Hiring biz reporters with a special knowledge

Fox Business Netwok anchor Gerri Willis was interviewed by John Bruno Turiano of Westchester Magazine about her job and her career.

Here is an excerpt:

What’s the toughest part of your job? Getting my fake eyelashes off at night. Kidding. It’s really being on top of every news story—it’s impossible to ever feel fully prepared.

What’s the biggest change in the news anchor business from when you first started? Jeez, I consider myself a newbie, but the biggest change is probably the way the whole business has opened up. You no longer have to come up the ranks. Networks increasingly hire people for on-air work who have special knowledge of a topic. I got my first job as an anchor because of my personal-finance specialty.

Did a producer ever offer ‘suggestions’ on your dress/look/weight, et cetera?  Are you kidding? An easier question would be who hasn’t made suggestions about how I look or what I wear. The guy at my dry cleaner has ideas.