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So Long Katie; Don't Let the Door Hit You

Couric traded perky for automaton, but needed 'Michael Moore's DNA'

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 20, 2008 12:41 PM CDT

(Newser) – Katie Couric’s unhappy tenure as CBS Evening News anchor will soon end, and not a moment too soon for Nancy Franklin of the New Yorker. Couric seemed likely to succeed at the start, but she wound up ditching the qualities people liked in her and becoming a teleprompter-reading automaton. But above all, she lacked what declining network news shows need: passion.

“I don’t think that people want less news,” Franklin writes. “They want, I believe, the same kind of informed passion and doggedness that TV-news people displayed while covering Hurricane Katrina... Who knows, young people might turn on their TVs in droves if news organizations had a few choice strands of Michael Moore’s DNA in them.”

Katie Couric and Sean McManus answer questions about Couric's new role as the first female news anchor for a network evening news broadcast during a news conference, in this July 16, 2006 file photo.
Katie Couric and Sean McManus answer questions about Couric's new role as the first female news anchor for a network evening news broadcast during a news conference, in this July 16, 2006 file photo.   (AP Photo/Lucas Jackson)
In this Oct. 29, 2007 file photo, CBS news anchor Katie Couric is shown in New York.
In this Oct. 29, 2007 file photo, CBS news anchor Katie Couric is shown in New York.   (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
In this Nov. 7, 2007 file photo, CBS president Les Moonves attends the NY Comedy Festival Event in New York.
In this Nov. 7, 2007 file photo, CBS president Les Moonves attends the NY Comedy Festival Event in New York.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)
Television host Katie Couric watches the Carmen Marc Valvo  fashion show in New York, Wednesday Sept. 14, 2005.
Television host Katie Couric watches the Carmen Marc Valvo fashion show in New York, Wednesday Sept. 14, 2005.   (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
drlarrymitchell
Oct 21, 2009 11:40 AM CDT
Buh-bye. Thanks for that Palin thing.

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