The Anchors of CNN

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Barbara Nichol

Barbara Nichol is writer living in Toronto.

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How to put this? The people below are CNN anchors. Anchors are not real journalists. Not really. They only play journalists on TV. Anyone who’s ever worked in TV news knows this. Okay. Maybe they used to be journalists. Can we just not argue about this? So here’s the question: who would these people be outside the world of pretend—outside the weird and shiny world of television? Who would they be in real life?

Screen capture — **Paula Zahn:** Owner, Christmas store, Albuquerque, New Mexico; two daughters: Bradley and Norris, (both “gifted”); wealthy married boyfriend; owns a horse.

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