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Bosom Buddies: Sharon Reed and Catherine Bosley
"From Our Print EditionBy Steadman BrahlerSex sells. And sells and sells and sells. So, what could be better to boost ratings during sweeps week than two naked anchorwomen?Evidently that's the thinking behind a Cleveland TV station's plan to air a special report on Catherine Bosley one year after the former morning news anchor left Youngstown's WKBN-TV after photographs and videos of her stripping naked and dancing on stage at a Florida bar began circulating over the Internet.WOIO-TV Channel 19, Cleveland, a CBS affiliate known for its edgy, if not shocking, newscasts, plans to broadcast the report during the February sweeps.And who better to do the story than WOIO's Sharon Reed, whose first-person report -- complete with video -- of artist Spencer Tunick's photo shoot in downtown Cleveland last June with thousands of naked subjects, including Reed, shot WOIO's ratings into the stratosphere?WOIO aired that story during the November 2004 sweeps, five months after the nude photo installation, which was sponsored by Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art, and ratings soared to the highest in station history. Hits on WOIO's Web site also surged.Reed and her cameraman were in Youngstown Jan. 26 to spend the day with Bosley, beginning at the Youngstown Radio Center where Bosley co-hosts Y-103's morning show with Scott Kennedy, program director of WYFM, and John Batcho, better known to listeners as "Mr. Sports." Reed joined the radio team on-air to explain to listeners why she wanted to report on Bosley's comeback."This is a story about fighting back," Reed says. Bosley "could have simply resigned as a TV anchorwoman and disappeared from the public eye, but she didn't. She stood up for herself. She took a job in radio, filed suit against the Internet and video production companies profiting by selling her image and won ownership of those copyrighted images." Bosley also filed suit in December against WFMJ Television, Andrews Cycles and their employees charging that they violated copyright laws by allegedly distributing and/or reproducing those images. That case is pending.When Reed took her clothes off for the art installation, she says she was fully aware that she was taking a profound risk both personally and professionally."I'm definitely a risk taker," Reed says, "and I have a strong opinion about hypocrites and the media."Although her bosses supported, even suggested, Reed's participation in the nude photo shoot, she suffered a backlash of criticism from other news organizations and journalists who challenged her professional integrity.But, she says, her risk taking has paid off in the form of ratings for her station and national recognition for both her station and herself. Reed even appeared as a guest on David Letterman's late night talk show after her art story aired.Bosley also gained national attention andcriticism."I was blasted nationwide," she says."Catherine still deals with it every day," Reed notes. Most recently Gail White, a columnist for The Valley Voice, the weekly newspaper published by striking Vindicator workers, took aim at Bosley, sharply criticizing her decision to remain in the public eye.Reed and Y-103's morning team discussed the column on the air with Reed levying the harshest criticism, likening White's take on the situation to opinions held in "medieval times" and accusing the columnist of failing to respect another woman's right to make her own decisions. "It was Catherine's choice to take her clothes off," Reed insists. "I think White's column is a horrible read. It reads like a small-town paper."White, who learned about the on-air discourse from a fellow striker, called Y-103 to defend her position. "I asked Catherine the question I think everybody wants to know: if she didn't think what she did was wrong, why did she resign?"Bosley explained that she thought her indiscretions had hurt her station and that she felt she had no choice.At Reed's urging, she and Bosley and Reed's cameraman visited White on the picket line in front of The Vindicator's production building following the broadcast.During the face-to-face confrontation Reed adamantly defended Bosley and White stood her ground, charging that stripping in public and in front of video cameras demeans all women.As all this was being recorded for WOIO's story, in the background, another striking Vindicator worker hollered: "Show me your boobs."The confrontation appears to have all the elements that make shock-TV so appealing to viewers: sexy women engaged in an in-your-face dispute. According to Valley Voice reporter Bob Jackson, who was also on the picket line, it was a one-sided dispute with Reed going after White like "a stormtrooper" and White keeping her cool.Bosley, he says, stayed in the background, at least for the most part.Whether Bosley's story and the picket-line confrontation will boost WOIO's ratings during the February sweeps remains to be seen. What's next? Reed and Bosley co-anchoring a newscast?Now that would sell."