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A double standard on the basis of appearance seems to exist, although to a lesser extent, at the networks. ''It is obvious that the women are generally nice looking,'' said Connie Chung, 36, the anchor of NBC's early morning ''Sunrise'' newscast. ''The men can be nice looking or funny looking.'' The Question of Age
Indeed, Tom Brokaw, 43, the anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News,'' said, ''I work very hard to stay in shape, mainly because it makes me feel better, but I don't want to go to seed on the air either.'' The top executives at the news divisions of the three networks say that journalistic skills are still paramount in hiring correspondents. But they say it is only natural that attractiveness be a factor as well. ''The vehicle of communication in television journalism is the human face,'' said Reuven Frank, president of NBC News. ''You have to apply standards to it that you would not in normal social intercourse.''
The networks have also conducted surveys to determine the ''Q'' ratings for their news anchors - scores that factor in popularity and familiarity. ''They take into account people's visceral feelings toward those of us on television and they are regarded as important indicators for executives to choose who they are going to put on the air,'' Miss [Lesley Stahl] said. ''The question is, is that a legitimate reason to hire or fire.''
A jury in Kansas City, Mo., yesterday began deliberating a television newswoman's charge that she was demoted on a news program because she was ''unattractive, too old and not deferential to men.'' She is seeking reinstatement, lost wages and damages.
No matter how the jury decides, the suit has brought into public view a question that has troubled people in the industry for years: Are women who appear on camera on news programs still judged more by appearance than their male colleagues?
''It has become the symbolic focus of a lot of apprehension,'' said Diane Sawyer, co-anchor of the ''CBS Morning News.''
At the same time, the case has drawn attention to the fact that television executives increasingly rate a pleasing personality as more important than journalistic ability among reporters and anchors. Another concern raised by the case is the pervasive influence of market research on decision-making in television news.
After hearing nine days of testimony, the jury of two men and four women was charged by Judge Joseph E. Stevens Jr. in United States District Court in Kansas City, Mo. Witnesses included the female anchor's male co-anchor, the woman who succeeded her on the air, station officials, a wardrobe adviser and several news consultants whose research had led to her dismissal. After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury adjourned last night and will resume its consideration of the case on Monday morning.
The lawsuit was brought by Christine Craft, a former co-anchor at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., who was demoted from her job in 1981 after seven months on the air. Miss Craft also contends that she was paid a lower salary than her male co-anchor and that the nature of her job was misrepresented to her.
Metromedia, Inc., the company that owned the station at the time, has maintained that its officials were within their rights to remove Miss Craft because she was unpopular with viewers. Metromedia has emphasized that its decision was based on several research studies in which a sampling of viewers criticized her for lacking ''warmth and comfort,'' for being too casual in her dress and for being too opinionated.
For many, the trial has raised the question of whether women in television news will be permitted to age gracefully on camera.
Miss Craft's charge of unjustified discrimination based on age and appearance parallels the successful challenges in this area by other occupation groups such as airline attendants. Because television is so influential this case is being watched closely within the television industry and by the general public as well. More Women on Camera Now
To begin with, the number of women on camera in television news has increased considerably over the last decade, from virtual invisibility to widespread acceptance. This gain has been accomplished in part because of an order by the Federal Communications Commission in 1971 requiring local stations to begin affirmative-action programs.
A survey conducted by the Radio and Television News Directors Association a year ago found that 36 percent of all anchors in television news were women, compared with 11 percent in 1972. Though a decade ago half of all television stations had women as anchors, 92 percent of stations do so today.
At the major stations in New York City, the number of women has tripled in the past decade. WCBS-TV, for example, had three women reporters in 1973. Today there are 8 out of a total of 28 - 28 percent. Two of those women are nightly news anchors.
The percentage of women on camera is lower at the three networks than at the local level, although gains have been made.
At NBC-TV, 16 women - 16 percent of the total news staff - are women, compared with 5 women in 1972.
At CBS-TV there are 24, comprising 24 percent, compared with 5 women, or 7 percent, a decade ago.
ABC-TV now has 20 women out of a total of 139, compared with 4 in 1972.
Moreover, women have achieved even greater numerical parity at the new 24-hour cable news services, Cable News Network and Satellite News Channel, which did not exist five years ago.
On CNN, offered to 19.2 million cable subscribers, 39 percent of the anchors - 11 out of 28 - are women, and 27 percent of the reporters - 18 out of 66 - are women. At Satellite News Channel, which is available to 6 million cable subscribers, 50 percent of the anchors - 6 out of 12 - are women. (The service uses ABC's correspondents for reports on the air).
Beyond numerical gains, the trial in Kansas City has focused attention on how women in television news are perceived, both by viewers and by the executives at stations and networks.
Women have surely advanced from the time that Pauline Fredericks, NBC's United Nations correspondent, was assigned to apply makeup to Bess Truman and Frances Dewey during the 1948 political conventions before interviewing them. Nor do news executives believe, as they once did, that viewers will not accept news delivered by a woman.
''I can find no research that we have done that says the audience prefers men over women in anchor roles,'' said John Bowen, a vice president and partner of McHugh and Hoffman Inc., a news consulting firm that advises 45 local stations around the country.
Women now routinely cover such beats as the White House and the State Department in Washington, and they are sent on dangerous assignments in war zones as well.
Nevertheless, many in the television industry acknowledge that women on camera are still judged more on how they look than their male counterparts. This is especially true at local stations.
In a deposition read at the trial, Lynn Wilford Scarborough, a consultant to the station, said women are criticized more by the audience for their appearance than men. Though male anchors can wear the same suit twice in a week, for example, Miss Scarborough said that a woman could wear an outfit no more than once every three weeks. The harshest critics among viewers, according to Miss Scarborough, are the women. 'Clothing Calendar' Required
Miss Craft's experience, related in her testimony, of being heavily made up and given a ''clothing calendar'' to organize her attire on the air may not have been an abberation, according to some in the industry.
When Judy Woodruff was an anchor on WAGA-TV in Atlanta in 1972 she was told to cut her shoulder-length hair. ''I had to go along,'' Miss Woodruff, 36, said. ''It was either that or quit.'' She is now the chief Washington correspondent for the ''MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour'' on public television.
More recently, Roseann Scamardella, an anchor on WABC-TV, was asked by that station's general manager if she would like the station to pay for straightening her teeth, according to her agent, Stephen Pinkus. She declined, he said, because she believes her appeal is based on her appearing ''homegrown and natural.''
At many local stations, especially in smaller cities, the trend seems to be toward selecting women as news anchors almost solely on the basis of their looks.
''When I go to local stations and say do you want to hire this or that woman, the bottom line is she doesn't look good on the air,'' said one veteran news consultant who declined to be named. ''That's a heck of a lot more of a factor in hiring a woman than a man.''
A double standard on the basis of appearance seems to exist, although to a lesser extent, at the networks. ''It is obvious that the women are generally nice looking,'' said Connie Chung, 36, the anchor of NBC's early morning ''Sunrise'' newscast. ''The men can be nice looking or funny looking.'' The Question of Age
Perhaps the most troublesome aspect of the concern about the way women are judged on the air is the question of age - as evidenced by the paucity of women over the age of 40 now on camera.
Local television in particular seems to be difficult for older women. ''It is a fact of life that men have an easier time of it in this business in terms of aging than women do,'' said Jim Cusick, president of his own news consulting business in New York that works with local stations around the country.
There are, of course, a handful of exceptions. Ann Bishop, for seven years a co-anchor at WPLG-TV in Miami, contends that her age and lack of glamour have not been a handicap.
''I am in my early 40's and I have never had a problem with age or beauty,'' she said. ''I look like Doris Day a few years back. I am just a chubby little blonde with a wholesome face.''
Still, a survey by Audience Research and Development, a news consulting company in Dallas, recently showed that of 1,200 local news anchors around the country, 48 percent of the men, and only 3 percent of the women, were over the age of 40. No women in local anchor jobs were over 50, although 16 percent of the men were.
At the networks, there is a sprinkling of women in these age groups, including Marlene Sanders and Liz Trotta at CBS. But only Barbara Walters, at age 51, holds a highly visible position, compared with a large group of men in their 50's and 60's, including Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Mike Wallace and David Brinkley.
Some in the industry read these facts as evidence of discrimination. ''With men the gray hair and frown lines and wrinkles are marks of distinction,'' said Barbara Howar, a reporter for the syndicated entertainment news program ''Entertainment Tonight.'' ''For women they're the kiss of death.'' Miss Howar says she is over 45, but declines to specify her age.
But others point out that there are only a handful of late middle-aged women in television news to begin with. ''Television didn't start to hire women with any frequency until the 1970's,'' said Lesley Stahl, 41, White House correspondent for CBS. ''So nobody can make the assumption that older women don't last.''
Still, the prospect of aging on camera has provoked anxiety among some women on camera.
''We are approaching the time when all the women who were hired in the mid to late 60's and early 70's are beginning to look older,'' said Miss Woodruff. ''That will be the litmus test. For all our grand advances in being assigned serious news beats, if we are not permitted to do them as we grow older, as men have done, then all of our advances have been for naught.''
Some women in their late 30's and early 40's at the networks have even begun thinking about cosmetic surgery. ''Maybe in two years I will turn on the set and say, 'My God she looks a lot older than she is,' and then it will become a consideration,'' said Miss Woodruff.
The concern with maintaining a youthful appearance is endemic to the television business. ''Men are under the same kind of pressure,'' said Miss Stahl. ''Men wear hair spray and makeup and worry about the puffs under their eyes too.''
Dan Rather, anchor of the ''CBS Evening News,'' said men at his network are also concerned about growing older. ''There are natural jump-over points,'' Mr. Rather said. ''The first is between 33 and 43, and the next is after 45, when the opportunities narrow. Everyone looks for a way to have an edge, and one factor in that is looks.''
Attractiveness Is a Factor
Indeed, Tom Brokaw, 43, the anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News,'' said, ''I work very hard to stay in shape, mainly because it makes me feel better, but I don't want to go to seed on the air either.'' The top executives at the news divisions of the three networks say that journalistic skills are still paramount in hiring correspondents. But they say it is only natural that attractiveness be a factor as well. ''The vehicle of communication in television journalism is the human face,'' said Reuven Frank, president of NBC News. ''You have to apply standards to it that you would not in normal social intercourse.''
Many in the industry fear that the emphasis on the appearance of the newscasters has gone too far in local news. In his testimony at the Kansas City trial, R. Kent Replogle, general manager of KMBC-TV said, ''I would put appearance at the top of the list'' of credentials for an anchor.
In the view of various experts, the use of market research has reinforced this outlook. ''Cosmetics are an outgrowth of research, which is the tail wagging the dog in local news,'' said one former news director who declined to be named. ''It is something concrete that a news director can seize on, as opposed to dealing with the content of news.''
A handful of firms dominate the research field, headed by Frank Magid Associates in Marion, Iowa, and McHugh and Hoffman in Fairfax, Va. Customarily, these companies are called in by television stations to conduct focus sessions, informal gatherings of viewers to critique videotapes of news reporters and anchors. These group sessions are generally followed by telephone surveys, which lead to recommendations on changing the format and personnel of newscasts.
During the trial in Kansas City, Miss Craft maintained that such research was biased against her. During focus groups, for example, the viewers were asked, ''Is she a mutt?'' and exhorted, ''Let's spend 30 seconds destroying Chris Craft.'' Representatives of the firm that conducted the groups, Audience Research and Development, said such comments were intended only to draw out the participants. Popularity Rating for Anchors
The networks have also conducted surveys to determine the ''Q'' ratings for their news anchors - scores that factor in popularity and familiarity. ''They take into account people's visceral feelings toward those of us on television and they are regarded as important indicators for executives to choose who they are going to put on the air,'' Miss Stahl said. ''The question is, is that a legitimate reason to hire or fire.''
Few in the television industry can predict the consequences of the Christine Craft trial. At the least, said Marlene Sanders, ''she is raising issues that it is good for everyone to think about.''
But should Miss Craft prevail with the judge and jury in Kansas City and be upheld by an appeals court, there could be even more significant consequences, such as guidelines that could redefine a local station's ability to dismiss an anchor.
''People watch local news for the anchor,'' said one former station manager. ''If an anchor doesn't work because she looks old or baggy or doesn't fit into the chemistry you have created, and the latitude to fire is denied, then stations are going to have a lot of trouble.''
Copyright New York Times Company Aug 6, 1983