The news just keeps getting worse and worse for our girl Katie Couric, who also suffered the “indignity” of turning 50 last year (which, as a woman in her field, is just short of death itself):
The “CBS Evening News” attracted an average of 5.39 million viewers last week, placing the newscast more than two million viewers behind the second-place “World News with Charles Gibson” on ABC (7.51 million). The “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” ranked No. 1 for the week with 8.17 million viewers..
Two weeks ago, multiple reports said that Ms. Couric and CBS have discussed a potential departure from the “Evening News” after the presidential election. Perhaps some viewers read all the accounts of Katie Couric’s uncertain future at CBS News — and surmised that her evening newscast wasn’t worth watching.
I cannot believe this is all her fault. CBS News was already in the mud up to its axles over Dan Rather’s disastrous story about Bush’s National Guard service, and audiences for all the major network new programs have been shrinking for years thanks to the rise of cable news and the Internet. When I stagger home from work and flip on the TV, I seem to find a lot of “old” news on these highly touted nightly broadcasts. They’re far from my first or most significant source of information. We’re long past the Walter Cronkite era.
In terms of a career move, Couric could not have turned it down. At nearly 50, with a five-year, $15 million-a-year contract, she became one of the highest-paid newscasters in television history, male or female. Not many middle-aged women get that kind of opportunity, and she can’t possibly second-guess that decision.
She somehow could not make the transition from “perky” (a word she hates) to “powerful,” a transition which Barbara Walters has seemed to make more successfully — or am I just imagining it?
I am still stuck to the thought that my generation is showing signs that it cannot bear to watch women age, a specter Rush Limbaugh raised with Hillary. (See my previous post.) Did we really think that we would stay young forever?
April 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm
You know, I’d be perfectly happy watching a middle-aged (or older) woman deliver the news, just not this one. I don’t think that Katie Couric’s failure to attract the evening news audience has as much to do with her being an aging woman as it has to do with her being a cute little pixie who has spent too many years giggling away in our living rooms, acting like a kid who can’t seem to help herself from chatting and laughing her way through study hall. I wouldn’t be able to take Matt Lauer seriously either for the same reasons. You can’t yuk-it-up on an a.m. morning show and expect to be taken seriously delivering the sober evening news.
I thought the idea of putting Katie Couric in this position was ill-conceived from the get-go, so I’m not surpised by the result. Diane Sawyer (during her 60 minute days, not now that she has joined the a.m. crew) could have made a go of it. Even Ann Curry, who is an a.m. personality but delivers the a.m. news with sobriety may have had a shot. Katie – no way. I’m sure there are some who wouldn’t accept any aging woman, but I believe that most would have accepted the right woman.
April 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Good points, especially about Ann Curry, who I think is the real class act of the morning shows. I hope you’re right about the acceptance factor, but I’m afraid I’m still discouraged.
April 24, 2008 at 7:25 am
I confess–I was a Katie Couric fan when she was on the Today Show. I haven’t quite bonded with Meredith–Katie was perky but Meredith sometimes comes off goofy. I do like how Ann Curry has been given or has taken on some really intense reporting assignments. She’s become far more substantive and I don’t know if that’s because Katie is gone.
As for Katie at CBS, she lost me when she left morning news because I either watch morning or late night. I’m also an NBC kind of girl so I haven’t been part of the audience who’s watched her decline at CBS. But I would watch her again, age notwithstanding, if she were able to transition back to a news slot that fits for me.
By the way, one of my favorite local news anchors is Detroit’s Carmen Harlen at WDIV the NBC affiliate. She is wonderful example of how a woman in broadcasting can capture and retain the love of the viewing audience for years even as she ages.
April 27, 2008 at 11:22 am
I really like Katie however she is to light-hearted for the eveving news.As long as I can remember every evening anchor were very stern and to the point. I