Candy Crowley in NY Magazine

NY Magazine posted an article with Candy Crowley about her new show. Here's an excerpt. Click here for the full article.

Four weeks ago, reporter Candy Crowley took over CNN's Sunday political show State of the Union from anchor John King, who will be moving to a weekday show to take over Lou Dobbs's spot. We spoke to Crowley about her new role, and about being a woman on a day of the week, and in a field, dominated by sputtering white men.

So, what are your goals with the new show? What do you hope to do?

I don't think the core of the Sunday genre changes. I think you want to have people on to either explain last week, or to look into next week. Still, one of the things that [CNN president] Jon Klein told me when I got the job was, "I don't want Candy Crowley to do John King's show. I want Candy Crowley to do Candy Crowley's show." And I wish that I could delineate for you what that is. For instance — and this is a small thing — last week we got a smaller table. And it made for a more intimate discussion, which I liked. I have topics that I’ve written out that I think would be nice to cover, but I don’t have specific questions, because I like to listen to the answers and just see where it’s going.

Sometimes it does seem like a big table makes people take turns talking.

It feels very much like I throw a jump ball, and they play the game. And some people can handle that, but just for me, I need to be able to look people in the eye and be close to them.

You are a woman on a day of the week, and in a position, where there aren’t many women. Did you think about that when you took this job?
I didn't. When Jon offered me the job I just thought, "What a good journalistic opportunity. This is gonna be really fun." And then it got announced three days later on the Sunday show. And I didn't really think about the whole female part of it until I started getting all these e-mails. I got this one great e-mail from a young woman, who worked in a small TV station somewhere, saying: "I worked here and I watched you for so long. All of my friends here are so excited to have a woman. I'm going to watch every Sunday, because I think it's so terrific and so about time. Also, it's time for more leopard prints on Sunday." And I just cracked up.

Are women subjected to different standards? You've talked about your appearance before, and whether or not that matters. Do you think that viewers look at women differently than men in this position?
I'm sure they do. I think sometimes it's helpful, and I think sometimes it's not helpful, depending on the viewer. I don't think anyone ever wrote John and said, "That’s a really ugly tie and never wear it again." But I fully expect someone, and it will probably be my mother, will write me and say: "Don't ever wear that again." Maybe there are more hills to climb. But you know, I’ve been a girl all my life, I’ll deal.

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