I remember the first time I saw Celine McArthur on WCAX – In relative terms, and years removed, it didn’t seem long after our best local station was bought out – when the web page or maybe it was their facebook page, immediately went from primarily providing content to being loaded with strange ads for platform shoes and shower seats. (I definitely remember the shoes anyway – in any case it was weird, crass, classless, and disgusting. Don’t get me wrong, I am a little grateful that they stopped doing that.)

I’ve never felt like Celine McArthur was a quality newscaster at all – she may be seen as a quality newscaster elsewhere (and surely by some, if not a number here).  When I see that she is on – and I’ve done this from the start – I more often than not choose to leave the room. 

According to this really very strange Seven Days article from February, really, in real life, in person, she’s ‘fast-talking and charming”.  https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/whats-the-story-behind-newscaster-celine-mcarthurs-necklace/Content?oid=29689887   Assuming they didn’t meet behind closed doors, my description without going back to look – would be fast-talking, with a disconcerting cross between a low tone and a nasal tone, and with more of a political persona than anything else – she always seems to more be ‘elsewhere’ really. 

The article is talking about her necklace – no shock that that subject matter got approved really – presenting her as a victim, losing her job to a buy out and all, but also as a sort of martyr and maybe even a super hero – and clearly a winner (since she won an Emmy). 

As a reporter, putting too much effort into presenting ‘yourself’ is really poor taste (doing so as a close affiliate is the same exact thing).  It’s like that (I think early 80s maybe) UVM yearbook that I saw where the editor started the book with a large ‘meet your editor’ spread – errr, look around, we don’t do that here and there’s a really good reason for that. 

Celine’s ‘partner’, Freddy Wheeler, who is now in Israel, shows his coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, here https://www.freddywheeler.com/galleries/bostonbombing, which doubtfully won any awards. Seemingly, he’s not entirely welcome by law enforcement but at least they’ve made eye contact. 

At least this is better than when Kurt Cobain died in 1994 and this photojournalist,, from the bushes maybe, couldn’t do much more than get the broadside of one but, still no really, maybe next time Celine should help Freddy with her law enforcement contacts.