from Timeinc.net
Access Hollywood has a story lauding the news correspondents who go into war zones for reporting (pegged on a very weird lede about Paris Hilton sunning herself in St. Tropez). After highlighting some of the experiences of NBCers Martin Fletcher, Brian Williams and Ann Curry plus ABC anchor Charlie Gibson and barely-anchor Bob Woodruff, it gets to the surprising nut graf: New soon-to-be-on-air-with-much-fanfare-and-debate-about-her-perkiness-and-gravitas CBS anchor Katie Couric said she wouldn't go to a war zone. Said Couric: "I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing."
For those who read TVNewser, that sounded immediately strange, as she was quoted just Sunday as saying that she would go to the Middle East: "Yeah, of course I want to be there. If it's going to help the story, serve the story, I want to be there."
There are two reasons why this statement was a misstep. First, it's inconsistent with what she said earlier — which is obvious for someone as now-monitored as Couric, and whose credibility is always being evaluated. Second, this goes right back to the gravitas question; the access Hollywood article pointedly cites the war-reporting experience of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw to the mix with this introduction: "Risking their own safety to provide the depth of coverage needed is nothing new for network and cable news anchors." This will no doubt be seized upon by the gravitas-mongerers questioning her fitness for the anchor chair.
But, she makes a very strong point here, one that is not often made: when anchors and correspondents rush into war zones and risk their lives, they are also risking the lives of their family in the sense that the loss of a parent/spouse/child is a terrible, terrible lifelong sadness. Couric is right to point out that a single parent (of already bereaved kids) has an extra duty to be responsible with her children's only remaining parent. Unfortunately, given her earlier statement about cheerily rushing into the zone in service of the story, the burden is now on Couric to resolve the inconsistency, and decide which one she means so that either can be credible.
UPDATE: Looks like Access Hollywood took the quote very much out of context. CBS ain't happy.
