Couric a Blink Away From Landmark Gig

[MsUSA]

Katie Couric's deal to move to CBS News is completed in principle, and an announcement that she is leaving NBC might come as early as this week.
That's the quiet buzz among sources familiar with assorted moving parts connected to the deal to transform Ms. Couric from co-anchor of the No. 1 morning show "Today" to anchor of the third-place-but-growing "CBS Evening News." In taking on the CBS job, Ms. Couric would be the first female to serve as sole anchor of a network flagship newscast.

The first announcement should be that Ms. Couric is leaving the Peacock Network and the viewers who have spent their mornings with Ms. Couric for 15 years.

The official announcement of CBS's dream come true-landing Ms. Couric as its evening star- would follow, perhaps next week. Ms. Couric's personal publicist, Matthew Hiltzik of Freud Communications, declined to comment to TelevisionWeek last week, as did representatives of NBC News and CBS News.

Ms. Couric's $65 million contract, under which NBC paid her more than $15 million per year, is not up until the end of May.

http://www.tvweek.com/9678.html

[HereSince1628]

1. Sad, CBS news actually made a few attempts at criticizing BushCo

Wasn't it recently reported that Couric was romantically involved with a male neocon version of Mati Hari?

[Missy M]

2. Why is she so popular? I see her as nothing but a light weight...

hostess of a light weight morning show. I guess we will be seeing and hearing a lot of giggling during the CBS evening news as presented by Couric.

[dogday]

36. Isn't she engaged to one of the time warner family?

Tom Warner or something like that??? That could explain the move....

[Left Is Write]

62. No. That relationship apparently ended quite a while ago.

[cantstandbush]

53. I agree. She is highly overrated. I guess it's "all-American-girl" thing

I seldom watched her morning show. I think NBC will do just fine without her. i really think her days as the "cutesy" girl who became so loved for socking it to Bryan Gumbel has worn thin and I think she is a real light-weight compared to Sawyer, Waters, and others.

[Bluebear]

3. Katie Couric ROCK'S!!!!!!11111

:eyes:

[Virginian]

16. Maybe CBS wants to become the Un-Fox network.

There is a market for it. If we could watch a liberal leaning network instead of the pseudo neutral networks the work for Bushco that would be great.

What does this have to do with Katie? She is a lifelong Dem who has been forced to be neutral because that is what we expected from news anchors. on the Un-Fox network she can be a little more open with her opinions like all the Fox anchors are.

I really don't think CBS will go that route, but I can always hope.

[burythehatchet]

26. The end CBS news is officially here.

RIP

[screembloodymurder]

29. You've got to be kidding?

She is aging rapidly and has at best two more years on tv.

[Left Is Write]

60. I'm pretty sure, based on the freeper punctuation and the rolling eyes,

that yes, he is kidding (or, more accurately, being sarcastic).

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

44. Do you like the way she goes for the jugular of critics of the

administration? She is nothing but a corporate whore.

[chelsea0011]

4. Truth positive that entertainment is the name of news now

She has zero background in any serious news work. You can complain about news people in the past but many came from war coverage, press news rooms, and many years of writing and reporting news for local and national stations.:puke: :puke: :puke:

[ShortnFiery]

54. You are right ... Info-tainment it is ... what a waste snagging her : (

[dflprincess]

5. It's like a bad SAT question

"Which one does not belong in this group:"

Eric Severied (sp)
Walter Cronkite
Dan Rather
Katie Couric

[dogindia]

48. where is ignored.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Comment (in less than a word):

Image from Kill Your Television

[stephinrome]

7. We caught Katie off guard in Rome

Today Show Blitz - Live from Piazza Navona
http://www.peaceandjustice.it/today-show.php

:)

[goclark]

21. Yea! Bravo!

[annabanana]

8. This is so unfortunate..

Of the big networks, CBS was the least drenched in kool-aid. I fear this will be the drowning of whatever independent spark may be left at the "News Network"

[chemenger]

9. "She's got the Look"

And unfortunately, in today's world that's all it takes. No substance, no experience, no intellegence, just that cute perky look.

[annabanana]

11. a little long in the tooth for "perky" I think. . . . .

"perky" is like "cute".. The fit kind of chafes after a certain point.

[pacalo]

24. She's got the look, alright...

You can have the look, too:

Pull the corners of your mouth upward with your thumbs, while pulling the outside corners of both eyes downward with your index fingers. That's the Katie Couric look.

I can't stand her!

[saltpoint]

10. I'm thinking CBS had a winner with Bob Schieffer.

Always appreciated Schieffer.

[annabanana]

12. ditto

At least we know he remembers what Journalists are.

[saltpoint]

14. Yep. Old School reporter's skills, reasonably contemporary outlook.

[Benhurst]

19. Yeah, even he, a friend of the Bush Crime Family, was a better choice. NT

[The Wielding Truth]

25. Schieffer has an open quality that shows he has compassion and

it's not just talk.

[saltpoint]

28. Agreed. He's one of those people with a big mind and great

perception who doesn't talk down to anybody.

He's got that hardwired courtesy to others, too.

[The Wielding Truth]

32. Yep, it would be great to have a bunch of his kind out there to inform us.

[Beausoir]

42. Yes. Schieffer had some credibility in my eyes.

I also was a huge Dan Rather fan.

I only watch the CBS Evening news. If this is really true about Couric, then I don't know where I'll go. NBC has that Repuke Williams and Elizabeth Vargas is just too icy for my liking.

Why didn't they go for John Roberts?

[saltpoint]

55. Don't know. I read that Roberts thought he would be better off with

CNN once the CBS brass passed him up, so maybe the Couric deal was in the pipes a long while back.

Not sure.

[Left Is Write]

59. I like Bob. I liked Dan.

[Radio_Lady]

64. I like Bob Schieffer. He was a temporary choice to fill in after

Dan Rather retired.

CBS will be taking a bold gamble with Katie Couric. But why not? I am sure she will grow and change as men do in their anchor positions.

The experiences that Cronkite, Jennings, Rather and even Brokaw had -- were unique. I'm pleased as punch that Katie is apparently going to bat for herself. She lost a sister and a husband in the last fifteen years. She has two beautiful daughters. She has beautiful diction and isn't bad to look at. I have no idea what someone in this thread said about her legs. (Sexist remark anyway -- do we even CARE what MEN's legs look like? Jeeze....)

I can't think of anyone else I'd rather see get this big chance. Well, maybe Amy Goodman from "Democracy Now" -- but she'd have to wear makeup and color her hair!!!! :sarcasm:

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[Left Is Write]

68. Amy Goodman the newspaper columnist?

[Radio_Lady]

74. No, that's Ellen Goodman. Amy Goodman, host and producer of

"Democracy Now."

Go to: www.democracynow.org

She gave a speech which was re-broadcast on CSPAN last night.

She wrote a book called "The Exception to the Rulers" -- published last year. Check the web site to see if there is an outlet in your area that carries the independent media radio link to her radio show "Democracy Now" or on cable TV. She's been involved with "Democracy Now" since 1996 -- just celebrated their 10th anniversary.

[Left Is Write]

75. Ah, yes, that's right.

It was Ellen Goodman I was thinking of.

[WI_DEM]

13. And Campbell Brown who just married a GOP strategist is the top

choice to take Couric's place on Today.

[kenny blankenship]

17. One big Nazi family

[Radio_Lady]

84. Report I heard was Meredith Viera -- but that was yesterday.

There were several other names, including Meredith Viera.

[Atman]

15. I have looked into Katie's colon...

...and seen her soul. It's pretty yucky.

However, I'd still pay good money to see her and Paula Zahn in a MILF Mud Wrestling Smackdown!

[Dr. Jones]

41. Good one...

:rofl:

[myrna minx]

18. I have been a loyal CBS news viewer since elementary school.

If they take on Couric, then they have lost me as a viewer. Is their news going to be something like:

Couric: Coming up next, how to turn your holiday dinner table into something Holidazzeling! We'll talk to the latest castaway voted off of the island on Survivor but now to White Horse correspondent John Roberts. John, how wonderful is the president? Is he just really great or is he really wonderful?

:puke:

[Marnieworld]

20. Paddy Chayevsky must be rolling

How could the once great bastion of journalism CBS news sink this low? It's not as if what has happened to TV news wasn't completed outlined and predicted in Network and yet still it happened just the same. Katie Couric is fluff. She could easily have been on Entertainment Tonight instead of the Today show. She's good for parades not journalism. So sad what has happened to CBS. Until the fairness doctrine is put back in place I only read news.

[Kai]

22. The "Look"

[xxqqqzme]

30. the eyes -

vapid & vacant.

[im10ashus]

38. OUCH!

My retinas have now been seared. That is TOO close for viewing.

[El Supremo]

23. I heard that CBS will pay her by...

the giggle.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Her late sister, Emily, was a State Senator for VA and ...

Virginia Democratic Party Co-Chairwoman. So maybe there's more family contact with the Dems than the Repugs.

[malaise]

37. Wasn't her father a Dem as well?

[Jamison]

31. Eek.

I wonder what would be worse, having Katie Couric or Ann Coulter on CBS Nightly News.

Bah, there would be no difference, they are one in the same.:puke:

[TheUnspeakable]

33. hey-did you hear about Katie's new guy???

he sounds GREAT

(snip)Couric's latest comes from a different world. He is Washington, D.C., beer distributor Jimmy Reyes, a divorced father of two, a major supporter of President Bush and the former fiance of right-wing radio commentator Laura Ingraham.
:puke: :puke: :puke:

<http://www.suntimes.com/output/zwecker/cst-ftr-zp29.html>

[underpants]

82. Okay how about her SISTER???

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06EEDA123EF93AA25753C1A9679C8B63

[spanone]

34. From Conkrite to Couric....the death of journalism.

[gatorboy]

35. $65 Million???

Seriously? Oy!

[David Zephyr]

39. I like Katy. It will boost CBS to Number One in broadcast news.

I hope she gets it. CBS still has the best news group in television and she will boost the ratings and, personally, I think she will just do a great job.

I like Katie.

[radio4progressives]

45. You like Katie? Out of curiousity...

may i ask how old you are?

[Radio_Lady]

58. I like Katie, too. What's your point about age?

Are you trying to find out whether the key 18-35 viewers will like her -- or what?

She is an attractive woman, who worked at WTVJ Miami -- and many other places. I was there a long time ago when there were virtually NO women on the air. She has a damned decent resume, friend. "Perky" gets replaced by attractive and/or assertive as a woman matures, by the way. Katie made it big-time with the talents she has. More power to her for getting this offer. By the way, rising at 3AM while being the sole support of two young daughters is no picnic.

How old are YOU?

I really resent this thread. Ugly, ugly, ugly. I thought people who were here were less judgmental than this, but I guess not.

I'm 66, a female TV and radio pioneer, younger than Barbara Walters (who had to endure all the same crap about her credentials when she was on with Harry Reasoner years ago) but older than you probably, am I right?

[Kai]

78. Gender is not the issue

But go ahead, justify the assignment of this over-compensated online personality on the basis of gender. Male news readers are just as much of an affront to journalism. I don't actually watch network news and the prospect of finding this earnest pixie reading the redacted daily roundup is unlikely to inspire me to to turn it on. Perhaps, in a sense, it is fair to have finally included a woman in the tiny group of charmed characters who recite rather than report but that doesn't make it journalism. If it turns out that she is more than an emoticon so featured and with a demeanor to resonate with the broad demographic that this network is trying win in their declining days, I will be sure to tune in.

[Left Is Write]

61. I liked her until she was argumentative and belligerent with John Kerry

during a live interview. She was simultaneously defensive of the Bush Administration, and appeared to be making no effort to conduct and unbiased interview.

[Dr. Jones]

40. If this is true, I WILL NEVER WATCH CBS EVENING NEWS AGAIN.

Sorry, but Katie Couric is nothing but a prepackaged entertainment/media corporate hack. I will not stand for the entertainment-ization of American newscasting! Nobody will take her seriously and will simply change the channel.

Get David Gregory on there. Much better choice.

[Kai]

43. Seasoned Pro

I don't understand why they are going with Couric when they could have seasoned professional, Lamb Chop, who has been out of work for years.

[kath]

46. Navy SEALs rock!!! Excuse me while I

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[greekspeak]

47. Will she shove her heinous, wizened legs down America's throat on CBS?

I have never seen a report she did without long shots displaying those gnarled skanky things. Why does that woman want to set female journalists back about 3 generations? She is eye candy for the Right. The men there think she is a vision of loveliness. Newsflash...she is nasty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. Why the hell does ANYONE need $15 million a year?

It just boggles my mind. How much does KO make? Helen Thomas? I would bet it isn't even close to a million a year.

Second question - what do you DO with $15 million a year? I would run out of things to spend it on.

[Scout1071]

50. Sad. I was comin around to CBS News with Bob. I will never watch Katie.

She is such a phoney. If I never watch her put her little glasses on for another "hard-hitting" interview, I'd be just fine.

[knitter4democracy]

51. Ick.

I can't stand watching her. She gives me the heebies. So much for CBS news.

[ToeBot]

52. Oh! She's the one taking over for Scott MacLellan eom

[entanglement]

56. 65 million - tad high for a whore like Katie?

:puke:

[doc03]

57. What's the deal everyone on DU hates her and

every Wing-nut is going nuts about her being a loony liberal, that's fair and balanced to me. I suspect that she is a woman has a lot to do with all the negativity.

[Left Is Write]

63. She has previously had a reputation for being liberally inclined, but

having seen for myself her rude and argumentative behavior with John Kerry, I'm not so sure anymore. I'd guess now that she's one of the "corporate Republicans."

[doc03]

65. The wing-nuts hate her almost as much as Hillary

she can't be all bad. She is sure more pleasing to look at than Brit Hume or Wolf Blitzer. They should have her do her news cast standing so we can see those legs.

[Left Is Write]

67. I liked her for years on Today.

I was appalled and disappointed by the interview with Kerry, and it has colored my view of her ever since.

[Radio_Lady]

69. Left Is Write, maybe she was just having a bad day... didja ever

think of that? If you want bland interviews, you can watch C-SPAN anytime.

I like to tell the story of when I was hired in Boston as the first woman talk show host with a full time daily program. The hot issues of the day were bussing to achieve racial balance, pro-choice versus pro-life, birth control, capital punishment -- you name it.

Every day, I had to get my two toddlers to pre-school and then get to the station and be on the air at 10 AM (that was better than my previous job at WIOD Miami, where I did a talk and music show from 11 PM to 5 AM. Imagine that!)

The audience was largely female, largely Catholic, and largely pro-life. I had to try and remain cool, calm and collected in the face of all these "hot button" issues -- but you know what? When Albert O'Neill, one of the most sexist local Democratic politicos I'd ever seen, came on. my rage showed through. I told him he couldn't stay unless he snuffed out his cigar. Then, after a brief but courteous exchange for a few minutes, he made some other snide comments about me living in the "all-white" suburbs. The implication was that I didn't understand what forced bussing was doing to the community, he said. Then he insisted on calling me a "girl" -- at the time, I was in my mid-30s. I gave it to him really good -- there was so much hatred that it began to turn my stomach. I wished I had handled it better. However, Albert "Dapper" O'Neill blew out the door and I never saw him again. He was a piece of work.

Another time, I had the audacity to say perhaps we should "forgive and forget" Hitler. (I am a Jew by birth and raised in Miami, Florida. My parents were also both American born.) The wrath of the Boston Jewish community came down on my head. I ended up apologizing to the head of the Anti-defamation League in Boston, a red headed guy Albert someone whose last name I have forgotten. I also became the hit of the Jewish community, and made several speeches in front of their group.

When Gary Gilmore was executed, I got so hot under the collar that I began to auction off his body parts to the callers! One of my talk show host colleagues called me off the air and advised me to cool off. I was pretty anti-capital punishment at that time, but I've changed my mind now that I'm older.

Me? I love the "Today" show but rarely get a chance to watch it now. I think Katie has grown and changed and matured as a woman. She needs a break on this. I'm prepared to give it to her, aren't you?

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[Left Is Write]

71. She may have been having a bad day...

but her attitude toward John Kerry was coupled with comments that were supportive of the Bush Administration. Sure, it could have been devil's advocacy, but it came off as combative. I expect better than that of seasoned journalists.

I have watched Today for years and continue to do so, but my view of Katie Couric has changed.

I do not agree with comments that lambaste her for her gender, her look, or any other superficial attributes, but I have a hard time reconciling what I've seen with what I'd always believed to be true.

(I never did understand the vicious hatred around here for Tom Brokaw.)

[Radio_Lady]

66. My former program director at WEEI/CBS, Dan Griffin, used to say,

"I get about 50% of people who think you're a Conservative -- another 50% think your a Communist. That's just about what I want to hear!" -- when discussing the fact that, at the time, CBS ran their owned and operated stations with the axiom that the talk host had to play "devil's advocate."

Let's give Katie a chance, people. And stop this sexist shit, like what we pioneer women had to hear in the 1960s and 1970s!!! These are just a few ACTUAL COMMENTS:

"What, me hire a woman to do news? No way. Women's voices aren't authoritative enough. Men will never listen to a woman doing news."

"You're not planning to get pregnant, are you?"

"Who is going to watch your young children while you are on the air?"

"You are a production assistant -- that means my slave. Go get me some black coffee from the NBC Cafeteria." (Got FIRED when I accidentally forgot and put cream in that man's coffee.)

In peace,

Radio_Lady

First TV job -- 1957

[Left Is Write]

70. I was fired from my first radio job -

I was hired to do a music show, and then after the fact I was put on news. I was expected to be the news reporter, the news director - the entire news team - without benefit of a wire or even a newspaper subscription. I was expected to attend all local school board meetings, city council meetings, and other events of that type. I was expected to have state and national news prepared for each morning show, and they couldn't even give me a wire.

I was fired on a Friday. I had already prepared and written undated news items for the weekend and some for the following Monday.

Though I have no proof, several staffers separately informed me that they had heard the boss (who had no previous experience running a radio station) say that women should not be doing news. The person who was hired to replace me used all of the news that I had written for the weekend, and he used my Monday items also. The guy who was the morning jock called me up and told me the boss had praised new guy for being a much better news writer than I had been. About stories I had written.

That was in 1992, which should have been long past the era of discrimination against women.

I also learned that the program director had put his own job on the line to try to save mine, and he was sacked just three months later.

[Radio_Lady]

72. Re: Brokaw -- he has a lazy "L" and he is a very attractive man.

He's the perfect example of someone who grew and changed in the job.

Good night, and good luck.

Radio_Lady

[underpants]

80. Hated by the left hated by the right

LOVED down the middle :P

[Radio_Lady]

83. You said it, underpants.

[kestrel91316]

73. I liked Katie in the beginning, but IMHO she has become WAY too

smarmy and saccharine in recent years. And I can't imagine her being serious anchor material. She is way too "fluffy". Like a cheerleader.

Whatever happened to serious journalists for anchors???

[Radio_Lady]

76. What do you mean by serious journalists? Ashleigh Banfield was out in

front during the World Trade Center disaster. Jeanne Meserve was on top of the Katrina debacle, at least at the beginning. Candy Crowley does in-depth stuff with excellent writing. The women on CBS's morning show do a good job, although I don't watch that show. (I listen to it on 87.7 FM which is assigned to Channel 6, CBS -- don't ask me why.) Diane Sawyer has outlasted Sam Donaldson (reportedly suffering from an ailment at this time). But are these "serious" journalists? You tell me... women certainly have never gotten the war reporting experience that many men did.

Even Mike Wallace says it will be much harder for both women and men to get good national newswriting and reporting jobs in the future, due to competition and a dispersing of the audience for news. There used to be just three major networks and everyone watched the news at 6 PM or 6:30 PM. No cable, satellite, computers, newspapers on line, etc. etc.

A lot of the original women reporters who migrated from other professions, usually newspapers -- have passed on -- except for Helen Thomas -- and passed the torch to others. Do you realize that WOMEN ANCHORS and WOMEN REPORTERS have NOT been around as long as men have? In Boston, the jobs just became available in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a part of "affirmative action" decisions by program managers. Get a token woman. Usually it was a "weather girl" or someone who provided light stories.

But there are excellent women reporters around the country waiting for their big break.

[kestrel91316]

79. By "serious journalists" I certainly DON'T mean Dear Katie, lol.

There are plenty of serious woman journalists, in spite of men's best efforts to keep them down. But Katie Couric is NOT one of them. IMHO she is all fluff, and a shill to boot.

[earth mom]

77. What a bummer! Absolutely can't stand Katie-UGH!

CBS is the only news I sorta kinda watch because most of the time they refrain from drinking the kool-aid.

Katie is a rethug and will destroy what bit of honesty and integrity CBS has left. :puke:

[newportdadde]

81. Think about the future. CBS viewers have decades to look forward to

an aging lady going through multiple face lifts and botox injections to continue to appear young. Its going to be a freak show, she is just too vain.

[KurtNYC]

85. So she is following in Bryant Gumbel's footsteps ?!

which means she will be off the air in 2 years or less and her brother* will get a gig on CBS Sports!

* if she has one