NYT Slams Couric

In an unusually opinionated article in today's NYT, TV writer Alessandra Stanley delivers a gutpunch to Katie Couric, saying viewers are leaving her for Diane Sawyer whose

appeal on "Good Morning America" is not that she is new and exciting, but that she is a consistently smooth, even restful, presence. Her golden good looks never change, and she handles interviews and chatter with her genial co-host Charles Gibson with a poised, creamy insincerity that never varies or falters.

Ms. Couric made her mark in television by being natural and unaffected, but nobody can stay that way in that job for long. "Today" might be better served by easing its anchor-centric style and giving its stars and viewers a bit of a break.

I agree with all of this but I wonder, would a TV columnist ever say such a thing (read the article for similar digs) about a male anchor? I don't recall such things being printed about Brokaw, Jennings, or Rather. Are there certain things about female anchors it's OK to say, particularly regarding their physical appearance, that are taboo about male anchors?