The Double Standard

When WABC (New York) anchor Liz Cho and former network anchor Josh Elliott got engaged and married back in 2015, it was treated like a royal wedding.

TV stations love to waste precious newscast minutes airing sappy engagement announcements, co-anchors gushing over diamond rings, and full image galleries of anchor wedding pictures during the 6:00 PM broadcast. They insist viewers care deeply about the personal lives of the talent, using romance to build that "friendly neighborhood anchor" brand.

Fast forward to today, and the fairytale has completely unraveled.

According to reports from Page Six, the divorce between Cho and Elliott has turned increasingly bitter, with Cho recently filing a protective order against her estranged husband as court filings detail allegations, heated arguments, and cross-complaints.

So, how much coverage is WABC or local TV news giving to the protective order or the messy divorce proceedings of their star anchor?

Zero. Absolute silence.

It’s the classic local TV news double standard:

When an anchor gets engaged or married, stations will happily preempt actual news to sell you fairy dust and wedding bells. But when the relationship hits the rocks, court orders are filed, and real life gets messy, stations suddenly remember that "an anchor's personal life isn't news."

If you’re going to force viewers to sit through the fluff on the way up, at least have the journalistic integrity to cover the reality on the way down. But as usual in local TV news, transparency only applies when it boosts the ratings promo.