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New York magazine has a big cover feature on Katie Couric, aka America's Sweetheart...at least, she used to be. The feature by Joe Hagan is at times a Couric confessional, complaint-fest, and call to arms (literally - she apparently "slapped" a news editor on the arm for using the word "sputum") that looks at the much ballyhooed move from the Today show to the storied news ground of CBS where her evening news program is in third place.
One big admission Couric makes is that the job didn't end up being something she'd necessarily take today. With an original goal of creating something between "The Naked News, a British TV show in which beautiful women undress as they read the headlines" and “two boring people behind a desk,” Couric and Co. had a lot of creative room to work with, so what happened?
Along with the hype, there was some internal CBS grumbling. CBS veteran correspondents took pay cuts to pay for her salary, over-budgeted segment shoots and her entourage (who were brought over from NBC), all of which also took up the precious news budget. And though Couric tried to usher in a new evening news format, the network ended up alienating their audience instead of adding more new viewers, the program went back to a traditional format. When asked what regrets she may have about leaving her perch at NBC, she tells NYMag:
“I still believe I did the right thing, in my heart,” she says. “I would always regret not taking it. There are no guarantees, I knew that going in. I didn’t think I was going to take the evening news world by storm, and if I gave anyone that impression, I’m embarrassed. I thought I had done something for a while, this genre could use a little shot in the arm, maybe I could revitalize it somewhat. I had no delusions that this was a growing enterprise. I mean, I’m not an idiot … I think that’s why some of this pettiness and sort of gleeful evisceration of me doesn’t cut as much as you might think or even I might have thought. My expectations were never so high that if I wasn’t No. 1 it would be devastating to me.”However, Couric plans to continue to try to charm her way in to the evening news audiences hearts. And she's not leaving any time soon, as she's "looking to the 2008 election cycle as an opportunity to build her reputation as the network’s authoritative voice." If she can't prove herself there, we look forward to the inevitable Barbara Walters hour long cry-fest with America's fallen sweetheart.
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I just can't believe the cover. It's really an unflattering picture. And I'd say the same thing if Brian Williams or Charlie Gibson were on the cover of NY mag in such a way!
she is horribe
just plain horrible
i don't get it. what is she bitching about?
The Naked News is a Canadian program, not British.
I tried watching when she first went on air as anchor, but really, the questions she asked of administration officials just set my teeth on edge.
And yes, the NY Mag cover is not flattering at all...
" I thought I had done something for a while, this genre could use a little shot in the arm, maybe I could revitalize it somewhat."
Hey Katie...You want viewers to take the evening news in America more seriously, take a lesson from the BBC. They have an objective news format with interesting repots from all over the world.
And where the furniture is, or where the broadcaster sits isn’t the biggest issue.
Wait, wasn't Meg Ryan supposed to be "America's sweetheart?" Or was that just back in the '90s?
Come on, Jen. That's a fine shot of Katie. The photo editor was smart enough to crop out the prisoner number under her chin. I'm sure they got this picture from thesmokinggun.com's mug shot archives.
Network news is over. It's done. Katie fucking Couric as a lead anchor was the final nail in the coffin.
Baby boomers are the only ones keeping this bloated coarpse afloat. No one I know under the age of 40 watches network news anymore, and even the 24 hour networks are looked at as a joke.
Despite my HUGE reservations about her and my BIG, BIG love for Bob Schieffer - I gave Katie a chance - afterall, I'm a lifelong lover of the Tiffany Network. But she is all flash, no substance. The idea that this is a sexist problem is a red herring - give Judy Woodruff or someone of equal skill the anchor chair, and I'm watching. Alessandra Stanley was right, Couric is the first anchor who's a celebrity first, a newser second. Not her fault, but a major mistake by CBS.
By the way - a couple of months ago she was reading the teleprompter about a story in Portland, Oregon and actually said "In Portland, or..." - she can't even read the teleprompter right - someone should send her back to doing what she does best and leave the anchor chair to the anchors.
absolutely NOT a sexist issue, I hate the fact that she implies that..
she is just bad
cronkite, rather, ... couric????
r u f*cking kidding me???
She has a bit of a reputation about being a diva and a bitch. It isn't like she is some sort of serious reporter or anchor like say, Daljit Dhaliwal.
If CBS was smart they would ditch the bitch and bring Bob Schieffer back. When he was at the anchor desk, he did a great job and CBS was almost looking like it was in the pre-Kenneth, I mean Dan Rather, days. Plus he didn't do bad in the ratings. One of the things was he didn't like doing the newscast from NYC, so why not bring him back and have him do the news out of DC and go back to the format that he had.
CBS is rumored to have some big changes in the works for its morning "news" program The Early Show at the start of next year. If they were smart, they would move her there and bring Bob back. Katie belongs doing fluff garbage instead of serious news.
"Oh my God, what did I do?"
Umm, you left a nice, cushy job where no one really took you that seriously but you didn't really bother anyone all that much and took the cash and ran like hell.
"Her mind was Tiffany (network) twisted, she got the Mercedes-Benz."
the thing is, her bread and butter is perky morning news not serious anchorwoman crap. It's like Nelson Mandela doing a situational comedy. stupid.
#8 is spot on -- it's fossil time for the network nightly news -- by 2010 it won't exist -- no one watches it -- and the slapping? -- she did it frequently on Today -- it was a habit most likely held over from jr. high school when some guy commented on her bra
Is it me, OR does Katey Couric look like a guy in the picture ? Just noticed it . Posted by; "Still Not Amused"