This is my brother. He is an actor. You expect actors to always have on hand a cool head shot that makes them look like a stud. That makes sense.

So someone re-tweeted a college journalist who was preparing to cover a story. The reporter’s black and white profile picture caught my eye. My goodness! Is she trying to get a scoop or seduce people?

A news anchor once told me one of the advantages of working in a TV newsroom is your co-workers often are beautiful people. Some of my friends who are not in the business often discuss the “hot” reporters in town. I’ve always argued I would attract many more Twitter followers if I were a super attractive woman.

Beauty is part of the TV newsroom. A former manager told me when she was in college, she never imagined one day calling reporters into her office and explaining how their look or clothing was inappropriate for air. And sadly, some viewers cross the line. HR must help some reporters handle uncomfortable letters in the mail from people who we might label stalkers. Social media makes the scene even dicier. TV anchors have told me about some of the messages people send them. I worked with one reporter who attracted so much attention in public, her photographer often played the role of bouncer or security guard.

Both male and female journalists should rise above this. You can post pictures of yourself appearing pleasant, professional and pretty without the come hither look. Men can do the same without portraying themselves as some dude at a bar about to deliver a really cheesy pick-up line. You might be hot stuff, but don’t try so hard to prove it. A woman searching to land a job in a bigger market once emailed me her work, asking about job openings. The video included several head and body shots. I wondered if she was targeting this version specifically to middle-aged male news directors who didn’t care about the words coming out of her mouth. I’ve seen college interns walk into the newsroom wearing clothing that implied they mistakingly thought the station was broadcasting from the beach.

Don’t deny it. TV news doesn’t show us too many ugly faces. Beauty alone lands some people jobs and that applies to both men and women. I doubt a news director would acknowledge all this, but let’s keep it real. It just so happens beautiful people make great broadcast journalists? All I’m saying to our news babes and our news studs is if you want people to respect you for the way you gather facts and not just your face, then respect yourself. Don’t paint a picture that journalism was the back-up plan to acting or modeling.