Jane Pauley On Katie Couric: "It Was A Brave Experiment"

WWD:

As someone who knows the ins and (sometimes painful) outs of network news careers, Jane Pauley was reluctant to comment about Katie Couric's slippery CBS post Tuesday night at Modern Bride's 2008 Trendsetters awards. After giving it some thought, the former "Today" and "Dateline" host started out with a little schadenfreude. "I had a show that should have worked and didn't," she said. Pauley, the first woman to anchor the evening news in Chicago in 1975, implied Couric isn't solely to blame. "The news business -- nobody knows where the industry is or where it is going," she said. "It was a brave experiment. I think her strengths were unique but she was not well used. She had too many strengths that had nothing to do with that patch-around role.

Read the whole story: WWD

Comments

[lazlogasky]

We should give Katie a chance.. her broadcast is great

[vonryansexpress]

Not so brave a move as the selection of Gwen Ifill would have been.

Men and women respond to quality and the fact that the speaker/newsreader is female is not dispositive, provided that the female is 'likable.' Therein lies the rub for Ms. Couric. Fundamentally, Ms. Couric is not one that creates affection or respect when she appears and is heard by the listening viewer.

The task of being an anchor requires a sincerity quotient. One expects moderation of personality and tabula rasa reportage from the anchor/reader. Neither are characteristics one associates with Ms. Couric.

The question of intellectual 'heft' aside, Ms. Couric fails as an anchor because she is not someone that would ever be a leader in any sphere other than perhaps a cult of personality.
One wouldn't follow her when lost in the woods or washed ashore and disoriented. She doesn't create any loyalty and her 'share' is the telling of that tale.

Offer the job to Ms. Ifill or to Consuela Mack, or to Randi Kaye or Tori Clarke, or Jessica Yellin, or ... call the role. The individual that signed the deal on Ms. Couric revealed more about his understanding and perception of the greater audience than he would have wanted us or his peers to know.

[mellene]

In my humble opinion, Couric is a fine entertainer as is Charlie Gibson. However, the news needs to be delivered by a top newshound like a Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley types. All three networks need to find this type of calibre news person and then add the entertainment factor in an isolated segment. The viewers are confused as to whether they're watching the news or just another enterainment show on all three networks.

[raker]

Pauley's appraisal of the Couric debacle is diplomatic, but all wrong. If Couric had gone to CBS and done a serious news report she'd have succeeded. She failed because she and CBS scrapped the evening news and replaced it with a woman's magazine. In other words, CBS used her EXACT skills and talents. Problem was, they didn't belong on a news program.

[drzoon]

cbs canceled the news a long time ago. actually... so did ABC

[kattywacky]

I bet Pauley with her class, intelligence and likeability could have pulled off the anchor spot far better than Couric. I'm not saying that Couric doesn't have those qualities, too, but she was too much of a lightweight in her presentation, attitude and background. In Couric's case, the Peter Principle was painfully evident.

[Melissa]

Two very lovely, talented women.

[rjean]

oh barf up a big lib hair ball...