Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Couric is “Horrified,” and So Am I [VIDEO]

Posted by Melissa McEwan at 7:52 AM on April 11, 2007.


Melissa McEwan: Fox is designed to be bad... what's CBS's excuse?
cbs simpsons

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get Video in your
mailbox!

 

Katie Couric was "horrified" to learn that one of her one-minute "Katie's Notebook" commentaries -- which "are distributed to CBS television and radio stations…and posted on the news division's Web site" -- was plagiarized by one of her producers from a Wall Street Journal column. Worse yet, it was meant to be a personal reflection piece, beginning with Katie musing, "I still remember when I got my first library card, browsing through the stacks for my favorite books." Oof.

Much of the rest of the script was stolen from the Journal. Couric said: "For kids today, the library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out."
Zaslow wrote in March: "The library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out."
Couric said: "Sure, children still like libraries, but books aren't the draw."
Zaslow wrote: "Sure, there are still library-loving children, but books aren't necessarily the draw."
Couric cited the same statistic as the Journal column -- a 60 percent rise in sales of hardcover juvenile books -- as "an encouraging sign that kids value reading." Zaslow had called that "an encouraging sign that kids still value books."
The producer has been fired. Couric no doubt remains horrified.

Frankly, I'm horrified, too. And Oliver Willis puts to paper (so to speak) my horror very succinctly: "Katie Couric -- in my view -- is nothing less than an abomination of the news. Her place at the centerpiece of CBS News' operations is, more than Fox News, the triumph of trifle over substance." Absolutely right. Fox News was designed to be bad; CBS News used to be the standard-bearer for integrity in network news -- and they have consciously and deliberately abandoned that role in favor of trifling nonsense culminating in what was presented as a personal piece being nothing but plagiarized crapola from the desk of a lackey.

And, infuriatingly, CBS decided to take this pathetic plunge with the first woman anchor, reaffirming insidious stereotypes of women being unserious and unconcerned with news and politics -- and Couric goes right along with it, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend. Every time I read Couric's name, it yields yet another cringe-inducing reason for me to question why she was offered the job and why she took it. The only explanation that makes any sense is a collective desire to annihilate the CBS News operation from the inside out -- in which case, well done.

Digg!

Tagged as: media, cbs, katie couric

Melissa McEwan writes and edits the blog Shakespeare's Sister.


GOP Senator Lindsey Graham Breaks Ranks, Admits "The Green Economy Is Coming"
Finally, one member of the GOP has a slice of reality pie.
Post by Staff. November 5, 2009.
Iowa Wingnut Steve King Lauds Lobbyists as American Heros for Bussing in Health Reform Protesters
Astroturfing earns praise from the GOP rep.
Post by Lee Fang. November 4, 2009.
GOP Loon Goes Off the Rails: Health Reform Greater Threat than Terrorism
The government's trying to put you to death, don't you know.
Post by Faiz Shakir. November 2, 2009.
Advertisement
Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
Why do people like Couric and Imus
Posted by: Ellie1 on Apr 11, 2007 8:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
get so much attention? Who gives a cr_p? The media in this country is in abominable shape, a thorough disgrace controled not by liberals, but money grubbing conservative monopolies. Liberal media is bushit, spread by conservative idiots like Faux "News" and Gannett Publications. The American people are intentionally being disinformed, kept uninformed, and most are too busy or generally too lazy to find out the truth. To put it bluntly, the state of this country and most of the people in it make me sick.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Please, Please leave Posted by: kbest
» RE: Please, Please leave Posted by: Bibs
Newz vs. News
Posted by: NoPCZone on Apr 11, 2007 8:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When Dan Rather, like him or not, took over as Anchor of the CBS Evening News he had a long list of varied assignments behind him.

1- White House (Both Johnson & Nixon)
2- Vietnam
3- London
4- Dallas Bureau (Covered the Kennedy Assassination & many Civil Rights Protests)
5- CBS Reports long form Documentaries Unit. Won an Emmy for Water Pollution Story among others.
6- 60 Minutes
7- Local TV News in Houston

When Couric got the job she had been interviewing authors of Cook Books and Movie Stars on the Today Show and had a few low-level assignments at ABC & CNN. Oh, she did have a Colonoscopy on TV.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Newz vs. News Posted by: christee
» It Predates Murdoch Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: Newz vs. News Posted by: Basenjis
Couric: Is She The Female Ann Coulter?
Posted by: mrtshw on Apr 11, 2007 9:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Couric has always been so stupendously vapid she causes my hair to hurt. She also displays a mean streak that challenges the Ann Coulters, Monica Crowleys and Mary Matalins of the world. Should Coulter ever stop cross-dressing then Couric can assume the role of the female idiot bully.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Jayson Blair...
Posted by: ABetterFuture on Apr 11, 2007 9:53 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...anyone? Perhaps a little of ol' Dan Rather thrown in for good measure?

You'd think intelligent editors would check on their people. Or, at least that faces masquerading as journalists pretending to wax longingly about their days in the library as kids would check up on what their producers are pretending they said.

Oh...wait. No, judging by recent events, you wouldn't expect that at all. Silly me: naive enough to assume that journalists can tell the truth from fiction, or even simpler, just tell the truth.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Now the News
Posted by: brainvib on Apr 11, 2007 9:54 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the past the news, either radio or TV, was news. I get the impression that in the days of yore the "news" was seen as a public service commitment, the very essence of why a broad-
cast license was granted. The news was not a profit center nor was it included in the ratings race. That all changed as the MBA products of our Universities brought to bear the fruits of their learning. News degenrerated into entertainment meant to sensationalize and tittilate and get those ratings and make money. Unfortunately PBS(NPR) has recently been bitten by the same bug. The real source for news, beyond your local murder, is the internet and the availability of off shore press and the Christian Science Monitor, Unfortunately, I think, only 31% of American homes are connected. The other 69% thrive on the pap produced by the US Ministry of Propaganda, more concerned with Anna Niciole than the Bush Administration antics.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why do we even need commentators?
Posted by: papa1957 on Apr 11, 2007 9:56 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I find myself asking lately, "Why do I care what commentator's have to say?." This began long before the Imus fiascal and before the "fight against terror". Has our ability to reason become so bad that we need to "morph" our feelings off of someone else? Take Limbaugh for instance (please, someone); do you really think that he has such perfect judgement and information that you are willing to simply turn your thinking over to him? He is not wise. He is not special. He is not "on loan from God." His only skill is the ability to make you think he is everything he is not. Period.

We need to see these people for what they are; nothing but entertainment. They should be held accountable for what they say. They are not above the law, and they are not above basic human decency. Treat them like the disposable entity that they are. Pluck one out of the ground and, with enough fertilizer, another one will take its place.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Non-News
Posted by: Kitty Lady Oregon on Apr 11, 2007 10:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There is so much non-news on today, that one cannot rely on any TV "news Program" to get the real info. Since they are now profit centers, they use entertainment type people to read the news and make stupid comments. They are part of the right's dumbing down of America citizens, Lots of Anna Nicole and Imus type drek and very little real news. Read Alternet, common dreams, Christian Science Monitor and tompaine if you really want to get the real news.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I don't watch
Posted by: diamondvajra on Apr 11, 2007 2:49 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
CBS news. I used to because I admired Dan Rather for his work in Vietnam and against Nixon. He had a modicum of balls but this Couric person. Who is she anyway and what the hell is she doing on a major network's "news" program? Well, journalism such as it is, was, has gone to hell in a hand basket. And that's my .02 worth

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Nice to know I'm not alone
Posted by: UnEasyOne on Apr 11, 2007 10:25 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
For 30 years, when I watched the news, it was CBS (even though Dan Rather turned into Mr Wooden Man when he took over the anchor chair - he was loose and sharp - I'm from Houston - as a local reporter) Now I watch NBC (timeshifted - I watch the Newshour live) Those are mostly a waste of time too. I get most of my news from various internet sources - like I'm sure most of you do. It's amazing how much I already know about the things I consider important by the time the networks deign to distill and water it down for my consumption. Lately, I've been wondering why I bother with the networks. Old habits die hard, but that one is fading fast.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

And a word about libraries
Posted by: Urstrly on Apr 12, 2007 4:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only did they plagarize a "think piece," they got it wrong. Who knows what library the Wall St. Journal guy visits, but other responsible outlets have dealt with the issue that the libraries are FULL of kids in some areas, because parents use them as ad hoc day care centers, there being no real after-school programs in most public schools. Maybe the kids are doing their homework, but they're certainly not avoiding the building. And then there's the issue of libraries as havens for the homeless, who also have no place to go when shelters kick them out in the morning. Alternet just carried a piece about this problem. There are plenty of women who would have had more substance than Katy Couric (Gwen Ifill, Martha Raddatz, Dana Priest, to name three) but it wasn't substance they were looking for.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Say Goodbye, Katie
Posted by: Democritus on Apr 12, 2007 5:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I used to like watching the bouncy, effervescent Katie when she was doing fluff pieces to lighten the day. Now she's trying to do news, and she's not cut out for it. When she puts on her grim face, I cringe and turn the channel. Someone on CBS decided to take a former cheerleader and, like Galatea, make her come to life as an analyst. The only thing dumber was the GOP's taking their former cheerleader and making him President of the United States. We have become a nation obsessed by trivialities spoon-fed to us by trivial people.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Toxic echo chamber
Posted by: particle on Apr 12, 2007 7:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So an aging beach bunny who swims after troop ships can't even do a half-arsed job of plagiarism on her own. From the WSJ no less.

She gets paid what for this?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Some truth here in a place populated by shills
Posted by: xbj on Apr 12, 2007 8:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Couric is a liberal Democrat, she hates George Bush with a passion that surpasses most of ours', a hatred that comes from personal knowledge and experience, and she interviews the man with the obvious attitude that she is interviewing Satan himself. Or a smirking cobra.

She also has done a fantastic job in developing the necessary gravitas to handle the CBS evening news, and this is coming from someone that was one of her most vocal critics BEFORE SHE STARTED THE JOB. To my deserved shame.

She is not perfect; she is human, and in her Edwards interview certainly let her personal experience losing a husband color her perception of the man choosing to run for President as his wife was, and is, dying. I say this is understandable. Did anyone else connect those dots? Certainly not those daming her for her so-called "mean streak".

Katie Couric is the first female anchor, and so is a target from both he left and the right for every possible mistep real and imagined, and I submit she is subject to a level of professional scrutiny that a male anchor would never receive AND INDEED, HAS NEVER RECEIVED.

What it comes down to personally for me? She recognizes and knows the devil when she is interviewing him, and that's damn well good enough for me.

And for those who haven't been keeping track; CBS News, led by 60 Minutes, is WAY ahead of the other networks in making up for the Bush-fellating mistakes of the past, and the ratings reflect this.

And NEVER FORGET for a SINGLE SECOND that the reason Dan Rather isn't at CBS in the first place is because the network tried to tell the truth about Bush's military service, but fell for Rove-produced FAKE DOCUMENTS that just HAPPENED TO TELL THE TRUTH.

So cut Couric and CBS some slack if you're real, and if you're a shill, just slink off and die.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Katie was probably 'set-up'...
Posted by: Voicedude on Apr 12, 2007 10:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yep! I'm pretty sure that it was most likely a 'set-up'. You can't do something that obvious and not get caught! Seriously, I find it hard to believe that someone THAT high up on the corporate news ladder didn't know that he'd eventually get caught. It's not the Jericho Herald he ripped off, y'know!

And he was 'fired' too? Ya THINK?!?

I'd bet he's not at all worried about finding some more income. After all, the same strategy seemed to work for Glass and Irving. And their shame ended up being made into a pair major motion pictures...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Who sez?
Posted by: willymack on Apr 12, 2007 5:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Who sez news is show biz crapola? Aintcha thrilled to know woo Anna Nichole Simpson's baby's father is? And after only a few weeks after har death,too. And how about that kid on American Idol? Inquiring minds want to now, and im a inquiring mind.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Who sez? Posted by: Bibs
waiting for the fall............
Posted by: waitingforthefall on Apr 12, 2007 10:01 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I only watch the corporate-owned, polital powers-that-be-backing network news to get a bead on what the majority of lemming America is being fed by the editors that defend the vise-frip of the status quo.

Couric, like all the others who sit in the "anchor's" chair is a construct.....a face that provides us with enough pseudo credibility to buy the stuff the current status quo is selling.

You want news? In English? Go to the BBC, Canada, Australia, Scotland.....well, anyplace ELSE that speaks English who has not been bought-off by the advertisers (who also seem to own a majority share of the political system.)

Couric is a parrot.....an ugly parrot. Consider what she is NOT saying that is of urgent importance to us rather than the stuff she spoonfeeds us every night as the world burns.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]