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Diane Sawyer Outshines Katie Couric

New anchor is no everywoman, but ABC's winning the ratings war

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 5, 2010 2:19 PM CST

(Newser) – Similarities between Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric abound, but the new ABC anchor is already beating her CBS counterpart. “Sawyer may be able to succeed where Couric hasn’t quite,” writes Los Angeles Times TV critic Mary McNamara, “blending the undeniable if troubling trend toward emo-journalism while still commanding the gravitas necessary for a serious news organization.”

Couric and Sawyer are both supposed to bring that emotional morning talk show touch to the evening news. “A good TV anchor nowadays is like a high-powered hostess, drawing conversation from some well informed but possibly shy guest,” writes McNamara. Sawyer has an advantage because she's “always been the Katharine Hepburn of the newsroom, classy in white collared shirts, radiating a passionate but still clearly intellectual concern for what is happening in the world around her."

New ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer tapes a news brief before her live evening broadcast from New York on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.
New ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer tapes a news brief before her live evening broadcast from New York on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.   (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute)
In this Dec. 21, 2009 photo, Diane Sawyer anchors the evening news on World News with Diane Sawyer,  from ABC News headquarters in New York.
In this Dec. 21, 2009 photo, Diane Sawyer anchors the evening news on "World News with Diane Sawyer," from ABC News headquarters in New York.   (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 21 comments
riffran
Feb 6, 2010 11:33 AM CST
varicose veins?..lmao
bewilderbeast
Feb 6, 2010 8:18 AM CST
Touching that people care about HOW they're lied to; And WHO tells them doctored parts of certain stories . . . The news as entertainment enables the bastards who lead us into wars, and gives us the politicians we deserve. Damn!
inky
Feb 6, 2010 7:57 AM CST
Good luck with Rachel and cleavage. Let me know when it happens.

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