This just in...grrrls rule!

Christiane Amanpour can make me care about things that I would otherwise have little to no interest in: Hamas, Peabody awards, integrity. Her journalism is raw, without agenda, unlike the lisped, affected, camera-loving bobbleheads that report most news. Whether she's in a head scarf against the backdrop of a war-torn country or leading a panel discussion on Clinton's Global Initiative (www.ClintonGlobalInitiative.org), she feels refreshing to me, like the crisp release of pressure when opening a soda.

She has a somewhat manly quality, and maybe that's where her appeal lies, (I mean come on, does any self-respecting woman really take spritey Katie Couric seriously?). Her hips are narrow and her shoulders are broad. Her breats her only curves. Her hair is thick and black - no highlights, creams, or hairspray. Even without extensive styling it holds up like the baby-boomer housewife down the street whose natural style and body send the neighborhood wives to the salon in droves. Her features are a mixture of handsome (a strong chin and nose), dark (wide, piercing eyes and Iranian coloring), and feminine (full lips and high, cupped cheekbones).

In Hollywood, Catherine Zeta-Jones would be Amanpour's best, albeit sexified, match. They both have that nearly full British accent (Christiane born in London, lived her first 11 years in Tehran, then back to London). They both have deep, masculine voices: Catherine's is alluring in a Kathleen-Turner-come-hither-raspiness, and Christiane's is low and deliberate like the steady delivery of Walter Chronkite, a mid-range register appealing to the masses, dispensing words like tools of metal and wood.

She doesn't pose for the camera. Most reporters look into the lens like dogs when a treat is dangled in front of them, cocking their heads and pricking their eyebrows. They try to sensationalize the news with their pitchy voices and dramatic pauses in their speech. Christiane doesn't do that because she doesn't need to. She's objective. Purposive. She has the balls and the calculated restraint to let the story speak for itself.

She is the consumate correspondent; the regaled reporter; a cool chick.