Outside the Beltway ponders the meaning of Katie Couric taking over the chair once held by Cronkite and Rather. Is this rank sexism, or is Couric’s hiring really indicative of the lowering of standards for network news?
While I have no doubt Couric is up to the job since, as I noted when this was first rumored, “Couric is attractive and can read–which pretty much sums up the qualifications for the job,” it still strikes me as yet another nail in the coffin of the network newscasts as serious journalism. Walter Chronkite, Dan Rather, and Bob Schieffer all had long records as serious journalists before taking the anchor chair. Couric is mostly notable for being perky and having nice legs.
I’ll be interested to hear your reactions. Once thing I am willing to say upfront, though. If they had hired Leslie Stahl no one would question the decision. At least, they wouldn’t question whether she was hired for her legs and perkiness.
In another thread, I called Couric a piece of fluff and that had nothing to do with her gender. Charlie Gibson is fluffy, too. Too bad they didn’t annoint Leslie Stahl; I might have tuned in for her.
I remember! :<)
And I said that Charlie Gibson has the gravitas of Crusty the Clown…yet he was seriously considered for the ABC News anchor spot.
Women are in a trick bag. If you’re too serious, you’re not “attractive” enough for TV; if you’re too attractive, you don’t have gravitas. They all suck up, male or female; these damned “breakfast shows” are as full of empty calories as breakfast cereal.
They know it and they play the game. It pays them well.
David Gregory, who’s supposed to be a “serious journalist” has been flexing his stupid banter skills, and it’s painful to watch. Of course, after covering this WH, maybe it’s a step up.
Leslie Stahl, Carole Simpson, Gwen Ifill–for my money, they’d have been MUCH better choices. Helen Thomas or Amy Goodman would be stellar–a woman can dream, right?
And as far as Bob “my brother is the Bush-appointed ambassador to Japan” Schieffer–well ’nuff said there. (Though Couric had a brilliant sister who, if she had lived–she died years ago of cancer–would probably have won the governor’s seat in Virginia. She was that good. Of course, had that come to pass, she’d never be considered for the anchor’s chair.)
At the end of the day, I still stand by my comment made in the open thread: Since I don’t have cable, network news is my infotainment. Couric won’t be any different than the rest.
Give me Amy Goodman any day!
Along with Couric comes the whip. Remember, the one in the chair is the managing editor of the CBS Evening News, as was Cronkite and Rather. Couric is no liberal–she’s definitely a corporate moll. She’ll bring her kind of ‘law and order’ to the shambles that became CBS News. But that does not mean that hard-hitting, investigative reporting is going to follow. She’ll use her skillz to turn CBS News into a one-note, Faux-style.
She’s going to bat those eyes behind those fayke glasses and show some skin and high heels. Watch. The famed desk is going to be retooled to show what’s under the table.
I remember when she used to roll her eyes about black people–she was always talking about her grandmother and her Southern roots. Right, give me a break.
One more thing. Charles Gibson is in the same category as Couric. And remember–ABC News is run by Disney, and the Mouse House is no picnic. They demand the same prostration to the conservative, corporate bottomline as GE does with NBC.
Murrow is going to spin some more in his grave. His craggy mug would never get any respect in this time.
Oh, I’m not saying I feel sorry for her or that she’s doing anything but be the first woman at CBS. What I am saying is that you pick what you want to do, because of the TV trick bag. They (Couric, Lauer, Sawyer and the rest) could use their popularity to do something significant. So what if they get some heat–they are all rich!
Again, a woman can dream, right?
But no, they are doing exactly as dictated by the corporate. Look cute, be soothing, and really stick it to those celebrities.
I remember when she used to roll her eyes about black people–she was always talking about her grandmother and her Southern roots.
Now when in the hell did she do that? OMG, plantation fantasies–barf. But she is from Virginia–from the Charlottesville area if memory serves, but she’s not worth it to me to check, so don’t hold me to it–so that shoe fits.
Actually, Couric is from Northern VA, according Channel 9. I think she worked for the NBC affiliate at some point.
Now for the weather…the only thing I trust them to get right.
well, hate is a bit strong, but she was the biggest reason that I made my wife switch from Today to GMA.
She is a dimwit shill who can read what is put in front of her. She did an “exclusive” interview with someone earlier in the year (I forget who) but she had many “fake tear” moments and is just another empty talking head.
And not that it matters much, but I hardly find her attractive either, which seems to be what many find as her best quality.
Which says alot for her and the state of network news affairs.
I’m sorry, buy Diane Sawyer is no better. In fact, she gives me nightmares.
very true. But I like Gibson, Lauer bugs me sometimes and David Gregory is much much better in his real job….
After that hack job she did on Judy Steinberg (Howard Dean’s wife), any respect I had for her went flying out the window, chopped up into little pieces.
(from that awful interview) Diane Sawyer: Mrs. Dean, Doctor Steinberg … what … how shall I call you?
Well, I dunno Ms. Sawyer…or is that Mrs. Nichols?
Grrrr…
Funny you should mention Leslie Stahl. Some years ago I attended a congressional hearing. I don’t remember what it was on, though I do recall it was in the same room as the Watergate impeachment deliberations.
The press was divided into front rows in the gallery and for the big guns, a space up there near the congresspeople, staff and witnesses. Those press faced those of us in the gallery section. And I was utterly distracted and mesmerized by Leslie Stahl’s legs. It’s the only thing I remember about that day.
As for Katie–CALL ME KATE–Couric, they’ll have to redesign the anchor desk to display her journalistic assets. It’s an interesting move in that Shieffer got CBS ratings up. But it was supposed to be temporary, so perhaps it’s partly his decision.
Frankly, none of them measure up to Cronkite, who was not quite Murrow either. There usually were at least a few reporters I trusted through the years, all of them now gone, with no known replacements. I watched Keith all through the Clinton impeachment circus in his first go-round, and I’d be watching him now, except I deep-sixed all the cable channels, a decision I’ve only had cause to regret on a few occasions.
News to me.
Perhaps this tells you how often I watch the news on TV. In fact in my mind the news readers are still guys like Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Howard K. Smith and Walter Cronkite. I understand someone has now replaced Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw, but I would be at a loss to tell you who. If it weren’t for this article, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you who replaced Dan Rather either.
is Brian Williams, because he continually puts focus on New Orleans and the Gulf States seven months after Katrina. There’s no blame, just fact.
But that’s the limit to my respect for the Brokaw clone. With his connections with the corporate and political world (Repub), he’s not about to strike out on his own, even if his conscience is nagging him.
Nor would it have been an issue if Ms. Couric had ever bothered to put half as much effort into her responsibility as a journalist as she has put into being cute, perky, and a total suck up.
Whether she’s done this because the journalism field is such that you have to be a perky, leggy, suck-up blonde to get ahead, or because she actually lacks the ability to be good journalist remains a mystery. And it probably won’t be solved anytime soon.
And before anyone comes after me calling me sexist, I’ll say that Carol Marin is one of the best journalists alive. And I’ve never even considered her looks.
You are so right about Carol Marin.
As for Couric, YUK! I stopped watching the Today show at the start of the Iraq war. The most searching question she thought to ask Matt Lauer who was reporting from the Middle East was “Did you remember to put on your sunscreen?”
It’s pretty embarrassing that Katie “Navy Seals Rock” Couric is going to take over. They should have picked Stahl (whose first name is spelled “Lesley,” I think).
I’d guess they’re looking for ratings.
But she’s not a journalist. She’s a news personality. Maybe I’m just pessimistic, but I have trouble imagining she’ll do anything but report what they tell her to, with a smile, even if it comes directly from the White House Propaganda Office.
they could hire Helen Thomas, or the sharp, witty and astute Molly Ivins…that’s a line up I’d buy a tv for.
INFOtainment…this is about ratings and dollars…until such time as the MSM decides it’s “about journalism and reporting the truth”.
Frankly, as a non-consumer of TV/Cable I couldn’t care less who their “readers” are.
Peace
I’d love to see Helen Thomas in an anchor chair or, even better, with her own interview program. She has a way of asking questions and follow-ups that make those being less than open squirm.
The only woman that should have been even considered for the job as a true journalist would have been Christine Anpur(do I have the name right?)from CNN. Yes, Katie Perkemup is just an infotainment personality. That’s ok though. I never watch CBS News anyway after what they did to Dan Rather.
I like Gwen Ifill and Margaret Warner from the PBS News Hour too.
Don’t kid yourself, Gwen Ifil can shill with the best of them…
She’s smart enough to know better, and smart enough to know to know better than rock the boat.
:<(
And her politics are slightly to the right of Clarence Thomas. She’s a rolling hypocrite. Don’t let the skin color fool you. She and Condo-lie-zza are friends.
Skinfolks, kinfolks–check. But I didn’t know she and Rice are friends. I thought she was closest to other media types, esp. Michel McQueen.
But still–she knows better. But playing the game has done well for her. She seems to be getting mentored to be the “Newshour” anchor once Jim Leherer (sp?) retires.
Iffil is not to be trusted. Seriously. She has gone over to the dark side long ago.
Being appalled at Couric’s move to the CBS anchor seat isn’t sexist at all. Hackery is a gender-neutral phenomenon.
yes . . . hackery is what “Kate” would bring to this job. Her attitude and experience doesn’t cut it. I stopped watching the news in the 90s.
A homogenized person for a homogenized job in a homogenized media format. Couric is the perfect millionaire mannequin for such an intrinsically vacuous task.
You seem to imply that it is sexist to dislike Couric even though she is a dimwit sellout. I don’t think so. I also don’t think it is sexist to dislike Hillary Clinton for being a cynical sellout.
it’s not that I think it is sexist to question Couric’s credentials, but aren’t women tired of being reduced to their legs or perkiness?
Not whjen that seems to be the only qualifiers.It’s not sexist to say that paris Hilton is an empty headed debutante and nothing else. Try and convince me that bimbo can act? Same thing!
Maybe some women are, but Katie seems to enjoy being reduced to perkiness and legs…and I hate the way she always pulls out a pair of glasses and fiddles with them to try to act like a serious journalist. I wonder whether the glasses will be a constant prop in her new job?
I think Matt Lauer is a bimbo, too, if it any consolation.
Real tired.
appalling is a good word for CBS’s decision and superficial is a good word for Katie Couric. I think it’s sexism to pretend she’s a journalist and make her anchor, or, as Dear Leader would say, “the soft bigotry of low expectations”.
who write the CBS Evening News. The man or woman reading it into the camera doesn’t matter worth a fiddler’s fuck.
Doesn’t affect me one way or other. I haven’t watched network TV in 15 years. I don’t think she’ll last in the new changing political environment and blogs on her tail, but that’s just wild speculation.
…it’s “ENTERTAINMENT,” and it’s why I don’t watch – because as entertainment, it’s even shittier than it is as news.
you’re falling right into their trap!
It isn’t the Puppets, it’s the Puppeteers.
The Republican Congress under Reagan in 1988 eliminates the Fairness Doctrine. Then they allow corporations to own large chunks of media. Suddenly we have Fox News (aka Rupert Murdoch), ABC (Disney family, right wing to the max), CNN (Turner owns it and it’s balanced then Time/Warner turns it into Fox-lite) and NBC (General Electric, a f*&cking ARMS MAKER!!) running the media now and having Rush/O’Reilly/Hannity/Hume ad nauseum mouthing the rhetoric.
And no law maker (including my idol Feingold) has spoken out about this.
Asses, Asses we all fall down.
So what’s the problem? No one is really surprised are they? We all know how it goes.
Corporate politics give us corporate news,
which gives us more corporate government,
which gives us more corporate politics,
which gives us more corporate news,
which gives us more corporate government,
which gives corporate elite more money to start the wonderful circle all over again.
Notice a word that seems to pop up?
Think that the leaves of the tree should be the target, or should it be the root of this tree?
Laws decide how much control the corporations exert on politics, and even US Supreme Court decisions can be undone by constitutional amendment (think Roe v Wade).
At least for awhile yet, the laws still authorize the citizens to say what level big companies should exert their corporate interference in politics and government.
The fact that we do not exercise that power does not mean it is not there.
Couric shmouric. More distracting smoke.
I say go for the roots. I say bring on the ax.
I was just commenting on Booman’s FP diary about Philly Dems v. Progressive Blogosphere that the Establishment has no interest in getting off the gravy train.
The only gravy train Katie Couric belongs on is of the dog food variety.
That is not to say she is ugly; rather, that she is not a journalist, and she has no place sitting in a chair that should belong to a journalist. What she’ll be feeding us from that chair will be the journalistic equivalent of dog food.