN Vice President Ed Turner acknowledged. “We paid badly,” Turner said, laughing, “without regard to gender, race or creed.”

Still, even CNN has its blind spots. Christiane Amanpour, the award-winning war correspondent who is one of the few women ever to handle such a job, worked for years as a CNN writer and producer in Atlanta and New York while asking for a foreign assignment. She finally was sent to Europe in 1988.

Facing Sexism

“What you don’t see at the networks today,” said Marlene Sanders, “are all the women who were pushed out on account of age or who were not promoted up the ladder.”

Many people at NBC believe that Andrea Mitchell, one of the most prominent women in TV news, was moved out of the White House beat after eight years to make way for Brian Williams. The beat is a major step toward becoming a nightly anchor. Before coming to NBC two years ago, Williams had been an anchor at WCBS-TV in New York.

“Brian Williams is very talented, and I wish him well,” said Mitchell, who was named chief foreign affairs correspondent. Although she said that she is enjoying her new beat, Mitchell acknowledged that she missed the constant air time that comes with covering the White House and Capitol Hill.

Brokaw said there was no sexism involved in the move by NBC executives. “Andrea did a fabulous job for us at the White House. But nobody is appointed to the White House beat for life, and it was time for her to try something new. . . . Brian is a rising young reporter within our ranks, and we want to put him in places where he can grow.”

Despite all the gains, people in the business say, women still face sexism every day. Women say their looks and clothes undergo more scrutiny than do the men’s. And they say there’s still a double standard when it comes to beauty. “Men also have to be good looking to be anchors,” said one network observer, “but there’s been no woman in TV news yet who looks like Charles Kuralt.”

And the shelf life for retired female anchors is shorter. “When Roger Mudd leaves NBC,” said one female newscaster, “he gets a job anchoring on [cable’s] History Channel--I don’t think the same thing would happen to a female anchor who cycled out of one of the networks.”

In fact, what former anchorwomen seem to do are TV commercials. Ex-CBS morning anchor Faith Daniels is doing commercials for an antacid, and ex-CBS morning show host Kathleen Sullivan (now with cable’s E! network) staged her comeback with commercials for Weight Watchers.

Ironically, given the flap over Chung, some media insiders predict that CBS will be the first to name a solo woman anchor to succeed Rather, who is 63. And conventional wisdom says the network will go after Sawyer. “When Dan Rather retires, if they’re in third place, they may do it to be different,” Friedman said.

Would Sawyer take it? “I haven’t thought through to next weekend,” she said. “I love what I’m doing at ABC.”

Still, the prestige, power and symbolism of the job must be tempting. The women in TV news are powerful role models, Roberts has found. “Women frequently stop me on the street, saying, ‘I’m glad you’re there for my daughter.’ Or they’ll talk about [“This Week With David Brinkley,” where Roberts is the sole female pundit]. They say, ‘I tell my husband he has to come in and watch you--you tell ‘em, honey.’

“I guess what that says to me,” Roberts says, “is that it’s still unusual for a woman to be on the air like that with men.”