http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=98bfa8e8-6949
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Katie Couric would Rather not answer that question
No straitjacket for America's first female solo anchor
Rob McKenzie, National Post
Published: Monday, July 17, 2006
PASADENA, Calif. - Katie Couric, the US$60-million woman of TV news, briefly
lost her perkiness yesterday as she met North American TV critics less than
eight weeks before attaining the summit of her profession.
The contretemps came when a reporter quizzed Couric about her role in CBS's
decision to bar journalists from six "town hall" meetings she held with
viewers from San Francisco to Tampa.
"Yes, it was my decision to exclude reporters," Couric said. She maintained
that she did not want to use the viewers "as some sort of promotional
device," and added, "It was really for them." There was ice in her voice as
she then told her questioner, "I'm sure you can hold your own town-hall
meetings."
Couric had best get used to the heat. When she starts as anchor of the CBS
Evening News on Sept. 5, she will be the first woman to serve as solo anchor
of a major U.S. network's evening newscast. She will also be only the fourth
full-time occupant of the evening anchor's desk at CBS, succeeding Douglas
Edwards (1948-62), Walter Cronkite (1962-81) and Dan Rather (1981-2005).
(Connie Chung co-anchored for the network from 1993-95, while Bob Schieffer
holds down the job on an interim basis until Couric arrives.)
CBS pried Couric away from NBC with a four-year, US$60-million contract this
year. Couric had a great run as host of NBC's Today show since 1991,
regularly walloping rivals, but her personal life has been harrowing. Her
husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998. Since then, she has
brought attention and money to colon-cancer research, to the point where a
University of Michigan study six years ago attributed a surge in
colonoscopies to the "Couric Effect".
She has two daughters from her marriage with Monahan, Elinor, who turns 15
in a week, and Caroline, 10.
Yesterday's hour-long session was, frankly, on the flat side. Couric found
comfort in platitudes and regularly evaded tough questions.
CBS News, she observed, has "a rich tradition," not to mention an
"incredibly talented group of correspondents."
How different will her newscast be from Rather's? "A little bit different."
What do viewers want? "More perspective," she opined. "Greater context."
These are observations that have been made a million times, to no great
effect.
As for Barbara Walters' difficulty as a co-anchor on the ABC evening news
with Harry Reasoner from 1976 to 1978, "it was a very different time,"
Couric observed.
When the topic turned to her thoughts on Rather's unhappy departure from
CBS, Couric at first demurred. "I think that's a good question for Sean,"
she said, referring to Sean McManus, the president of CBS news and sports,
who dealt with many of yesterday's more pointed queries.
When asked the question a
second time, Couric said she just didn't know all the details about Rather's
exit, and so could not comment. "I wish Dan well," she said. "I don't mean
to not answer your question."
Insisting that she will not be hamstrung by corporate strictures, she said,
"I'm not gonna be in a ... what's that thing?"
"Straitjacket," McManus said as Couric pantomimed the effect of wearing one.
And asked what exactly her added title of managing editor of the newscast
means, she said, "It's somewhat nebulous in the job description, but I think
it means I will have an input into the editorial content of the news."
So if there's a disagreement in the newsroom, do you win as managing editor?
"You know," she said, "we haven't even discussed that."
Her words seemed pale, compared with Rather's session here last Tuesday
afternoon in which, with inspiring zeal, he defended the integrity of
journalism (though he did decline to reveal his salary with his new
employer, HDNet.)
Still, Couric acted like she cared about the questions (lean forward, furrow
brow, nod gravely), she proved handy with facile jokes ("I am trying to
convince Martha Stewart to do a cooking segment every night") and she
flashed some wit.
Her farewell show at NBC featured footage of her singing and dancing, and
Couric was asked yesterday if the new job will make the best use of her
talents.
"As a singer, for example?" she joked.
- Rob McKenzie's reports from the Television Critics Association's summer
gathering appear daily in Arts & Life and in a blog at www.nationalpost.com
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Gregory S. Williams
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