Vargas isn't a victim, she's a role model
Let's not cry for Elizabeth Vargas. Let's give her a hand.
Ever since ABC announced that its high-profile anchor -- pregnant and slipping in the ratings -- was stepping down as host of ``ABC World News Tonight," some women's groups have been setting up the barricades. The circumstances seemed too suspicious, they say: Pregnant woman ``voluntarily" steps aside as older man ( Charles Gibson) dutifully fills her place. Last week, three women's organizations sent a letter to ABC brass, complaining that between Vargas's exit and the cancellation of ``Commander in Chief," the network had ``managed to eliminate two of the country's most visible women role models and high achievers."
A few words on ``Commander in Chief": The show was fiction, and it was bad. Geena Davis might have made a fetching female president, but the plots were thin and the ratings tanked.
As for Vargas, it's quite possible that she wanted it this way.
That's what Vargas is saying, though many will choose not to believe her. Yesterday, she told the Philadelphia Inquirer that ``I am not a pregnant working mother wronged." She said she took part in the decision, and that doctors had advised her to cut back her workload. She said she'd love to host a daily news show, but later.
In short, she said she's been struggling with the reality of working motherhood -- a mess of complex emotions and logistics. And she may well be a role model after all, a symbol of modern compromise. A 2004 study by the Families and Work Institute found that members of generations X and Y are more family-centered, less focused on career advancement, than baby boomer s. (At 43, Vargas barely misses the GenX cutoff, but we'll give it to her in spirit.)
Vargas 's defense of ABC is a sign that there are no clear victims or villains here. Women in the TV news business have historically had to fight; 15 years ago, Meredith Vieira, the soon-to-be host of ``Today," quit CBS's ``60 Minutes" when pregnant with her second child, after producers wouldn't let her work part time.
But while American society has far to go in terms of helping families, high-profile companies are increasingly sensitive about looking insensitive. Vargas had some power here, and she likely got a nice payoff. Most TV journalists would kill for her fallback job, a co-anchor post on ``20/20."
Many were skeptical of her ``World News Tonight" gig from the outset. It was part of an experimental -- some might say gimmicky -- bid to draw younger viewers. Instead of the authoritative anchor at the desk, ABC offered two youngish co-anchors, rotating time on the road, contributing webcasts, rebroadcasting live for the West Coast.
Events got in the way. No one expected co-anchor Bob Woodruff to be badly injured in Iraq. No one expected Vargas to get pregnant. No one expected the ratings to slip. And in the TV news business, you live by the ratings, whether you're male or female.
While many of the highest-profile work-family decisions aren't made in a vacuum -- with better poll numbers, Jane Swift might've run for governor in 2002 -- that doesn't make the struggle any less heartfelt. There are ample examples of successful women who decide to step back. WHDH-TV's Caterina Bandini, co-anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast, announced she's leaving the station this fall because she's pregnant with twins.
There's no shame in stepping back from a grueling schedule, especially if your future looks bright. Vargas reached the upper tier of a high-pressure, high-paying business, and now she gets a portion of her life back, too. That doesn't sound half bad.
Joanna Weiss can be reached at weiss@globe.com. 
