Couric hopes to end "pretentious era" in news

Reuters ^ | June 2, 2006 | Kimberly Nordyke

[DCPatriot]

LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) - Katie Couric hopes to bring a "humanistic, more accessible" approach to her job when she takes over as anchor and managing editor at "CBS Evening News" in September, she said Thursday.

Addressing the annual convention of CBS affiliates, Couric predicted that the "pretentious era" of the evening-news anchor is going to be a thing of the past.

"The audience is more sophisticated than we give them credit for -- they don't want a mechanical Ted Baxter," said Couric, whose last day as co-anchor of NBC's "Today" was Wednesday. "I'm a serious, caring, compassionate person. I hope that comes out. ... People want a multidimensional (news anchor) and not someone they can put in a box."

[evad]

Connie Chung, Bar-bara Wawa, Catie Couric....next....

I give her 6 months, max!

[DCPatriot]

We can only hope it's six months before she's a co host on The VIEW.

[evad]

LOL..yeah...then on to Nightline and then..OUT!

She'll be hookin' down here on the streets of Baltimore in no time soon.

[Surtur]

I predict that heads will soon be rolling at blackrock. After an initial uptick in CBS's ratings due to the novelty/curiosity factor, CBS Evening News will drop into the lower 5 or upper 4 percent range. Ad revenue will fall below its current stagnant levels and CBS may even drop its Evening News broadcast all together in favor of something more profitable. Former News Division head Andy Heywood has seen the writing on the wall and has split for higher ground. New CBS News Divsion head Sean McManus will pay the price for Couric's appointment to the news even though he wasn't the division head when she was hired. And, of course, Les Moonpie, I mean Moonves, will lay the blame for CBS Evening news at any foot but his own. However, he will still have to face the wrath of shareholders so his head may wind up on the chopping block as well.

Meanwhile, the Today Show will lose share with new host Meredith Viera who just doesn't have whatever it is that will click with the morning audience. Someone at NBC will take the fall for her hire. Probable new host for the Today show within a year is Kelly Ripa. Ripa's young, Viera is what...4 years...OLDER than Couric, aggressive, perky, and she has name recognition, all key elements when NBC begins to look for Viera's replacement.

[RobbyS]

Her head is so puffed up, like so many who have attained positions far beyond their deserts.

[RobbyS]

Couric is like Barbara Walters and probably the rest of Couric's career will be like hers.

[Lorianne]

I find Katie Couric very pretentious. Honestly, I don't see the difference between her and other "news" people. Pot, kettle, black.

[Thom Pain]

How about Katie & Oprah as co-anchors anchorettes?

(Sorry, almost forgot my political correctness)

[Surtur]

You are probably right. Katie is too big a name just to slink off into obscurity. When the anchor position doesn't work out, she will be given something else. To do less would be an admission by CBS management that they had made a major mistake by hiring her.

[Libertarian444]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/02/television.couric.reut/index.html

Her final "Today" show had a great showing in the ratings, pulling 8.4 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Thursday. That tally was the biggest audience for a single "Today" telecast since the morning after the 2004 elections, when 9 million watched..

LOL. The Today show only had high ratings the day after the 2004 Election because conservatives tuned in to celebrate Katie's misery at the election results.

[tracer]

Sincerly orry about that. No offense intended -- I just pulled his name out of the air by way of stark contrast to Katie and the other carrion-eaters in the MSM.

My daughter watched him without fail while she was growing up, and I watched him too, with her in my lap. But I suppose I never did grow up.

You are blessed to have been a friend of Mr. Rogers in this life, and I hope that you -- and I -- may see him again some day in a place where he so rightly belongs.

He was a godly man, and I wish he and a million others like him were still alive, teaching children to love and to learn and to not be afraid....

[DocRock]

"they don't want a mechanical Ted Baxter," said Couric,"

When I was kid, long before fax machines, my father had a Telex and subscribed to the news alert services from the AP and the UPI. Anytime news broke anywhere in the world, it would come across the "wire". A bell would ring, the Telex would jump to life and the news would thump out in all it's glory before our eyes. We would all run to the machine when the bell rang and read each letter as the noisy machine typed. There were no reporters throwing in off hand remarks to satisfy their views or sarcasm in the voice of a hate filled news anchor. It was mechanical and there was no emotion... just facts. I really miss that old machine and the excitement when that bell rang, but that is why I enjoy reading FreeRepublic these days. I despise the media and their attempts to brainwash the public. Just report the news and let us decide.

[DCPatriot]

It was mechanical and there was no emotion... just facts.

Given the extreme bias of Reuters and Associated Press (AP)...just how can you say it was ..."just facts"?

Somebody typed what appeared on the Telex. that person was most likely a biased left leaning liberal.

They didn't stay in power for forty years by accident you know...

[DocRock]

This was a long time ago and those news alerts I remember were not left leaning back then. The reporters took those news alerts and slanted them for the papers when they wrote their articles. I grew up in a very conservative and politically active family, so my father would have pointed out the leftist views. I don't remember him doing that.

[StormEye]

"Before the Q&A, CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves told of how he wooed Couric to the network, saying the two would go out for drinks every few years until things "heated up" over the last year and a half.

"We probably drank more bottles of wine on my couch -- don't worry, my wife was in the next room," he joked. "It was a dream getting her here. She's an extraordinary woman and an extraordinary journalist."

Nothing new under the sun here -- just another promotion via the casting couch.

[heights]

[DCPatriot]

Interesting that your dad didn't detect bias.

But, your dad didn't have the news outlets we have today to uncover Rathergate-like events.

[DocRock]

In all fairness, we knew the media was rotten, even that far back, however, these were just raw news alerts. Usually just a few sentences describing an event somewhere in the world. There was no room for emotion or politics in these raw fact news flashes.

[bray]

Katie Couric hopes to bring a "humanistic, more accessible" approach to her job when she takes over as anchor and managing editor at "CBS Evening News" in September, she said Thursday.

Translation: Everybody should hate Bush and Republicans as much as we do and I'm going to see that they do!

Pray for W and Our Troops

[bray]

So you think the Once Perky Katty's ratings are going to sag too??

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters