Fox News Bashes ‘Desperate,’ ‘Ambitious,’ ‘Single Mother’ Katie Couric For Traveling To Iraq

[CatWoman]

In two separate segments yesterday, Fox News attacked CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric for reporting from the ground in Iraq, calling it “a desperate move” and asking if it was a “ratings ploy or legitimate journalism.”

On Your World With Neil Cavuto, guest host Dagen McDowell featured Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, who characterized Couric’s trip as “a clear act of desperation” by a single mother whose “priorities so determined by her ambition rather than her children’s welfare.” Crouse pointedly accused Couric of being a bad mother for going to cover Iraq:

I would say the same thing if this were a man journalist going out there, a male anchor, because when you look at the choice she’s making, she’s saying my ratings are more important than my children. That’s the bottom line.“

Later in the afternoon, The Big Story With John Gibson hosted New York Post columnist Linda Stasi, who called Couric’s trip “a desperate move” to gain “some sort of credibility.” “You know and I know that she doesn’t have to be there for the report,” said Stasi. Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/30/couric-mother/

[rodeodance]

1. well,gee, I hear there are single moms serving in the military in IRAG

[Stephanie]

2. she's a WIDOW

"single mother" has completely different connotations...

[MUAD_DIB]

3. I don't understand.

And by that I mean that I understand that FOX is populated by dicks, but why bother going after Katie? Doesn't she suck on her own without having to point it out?

It's kind of like kicking a lame puppy.


Is FoX losing in the ratings war against her time slot?

[annabanana]

6. My reaction as well. Like, why bother?. . . eom

[rodeodance]

11. fox is all twisty---they are ones that a DESPARATE

[CatWoman]

13. AND

they are the ones who need to take their asses to Iraq :grr:

[MUAD_DIB]

20. Yes, CatWoman, but that would mean that they would

have to perform real work and show honest effort.

[onenote]

4. could it just be that the fox news anchors, who are too cowardly to go to iraq

are just a wee bit defensive on this?

I see it now. Hannity would be over there in a hearbeat, but it would be unfair to his kids.

Well, what about the single parents who are over there not as journalists but as soldiers.

What a bunch of asswipes.

[onehandle]

5. Fox News talking about credibility?

I thought they canceled the 1/2 Hour News Hour?

Buffoons.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Well, what about all those male 'freelance' reporters and photographers?

They're there to make a quick buck.

It's okay for them to do that?

Women just aren't allowed to be ambitious.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. What's the worry? I thought everything was going well in Iraq.

Why doesn't Neil Cavuto report from Iraq?

[blogslut]

9. Yes. Somone is desperate

But this time I don't think it's Katie

[saracat]

10. I am not a Couric fan but F**ck Concerned Women for America! Why doesn't Janice Crouse get her ass

Back home and in the kichen since she seems to think that that is the obligation of American women?Why is she "working' promoting this organization instead of staying "home with "her' family? Or doesn't she have one, the hyopocrite? reminds me of Anita Bryant.Damn these twits make me angry! STFU crouse and let the rest of us lead our lives as we wish.

[RavensChick]

24. I know that's right!

"Concerned" women of America, my ass! This is 2007, NOT 1971! If they're so damn concerned, how many so-called members are African-American, Hispanic, Asian, etc.? The answer is probably almost none 'cause they're lily white with 2.3 kids and claim they know the concerns all women have. Bullshit! Is Crouse a hypocrite? Absolutely!!!

I may not be a fan of Couric, but at least she's got the cajones to go over there and report on the war from a different perspective. Faux Noise is mad 'cause they're losing viewers, and they need someone to pick on (other than Keith Olbermann) and get up in her Kool Aid and they don't know what the flavor is! Geez, those guys are some sore ass losers!

[rodeodance]

12. The NBC anchor went to Iraq to report. Did fox do this to him?

[AspenRose]

14. Time for Katie to issue the "Mind Your Own Damn Business" memo....

eom

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

15. Yeah, right. Like, God endowed Janice Crouse with the supreme righteousness to judge,....

,...anybody!!!

Pfft!

Hey, Janice!!! GO PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS FOR YOUR OWN AMBITION AND DISGRACE,...YOU HYPOCRITE!!!

[KingFlorez]

16. Funny, they didn't say anything when a right-wing talk show host went to Iraq

I can't remember her name, but I'm sure a conservative radio show host reported from Iraq for a few days.

It's pretty insane to try and attack her parenting skills for political reasons and I'm sure that's what it is, because CWA has a hidden agenda for everything. If they are so concerned, then they should be calling for an end to the war so some children can have their parents back.

[CatWoman]

17. i think Michelle Malkin went over there

and Janet Parchall may have as well.

[CottonBear]

18. Laura Ingraham (sp?) went under heavy security provided by US forces.

She reported on how great it was in Iraq and well the war was going. :(

[CatWoman]

19. that's right!!!!

CB is just a fountain of knowledge :)

:hi:

[CottonBear]

23. Thanks CW!

I'm definitely not the smartest person that I know but I have a very good ability to remember facts and information.

I recently heard her radio show and she was speaking about her trip to Iraq.

[RB TexLa]

21. I still don't understand what her being a mother or her marital status has to do with the Iraq trip

[CottonBear]

25. Well then they should send Ann Coulter or Laura Ingraham (again): No kids or marriages. n/t

[RavensChick]

26. The war would end much sooner

if Coultergeist goes over there. You know, that may get the troops home before the election!

Ann, pack your bags, hop on your broom, and get over there!!!!!

[Supersedeas]

22. the 8%'ers are complaining about an Anchor covering Iraq -- consider this link to Reliable Sources

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/26/rs.01.html

Now let me turn to the coverage of the war overall, because there was a study this week by the Project for Excellence in Journalism which said that in the second quarter of 2007 on --we're talking about newspapers, radio, TV -- 22 percent of -- I'm sorry, 22 percent in the first quarter of the year of the time on newspapers and TV devoted to the war. Fifteen percent in the second quarter.

And here you see on the screen the breakdown of the cable networks devoted to the war. CNN, 18 percent. MSNBC, 15 percent. FOX News, 8 percent.

Now on Thursday, the day that John Warner late in the day made his call for at least a partial, symbolic withdrawal from Iraq, big news in most places. It got exactly one mention in primetime on FOX News during a news cut-in.

Instead, here is what was going on on FOX that evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: There's no excuse for local officials to not help the feds track down bad guys.

In the "Thursdays With Geraldo" segment tonight, the Phil Spector trial is wrapping up.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: Edwards is also picking a fight with his favorite target, Ann Coulter, calling her a she-devil.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS: Good evening, Allan.

And tonight, breaking news from Hollywood. Lindsay Lohan is going to jail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KURTZ: Michelle Cottle, is FOX liberally playing down the war?

COTTLE: Well, you know, I'm sure that the argument could be made that FOX is happier when the war is going well or whatever. But I think just more broadly, a lot of this has to do with the political battle, was what was so hot about the war going up to the election. And the Republicans took a beating, and so now what you're seeing is -- you know, it's depressing war.

War news is depressing. Lindsay Lohan is hot. It's sexy. It's -- you know, now that the political battles aren't quite as -- aren't quite as big a deal, or everybody kind of assume that things are going in a certain direction, you know, it's...

KURTZ: My sense is that all the networks are suffering from Iraq fatigue.

TUMULTY: I think so. And I think the same study suggested that a lot of that air time is now being taken up by the presidential race.

And you can argue that horse race coverage of a presidential race is probably not the best use of air time either. But the fact is, most Americans have decided what they think about this war. The public has made up its mind.

KURTZ: But soldiers are still fighting and dying.

TUMULTY: That's right. That's right. But I think that in some ways, the more important coverage of the war is coming not in sort of the tradition media, but in the blogs, in the advertising campaigns that we're seeing kicking up right now. And interestingly enough, it's being waged on the op-ed pages.

KURTZ: But John Fund, for FOX not to devote a single segment to Warner's somewhat politically important announcement that day just surprised me.

FUND: Especially in August, because there's not much news.

KURTZ: Except for Lindsay Lohan. There is news for you.

FUND: But, you know, let's look at this perspective of the troops. A lot of them can actually get U.S. coverage by satellite.

My nephew Michael is over there with the 7th Marines. What they notice is, when wars in Iraq are going badly, the news coverage goes up dramatically. When the American troops are doing well, news coverage drops.

That is not a good psychological message for our troops. Frankly, they think that the Americans tend to ignore them when news is going well and when they're doing their job.


**8% of their coverage is about IRAQ, but FAUX has the gall to complain about a news anchor reporting from Iraq. Guess that falls in line....more coverage about INFORTAINMENT news, an anchor in Iraq, is yet another segment where they don't have to address real news in Iraq.

[fasttense]

27. If Fox Fake News is attacking Katie, I think I just might be liking her

a little. If fox keeps it up, I might even watch little scary eyed Katie.

[Hersheygirl]

28. Come on now,

I'm no fan of Katie, but really, isn't that hitting way below the belt. Sounds to me like those women are just plain jealous. We all know how catty women can become when they're full of jealousy.