the couric effect

May 31, 2006

I admit it. I like watching the major network morning news shows. Maybe that makes me corny…

I don’t want to be corny…

This morning, Katie Couric, 15-year host of the Today Show on NBC, said goodbye to Matt, Al, and Ann and enters a revolutionary new season in her life: anchor and managing editor for CBS Evening News.

At CBS, she will become the first female solo anchor of a major evening network newscast in the United States. The first female evening news anchor was Barbara Walters, who shared anchoring duties with Harry Reasoner on ABC from 1976 to 1978. Couric will also be the highest-paid news anchor at $15 million per year.

I think we are witnessing a shift as we think about ’serious’ media, but what effect wil this really have on the news world as we know it?

Many have criticized the move by CBS to promote Couric to the broadcast chair. The criticism is centered around Couric’s lack of experience in hard journalism and that she lacks the credentials necessary to be a sole anchor of the CBS Evening News.

Here is what Florangelena Davila of the Seattle Times says:

…the nightly news isn’t banter from your girlfriend. It’s serious, sometimes dour stuff. Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, even Walter Cronkite — we’ve become accustomed to their pace. That straight, baritone, I’m-not-screwing-around delivery. They were the men who escorted us to the grimmest of events: war, then back, then back to war.

On the other hand, some are praising the move. See Charlie McCullum of the San Jose Mercury News:

My impression of Couric is that she has a superior TV skill set. She connects with most viewers most of the time, as the very best anchors have done. Some may disagree, but she can be a first-rate interviewer.

On May 12, 2003, Couric guest hosted the late night television show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and gathered 42% more viewers than on normal nights. Pretty impressive…

Whatever the opinions are, I think there’s no question Couric will try to establish herself as a legitimate news anchor and time will be her best ally. As she moves further away from her tenure at The Today Show, America and the world will forget, as Davila says, Couric “dressed up as SpongeBob for Halloween.”

So what will be the ‘Couric effect’ on the unique medium we call the nightly news? What is subtly revolutionary about this move?

I think it is the elevation of ‘celebrity’ in American culture.

What do I mean by ‘celebrity?’

According to Wikipedia, celebrity is: a person who is widely recognized (famous) in a society and commands a degree of public and media attention. But Irving J. Rein, Philip Kotler, and Martin Stoller in their book, High Visibility, say that “celebrity requires not only fame, but fame with an evident monetary value.”

Isn’t that the bottom line here? Money follows celebrity status and celebrity plus money drives news ratings

It’s hard not to get around the fact [even though he would never say] that CBS President Les Moonves, is banking on the ‘celebrity’ of Couric to attract viewers away from NBC and ABC. There were more ’serious’ women anchor choices out there [see Elizabeth Vargas or Paula Zahn].

In time, I think we will continue to see the influence of ‘celebrity’ on the supposedly ’serious’ public sector, in particular news media and politics. Can anyone still really fathom that the governor of the state of California is Arnold Schwarzenegger? [See this]

The problem with all of this is that ‘celebrity’ does not equal gravitas.

And as long as we elevate the ‘celebrity’ without regard to that celebrity’s character and integrity, the world will continue to yearn for the very thing they don’t feed with their time and money: authenticity.

I’m not saying Couric doesn’t have substance, only time will tell. But with the direction we are headed, I’m just going to start a petition now.

Jon Stewart in 2010 for Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News.

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