FACTman said:
The bigger issue here is NOT Katie Couric herself. I don't see Katie any less credible than Williams, Schiefer and Gibson.
It's that a woman is doing the network evening news and it's apparent that the majority are not ready to accept someone doing the evening news on a nightly basis. Yeah, NBC uses Campbell Brown to fill-in, occasionally, on their Nightly News, but it's just that -- fill-in. I am sure if she was doing the nightly news regularly, NBC would be having the same ratings' issues.
Perhaps' Katie would be best served on CBS doing "The Early Show" until the average network news viewer can get past their sexism.
I don't agree with you here. Sexism is not the issue at all. It's not that she's a woman, it is that she is the
wrong woman.
The problem that Katie has is two-fold:
1) Katie lacks gravitas. A generation ago, Barbara Walters made the transition from the Today Show to the evening news. But, Barbara Wa-wa was always considered to be a 'serious journalist' and not just a feature reporter. She really did pretty well - and continues her venerable career (in semi-retirement) to this day. Unquestionably, Katie is stuck in our collective psyche as a feature reporter. You know, the one who interviews the models and the dog trainer. And, her performance and style during the first months of her CBS stint did nothing to make people feel otherwise. She is not considered as a serious journalist, and probably never will be. This is the kiss of death for an evening newscast.
2) Katie clearly has a credibility problem in some quarters. Yes, all network newscasts get painted as being biased to the left. But, in Katie's case, there have been so many personal (and very public) examples of her personal political leanings that fully 50% of the public wanted nothing to do with her newscast from day one. That immediately limits her potential audience. Do Charlie and Brian have personal political leanings? Did Bob? I'm sure that they do. But, we cannot be sure of them and they are not obvious. Those guys collectively get a pass on this issue. In Katie's case, her interview style on "Today" showed her to be a liberal and her public support for her sister's candidacy (now one of Virginia's most liberal state representatives) confirmed it. It was all too public. I remember the day that she was interviewing two guests on "Today" about a *no special rights for gays* referendum in Colorado. She abjectly slammed the guy who supported the referendum (which passed, BTW), while giving an obvious velvet glove to the gay advocate. It was so blatant that people in the office were talking about it when I got to work. It's one of many examples where she just could not contain her personal feelings (a la Bryant Gumbel).
In the end, those that wanted to give her show a try were there for the first few days. The light and breezy style of the newscast clearly turned many of them off. Also, you need to remember the audience for the evening news shows: people who tend to be older and more habitual. The days of these programs being shared nationally are over. The audience is splintered. The news junkies are already watching CNN, Fox News or (to a much lesser extent), MSNBC. When there's breaking news, most folks go to one of those options. Those who like the light entertainment stuff are already checking out E! or VH1 or one of the syndicated shows (on another channel) such as ET. Although CBS has since changed the format, its too late - people's minds are made up.
The real fans of these shows are somewhat old-school about it. They want a NEWS presentation that encapsulates the day's news into 30 minutes. And, they want it from an authorative figure. The fact is, Katie Couric was a
POOR choice in the first place and the early versions of the newscast (morphing it into a features program) sealed the deal. Particularly when the CBS audience is probably the most traditional of all. Now, they're getting killed.
Something will have to be done......
