The Anchor Ego

Before I got into TV news but was thinking about it, I asked people in the business, about the business.

One person said something to me that stuck with me all these years. “Everyone that works in TV news, whether they are a Producer, Photographer a Reporter, or an Anchor has an ego,” the longtime newsie told me at the time.

After working in the business for years, I found that to be one of the most true statements about TV news.

And, as many of you know, more often than not, the biggest ego is sitting at the anchor desk.

So, while reading this story on CNN about how ABC Anchors David Muir and George Stephanopoulos acted like a couple of kids when it came to a job title, it didn’t surprise me.

The story says that Stephanopoulos was so pissed that Muir was being cast as the star anchor at ABC News that he threatened to walk to a rival network.

In fact, it got so bad that Disney executive chairman Bob Iger had to fly to New York and act like a parent getting two spoiled kids to stop fighting.

CNN reports that the issue was a title, "chief anchor," and a key network news responsibility: leading special coverage of breaking news stories and special events.

Those special reports have been helmed by Stephanopoulos for the better part of a decade. Now Muir will have that responsibility on top of his "World News Tonight" anchor role.

Stephanopoulos, the co-anchor of "GMA" on weekdays and "This Week" on Sundays, will be adding a production company and prime time specials to his portfolio. Sources said that he will create new shows for Disney-owned platforms like Hulu and National Geographic.

Now, no one at ABC News will have the title of "chief anchor."

So, the next time the anchors at your station are bitching that the other anchor got to read more stories than them, remember when it gets to the network level, it doesn’t go away.

It’s sad that these are adults we are talking about.

Just saying….