A person who reads news reports on television or radio, presenting information about current events to the audience.
Compound word from 'news' (from Middle English 'newes,' plural of 'new' meaning recent information) and 'caster' (from 'broadcast,' literally 'casting seeds broadly'). The term emerged in the 1930s with radio.
The first newscasters were basically just reading wire reports into a microphone, but now they're trained actors, journalists, and personalities—the job completely transformed with television in the 1950s!
Broadcasting was male-dominated through mid-20th century; 'newscaster' emerged gender-neutral, but profession carried assumptions about authority and appearance that disadvantaged women entering the field.
The term itself is inclusive. When referencing newscasters, use diverse examples and avoid default masculine pronouns.
Women like Barbara Walters and Connie Chung broke gendered barriers in broadcast journalism, establishing credibility in a field that initially gatekept women from on-air authority roles.
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