Katie Couric to leave CBS Evening News
By Libby RumeltApril 4th, 2011, 1:30 pmComments (9)
It's official: Katie Couric is leaving her post as CBS Evening News' solo anchor. She was the first woman in the country to run a nightly newscast all by her lonesome, and she chipped away enough at the glass ceiling that Diane Sawyer was able to join her (and, of course, soundly beat her ratings). Brian Williams, of NBC's Nightly News, still holds the top spot in the ratings. (Damn you, patriarchy!)
When Couric first began at Evening News in 2006, she was at the top of the big three. After a few weeks though, the novelty of seeing Couric at night as opposed to with your morning coffee, must have worn off, because she sunk to third place, where she's stayed for the majority of the past five years. These years haven't been without their highlights, though — Couric will always be remembered for the Palin interview in which the then vice-presidential hopeful cheerfully claimed to read "all of" the newspapers.
CBS has yet to officially announce Couric's departure, but an anonymous executive spilled the beans late last night. There have been rumors that Couric's next move will be towards a talk show.
Comments ( 9 )
Not a surprise if you follow TV news ratings. On the upside, people will remember the Palin interview for decades.
TV news ratings are notoriously fickle critters, the fact that Couric was able to stay near the top as long as she did speaks for itself. (And I'm reminded of the old newsroom joke: On his first day on the job a news show producer found a manilla folder with three envelopes and a note from his predecessor that said "open these in order when the ratings drop." The first drop in the ratings he opened Envelope #1 and inside there was a note that said "change the set." He had the set redesigned and ratings climbed till about six months later when they started to drop off dramatically, so he opened envelope #2. Inside was the note "change the anchors." He did and all went well for about 9 months, at which point ratings took a nosedive, so he opened the last envelope. Inside was a list of instructions that began "first, prepare three envelopes....")
OK, that was a pointless joke, but anyway, good luck Ms. Couric, wherever you're headed next!
Like the joke - Not much to say about Katie Couric.
It is truly a shame that someone with wit, intelligence, compassion and integrity gets lost in the world of "sound bite" journalism. The insight, warmth, strength and humanity with which Katie Couric approached daily events will be missed and the public will be poorer for it.
Why must we pander to the mind-numbing swill that gets foisted on us as news and is homogenized to make it easy for us to digest? Are we such cretins and troglodytes that having to think becomes the mass behavior we strive for?
I, for one, will miss one of the best newscasters in the business today. May she always be as brilliant as she has been for us.
I wasn't that much of a fan of Katie Couric's from the get-go but it was great that she created this opportunity for others.
I'm a huge Brian Williams fan though. XD
imho, those who mourn the loss of News anchors, are lost to reality - good, bad or indifferent, they only serve the propaganda machine. May quickly come the day when they aren't needed, because television no longer exists.
Actually Matt and Waynee147, you should be glad to see Katie go. In fact, we all should.
Katie Couric lost in the ratings for a reason. Not only was she unable to attend many of her broadcasts, but she just did not deliver the news with as much personality as previous CBS anchormen. Not only did her program not have the gravity and sensation to bring in the casual viewer, but the lineup was too tacky for the hardcore news consumer, something that Katie could not help abate. She just delivered the audience to the correspondent, she didn't interact with the audience enough.
In my opinion, she needs to go home and spend time with her children -- maybe they can teach her how to be nice??
That's not just the best asnewr. It's the bestest answer!
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