Katie Couric says that the problem is that the viewers weren't ready for her.

Well, she's right. I know I wasn't.

This couldn't possibly be because her idea of a tough news story at NBC was asking Reese Witherspoon about the possibility of there being a "Totally Blonde III", could it? Or that she thought James Dobson's Promise Keepers was a dangerous organization, but that she thinks George Bush caused Al Queda to attack us? Or is it that Kutie Pie Katie is just so far in over her perky little head that she just doesn't get it at all?

Sputum? She didn't want to say sputum? Not to mention what would have happened if Rather had slapped a female producer. The NOW crowd would have called for his head on a pike.

I mean lets look at the CBS evening news history, Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite. Dan rather...Katie Couric. I'm not a fan of Cronkite and certainly not of Rather, but she isn't a pimple on a journalists butt compared to the way they did journalism in the old days.

Here's another list for you Groucho Marx, George Burns, Bob Hope...Paulie Shore.

3 well known names, respected by their peers...and somebody who does something vaguely similar but in a totally different, but not equal, goofy way. Break a leg Katie, seriously, break a leg.

There's a simple reason why I refuse to watch any (DN)CBS News show regardless of who is hosting it - "Fake But Accurate". No new outlet that allows "fake but accurate" as an acceptable standard of performance deserves to be watched by anyone.

Network news is dying, they just don't know it yet, or won't admit it. Network news had a place when we had three channels but now everybody except the very oldest has cable or internet access and can get news on demand. Having a younger "50 years old is young?" is not gonna get people to rearrange their schedule to watch News and few people tivo news.

I wouldn't be surprised if they dumped the news arm entirely and just let the local affiliates handle it.

rj,
network news has been dead for years. It became network opinion long ago. I wonder if they've considered that bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would mean a return to hard news. i.e. facts only, no weasel wording like they have now.

I wonder if they've considered that bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would mean a return to hard news.

No, because it wouldn't apply to them. You have to see how the Left looks at things like "fairness." It's in line with the old Soviet adage: "What's mine is mine. What's yours is negotiable."

In other words, the Fairness Doctrine would be targeted at talk radio but not at network news (except perhaps Fox) or PBS/NPR. After all, since they already tilt heavily to the left, they're already considered "fair".

I wasn't ready for her as a cohost for NBC Today, and nothing has changed.

Its not just news on demand that impacts the evening news ratings but reality TV in general. Think about all those news expose stories that take you for an inside look at some type of interesting occupation, hobby, or community event. Now, they just make a reality TV series out of it and let the real people themselves be the star.

Something like 'Ice Road Truckers' would have and probably has been a story on Dateline or 60 minutes. They have moved the ring master of the story off the camera and put them in the screening room and let the truckers cuss and crack up for weeks on end till they can eventually isolate enough footage for a seasons worth of episodes.

The answer to save the evening news may in fact be to turn it into a reality based TV show. Think how many people would have liked have seen Katie slapping that editor around, with bleeped out cuss words, and blouses coming unbuttoned.....*cough* on second thought put her behind a desk that comes up to her neck and have her hold a stack of important looking papers up in front of her face so you can just see her eyes and the top of her head, less is sometimes more.