[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Alas, poor Couric

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
Alas, poor Couric
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1183932804.shtml


   From the Associated Press:

     Katie Couric says the move to CBS would have been less appealing if
     she had known she'd be doing the more traditional "CBS Evening
     News" broadcast that she anchors now.
     "People are very unforgiving and very resistant to change," Couric
     said in an interview with New York magazine. "The biggest mistake
     we made is we tried new things."
     Couric's move to CBS has been a big disappointment so far. The
     evening newscast's ratings are deep in third place, and CBS has
     rolled back some of the changes it made last fall to shake up the
     format. Couric conducts fewer interviews, an outside opinion
     segment was scrapped and the anchor admits she's even dressing down
     a little to give her critics less ammunition.

   First, I'll give Couric some credit for willing to try something
   different, both in terms of network TV news and her personal career.
   But mostly, these were changes in style, not substance, as if to
   ignore what put them in third place before Couric, or should I say
   who: Dan Rather. It was Dan Rather's insistence on "fake but accurate"
   storytelling that squandered what remained of the famed integrity and
   excellence of CBS News.
   The whole concept of a fixed evening time slot for a national news
   program is of course obsolete in a CNN / Fox / C-Span / Internet
   world. Star power is pointless, and Couric would do well do move on,
   for Margaret Carlson was right:

     "About the time the network dinosaurs finally stumble into the tar
     pit, that's when a woman will finally sit first chair."