Before we get into Katie, has anyone else noticed that post-Imus, all these media shows, including CBS, have returned to mostly non-minority talking heads. So what, we only get trotted out when the issue is race??? We digress - our bad!
After that John Edwards debacle, I knew it was just a matter of time for Miss Couric - even if the others here didn't agree.
Here is the story. Click here to find out who are Katie's CBS enemies.
CHECK-OUT THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE WE POSTED ON THIS ISSUE:
We're Not All In Agreement On This But Trust Me, It’s Coming.
She's Outta There!
Yeah, that's right - I said it.
Katie Couric's interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards on 60 Minutes was a DISASTER! Already trailing ABC and NBC in the evening news race, CBS got hit with over 600 negative emails. Ouch!
So what did we learn - insight to the type of presidency Edwards has to offer - ahhh, no! What we learned is don't piss off cancer survivors. These folks are all about beating the big "C" and continuing the journey, not being a burden.
When you ask the tough questions - you gotta be direct, "Are you trying to garner sympathy and votes by having your wife continue in your 2008 White House campaign?"
Katie we know your own husband died of cancer, so you have the credibility, maybe not the ratings, but credibility - yes. And listen, if ya’ going down, at least go down a journalist, not some unforgetable, desperate "host."
The above rant by my brother Dwayne Foster here at 3BAAS Media was posted last year. Even then Dwayne saw the writing on the wall. Now it turns out that Katie Couric and CBS News are talking for the first time about her giving up the anchor chair after the November election if her ratings don't improve, a course that could result in her leaving the network, sources familiar with the situation say.
If Couric is eased out as anchor, CBS plans to offer her either a syndicated talk show or a full-time role on "60 Minutes." Otherwise, executives have signaled they would release her from her contract to seek a better deal elsewhere.
The discussions are described as amicable but suffused by a sense that CBS's five-year, $75 million gamble on the former "Today" co-host is not paying off, at least according to the cold, hard Nielsen ratings numbers on which advertising is sold.
If Couric were to leave, it would mean new turmoil for a news division that was rocked by the 2005 ouster of Dan Rather after CBS retracted his story about President Bush's National Guard service. She succeeded interim anchor Bob Schieffer in September 2006 on a wave of intense publicity but drove away some viewers with a feature-heavy format while also alienating a number of CBS journalists.
Couric admitted last week that the constricted nature of the 22-minute format had left little room for the humor and freewheeling approach that once defined her style. "It's really hard to show that side of my personality on the evening news, and that's a frustration for me," she said.
For the season, "NBC Nightly News" with Brian Williams has averaged 9 million viewers and ABC's "World News" with Charlie Gibson 8.8 million. Couric's broadcast trails with 6.7 million.
Couric, 51, had lunch earlier this year with CNN President Jon Klein, a former CBS executive, prompting speculation that he might be eyeing her as a potential successor to Larry King. But another source said the two are friends and that there are no plans to replace King, 74. [Washington Post]