Post by The City Manager on Sept 6, 2006 6:00:08 GMT -5
Struggling in the ratings game, the CBS Television Network has hung its hopes on Katie Couric by placing her in the evening news anchor chair at a price of $15 million a year, rebuilt the newsroom, and had special theme music composed for the program. The "new" CBS Evening News aired on Tuesday, September 5th.
So, what did you think?
I was disappointed. Not just in Couric (although I wasn't expecting much,) but I thought the news program with it's magazine-like "features" made it seem more like Entertainment Tonight than a news program. The gossipy segment about Tom Cruise's baby, the pre-recorded leg-flashing interview of Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in front of the anchor desk, the free speech "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" segment, while interesting, all seemed oddly out of place. It was People Magazine. Everyone has opinions; I expect news from a news show.
The closing segment, lumping fictitious news people such as Ted Baxter, and Ron Burgundy with the likes of Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley & David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, and Dan Rather was crass, disrespectful, and juvenile at best. And begging for viewers to submit some clever and catchy sign-off phrase demonstrated a lack of thoughtful introspective insight into what "news" is all about. Edward R. Murrow must have been turning in his grave while Walter Cronkite took a heart pill.
How 'bout you?
