Gamour’s Cindi Leive profiles Alex Wagner…
CL: One of the great things I’ve noticed about you is that you seem to be the same person on air as off.
AW: So you either like it or you don’t like it!CL: Well, that’s rare in a TV anchor.
AW: Phil Griffin [president of MSNBC] gives all his hosts and anchors a real opportunity to be who they are. “Playing TV” isn’t what we do at MSNBC—which isn’t to say there isn’t a lot of work that goes on. But the act of [in exaggerated newscaster voice] “faking TV anchor,” that’s not who we are.CL: Female anchors used to have to present themselves with the TV hair, the look. Are those old stereotypes going away?
AW: Well, I think this is about women and their changing roles. The general trend in television is to be more transparent, and that is especially true for women: to not pretend that we wake up with our hair in perfect shellacked bobs. [Laughs.] We are not yet at the point where I can wear my plaid flannel on TV, but we’re loosening up.CL: You’ve had great male mentors: Phil Griffin and George—Mr. Clooney, excuse me! Have there been women mentors who’ve been influential too?
AW: Melinda Henneberger was my editor at Politics Daily. She said, “Kid, we’re going to put you in the White House.” I was like, “You do realize I’ve only been to the Easter egg roll there, and I have no business covering 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” She’s brilliant, and when I met her, I thought, I want to be like her!
Filed under: MSNBC
