kiss me KATE!. . .Katie Couric leaving CBS Evening news early. . .?

[Rolando]

If they wanted a woman to attract other women, and a woman to attract men, and a newsperson to attract ratings, they should have hired Ann Curry for the job.

[Panopticon]

[quote Rolando]If they wanted a woman to attract other women, and a woman to attract men, and a newsperson to attract ratings, they should have hired Ann Curry for the job.
Yes! Excellent choice. I really think CBS blew the $75 Million {+ perks} to Couric just to get her off 'Today'. Some convoluted plan to help the 'Morning Show'. What they failed to realize is how many viewers watch 'Today' because of Curry. I know I do -D

I'd still like to know why NBC let Campbell Brown go to CNN.

[tenders]

Prediction :: next anchor :: Kate Snow

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I really like Campbell Brown. I forget what show it was, but she hosted something several years ago and struck me as being really sharp and having a great sense of humor. The latter never seemed to come out in her news coverage. I will guess because of this, that her demographics were not that great and CNN realized that they were undervaluing her.

[RAMd®d]

You make it sound like she was forced to take the job...


I didn't read it that way at all.

It seemed to me that he was saying that she literally should not been put in the position of news anchor. Period.

What an odd inference.

[Don Kiyoti]

Me, I'm going to continue watching the News Hour on PBS. It is the only worthwhile news program on television. Jim Lehrer will retire eventually, but it looks like (I'm guessing here) he'll be succeeded by Gwen Ifill and that's just fine with me. I'll be sorry to see Jim go, he is outstanding, but Gwen is really, really very good.

[vision63]

She was always the toughest interviewer on the Today Show. At this point, it doesn't really matter who does the evening news, except in a major crisis. I think she also suffers from CBS's awkward news format. It's not as straight ahead as when Bob Sheiffer held the post and did an excellent job.

Being a woman, that's a big strike against her. People are just more sophisticated about it. Coming from the candyland Today Show didn't help her either.

I'm a big Gwen Ifill fan too but succeeding Leher versus Rather is a whole different game.

[Speedy]

I think the only thing that would save CBS news would be if they run Naked News in its place. http://www.nakednews.com/

[guitarist]

The irony is, the evening news hour is a dying market, and the morning news shows have gained credibility and audience share. She should have stayed where the action is.

Since the advent of 24 hour cable news and instant internet news access, the traditional six o'clock news hour no longer has the influence it once did, by that time most people have already consumed their daily requirement of news stories, there's relatively little "news" to break by that hour.

Morning News programs, on the other hand (this according to a LA TV reporter friend) have a semi-captive audience, people tune in while getting ready to go to work. The market has grown for morning news programming. Since the early 90s, when Presidential Candidates appeared on morning news shows, and more heavyweight news figures gravitated to the morning programs, the reporting got better, the budgets increased, and arguably, the talent got better, too. Katie Couric, I would argue, isn't just a cheerful muffin head, she's as experienced and credible anyone in broadcast news.

But that doesn't necessarily mean she's a welcome figure in viewer's homes in the evening time slot.

It's a bloated, overpaid, dying business anyway.