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May 14, 2007

Laura Ingraham - Is Katie Couric Bad for CBS Evening News?

by Ferdinand T Cat

Laura Ingraham's Lie of the Day is a quote about Katie Couric.

"If the [CBS Evening News] continues to be as good as it has been ... people will start to watch. It takes time," said Linda Mason, CBS News Senior Vice President of Standards and Special Projects.

Couric's low ratings are a common topic right now. When she first started at the helm, there was a ratings bump: she was something new, and people probably wanted to see what the show would be like with her as the anchor. Unfortunately, no matter who is anchoring the CBS Evening News, it's still the CBS Evening News. It was a third-place show when Dan Rather was doing it, it was a third-place show when Bob Schieffer was filling in, and it's a third-place show now.

The New York Times article cited above has the headline Is It the Woman Thing, or Is It Katie Couric?, but has no hard evidence either way. In fact, the article only devotes only two paragraphs to the issue, one of which is framed by a variant of the old Many People Say trick:

Ms. Couric’s defenders ask whether a man taking the CBS job would have had his looks, hair, and clothes commented on in the same way as Ms. Couric’s. Or if a single male anchor’s social life would be almost daily fodder for the tabloids.

Right here we have a shining example of why neither the Times or CBS has any credibility as a news source. Katie's social life, fashion sense, and gender are completely irrelevant. The answer to the question is in the graph displayed in the Times sidebar.

0514-biz-webCOURIC.thumb.gif

All three networks are losing viewers. After the spike from her initial broadcast wore off, CBS remained flat while the other networks enjoyed an increase. Now all three networks are losing viewers at the same rate. But note that prior to February, Couric's broadcast was doing better than Rather's temporary replacement Bob Schieffer: in other words, she was outperforming her male predecessor. She is doing worse now, but all three networks are doing worse now. The graphs over the past few months are remarkably parallel.

I may be wrong. It could be that Katie is unusually incompetent, but the only real data we have says the problem is much bigger than one anchor on one network. The fact is, CBS has a small share of a shrinking market.

If the CBS News Division weren't in the habit of ignoring the facts, they would know this.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Right Truth, Shadowscope, DragonLady's World, The Pet Haven Blog, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, The Magical Rose Garden, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Right Celebrity, Woman Honor Thyself, Stageleft, stikNstein... has no mercy, The Right Nation, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wake Up America, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, The Random Yak, 123beta, Adam's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, The Florida Masochist, Jo's Cafe, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Walls of the City, Blue Star Chronicles, High Desert Wanderer, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Tracked on May 15, 2007 9:47 AM

Comments

Why anyone would watch Network News anymore is beyond me. As soon as the local is over with, we flip to Fox News. Couric is not a warm and fuzzy person to watch on TV, even when she was on the morning news -- she's a stick figure and people see that.


Posted by: Jolene [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 15, 2007 7:20 AM

All three networks are losing viewers..gee I wonder why..Ha!..ty for the link my friend! :)


Posted by: Angel at May 15, 2007 1:47 PM

HTML is not allowed in comments; however, if you put in a raw URL (http://www.somewhere.com/page.html) it will automatically be converted to a link.. Also, it is likely your comment will not appear unless you refresh the page manually after posting it.

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