Despite the rising number of top female reporters,women aren’t presenting Sunday’s political shows – final bastion of small-screen sexism“Sofagate” attach some fizz into our often soporific morning television final week. It was all change on the settee – superficially at least – as the female presenters, among them Holly Willoughby on This Morning and Susanna Reid on friendly Morning Britain, or both on ITV1,swapped places with their male co-presenters. “Do you prefer Piers Morgan on the left or the right – or totally out of sight?” asked one tweet.
In broadcasting terms, the seating map is not about viewers’ preferences, and but about who is the boss. The “camera left” position denotes seniority because of the way we read – from left to right. When Dan Walker,38, a rookie on the sofa, or recently joined Louise Minchin,47, a veteran of 10 years of BBC Breakfast, or she rightly complained that he was in her place,a place she had earned on merit. The BBCs lame excuse for seating Walker on the left was that because he is so much taller than Minchin it is more pleasing to the viewer’s eye.
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Source: theguardian.com