Can I say something really catty? I'm going to anyhow.

[hyphenate]

This whole business with Katie Couric sucks royally. I really don't give a fuck about what her qualifications are as a journalist, but NO ONE, not even that right wing ho herself is worth the money they're throwing at her, NOR in my eyes is she in any way an "objective" journalist, NOR is she in ANY WAY a reliable source of information. For crying out loud, she'd be better put to use at Faux than polluting the news pool at CBS.

It's pretty bad in this country when a whore like her can get paid gobs and gobs of money, and some people don't even get to eat a decent meal in any day of the week.

This fucking sucks, in my opinion. If there was some way of boycotting CBS News and protest her hiring, it would be worth the satisfaction of a legitimate protest. At least in the morning, she was a negligible and inconsequential influence--who knows what shit she's going to try to make people believe now.

Rant and catty remarks now ending.

[AndyA]

1. Katie Couric also doesn't keep her word.

When Loni Anderson and Burt Reynolds broke up, the news media was scurrying to get Loni's side of the story. When she finally agreed to interviews, the deal was that they would not ask about Burt Reynolds. Anything else was OK, their kid, her career, etc., just nothing about Burt.

All of them agreed, and all of them kept their word except for Katie Couric.

She has no credibility. None.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

26. Well really, why would you want to talk to

Loni Anderson about something other than Burt Reynolds?

[0007]

2. I've never ever watched her. From what I've seen and heard

I don't think I've missed too much.

[Jane Austin]

3. I am disappointed by this too.

I don't get home in time to watch the evening news and I TiVo the PBS Newshour and Keith Olbermann for later viewing, so this doesn't affect me personally.

But I think by hiring someone who mugs for the camera, and looks mawkeshly solemn when reporting a sad story, just trivializes the news.

I can't stand the Today Show because of her, so I wouldn't watch her even if I were home.

I'm afraid I don't like overly-modulated female voices. They sound insincere and put me to sleep.

Did they do any focus groups on this thing or is this just somebody's hunch?

[BrklynLiberal]

4. All CBS was looking for was an attractive head for a lollipop to sit

behind a desk and read a teleprompter. That is the only "talent" that was required. Couric is not a reporter or a newsperson, but what CBS does is not news. It is infotainment, and has been that since just before Dan Rather left.
Any bimbo who could read and chew gum at the same time could have done this job.

[glitch]

5. We've got that wavelength thing going again. Couric for CBS "news" quite

appropriate.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Right!

:thumbsup: :hi:

[bush_is_wacko]

6. Take out the whore remark and I agree with you. Do we really have to

resort to calling her a whore though! I hate that word. Fact of the mater is I would "whore" myself out for the $50 an hour lettuce picking job Senator McCain offered so which one of us is more of a "whore?"

[file83]

15. I know several women that refer to Katie Couric as...

...a "whore" and even "slut". I just laugh because I'm not sure why they feel that way. When I ask them why they say that they refer to the way she looks at some of the male guests on the show - the way she handles her self - the innuendos she makes...

I agree - it's not nice to call someone a "whore" or "slut" - but I don't get in between disagreeing women - learned that a LONG time ago...

[hyphenate]

18. Whore, as a "media whore"

and a "right-wing" whore. As far as her personal life, I really don't give a damn.

[cynatnite]

33. Not an acceptable term by me no matter how it's applied

A mouth piece for the right is a better description of her, but I know it's too much to type. Much easier to type 'whore'.

:eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

7. hey, i said that years ago

A-Rod was not worth the $25 mil per year...it's just the screwy society we live in

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Teachers are the ones who should be making that much money!!!

[AngryAmish]

22. I think I should be making that much money

but I'm a greedy SOB

[Syncronaut Seven]

10. I think the key concept here is:

Bush operative. She's there to babysit.

[Sal Minella]

11. "If there was some way of boycotting CBS News..."

I gave away my TV 20 years ago and have never once been sorry.

[hyphenate]

27. That's a good thing to do, I suppose

for some. But not for me. Raised a TV baby, and with an exceptionally strong bond to the entertainment industry, I could never do it. As it is, I was completely upset after working for one of the studios for 8 1/2 years to find out how much nepotism and politics play a part in who gets to do what.

A friend is a movie "connoiseur." He puts down TV all the time, citing how terrible the fare is. He runs a small theatre for foreign and "art" movies (subtitles, man!) and on the subject of entertainment, we're polar opposites. I say that television can not be compared to films, because 1) the films can not sustain the audience numbers that even the poorest TV show can attain; 2) TV is more than a venue for fictional/episodic TV, it's also our main media center for everything else--news, sports, information in general, and of course, it's always available to us to turn on and see something 24/7. He, of course, disdains the idea that TV is in any way as important as film. I suppose we both are correct in some ways, but let's face it: more people watch the least watched TV channel than the number of people who have seen even the most popular films in history. There really is no trade-off. Back in the 1930s, 40s and early 50s, newsreels at the movie theatre would "entertain" people, but I'll bet you that they were heavily edited and heavily biased. There is no wonder that up until the more realistic news venues of the 1960s and beyond, people were blissful in their ignorance of world events from any objective newsource, and we can see that now with the right wing ownership of some of the big networks and broadcast companies in the world. Their mission is to sway people toward their way of thinking, and because TV is so readily available, it has been an easy mission for them.

On the other hand, TV done right is a blessing. The original Star Trek, for example, crafted stories on prejudice, war, drug addictions and so many other problems of its era, and was able to get away with it by making the instances "alien" or "futuristic." Since then, however, few TV shows have been courageous enough to examine issues with the stark light of reality. But there are some shows that do, and for me, they're worth keeping track of.

No, I could never give up my TV. But I know enough what shows are right for me, and what shows are not. And whether they're fictional, factual, or just plain silly as can be, they all have a place in my world. :)

[Sal Minella]

30. When TV was black and white and LIVE, my mother and I were

parked in front of it every afternoon at one because there was a LIVE one-hour original drama every day that was really good -- well written, always very well done. And because it was live, it had that wonderful tension that live stage plays have -- the actors tense and electric, trying not to goof up. I remember John Conte being host, at least part of the time.

Alistair Cooke and Masterpiece Theater, yes -- and to tell the truth, part of the reason I dropped TV was working 14 hour days at a newspaper and never being home to watch anyway!

I love well-done foreign movies and pretend to be quite the snob about Kieslowski (I finally learned to spell that -- are you duly impressed?) but honest to pete, my all time favorite movie is The Big Lebowski. I have no idea why I get such a kick out of that movie.

Am also a public radio addict and stand in front of the radio concentrating when Garrison goes into "Guy Noir." So I rather understand why you choose not to give up TV!

[misternormal]

12. The only way there will ever be a respectable journalist...

... in my opinion, is to clone Edward R. Murrow.

[driver8]

13. "Navy SEALS Rock!"

That may be true, but fuck her.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. It means, some of us are in the wrong business.

[Raine]

16. From Cronkite to Couric

:eyes: what a low CBS has slid to. :-(

[novalib]

19. From Murrow to Couric

CBS once had Edward R. Murrow and Eric Severeid.

Now it will have Katie Couric.

Sad. Very, very sad.

[hyphenate]

28. Maybe if she changed her

name to Kathryn or Katherine, it might help. Katie is so childish sounding and immature for someone who is supposed to be a "trusted news source." I still think that her anchoring CBS news is ridiculous, though, and I certainly won't have anything to do with her.

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. "Navy Seals Rock!" She sucks! And no, she isn't worth what she is

being paid, either on "The Today Show" or her new gig.

[Neil Lisst]

20. She's still making less than Stephon Marbury, NBA Knicks player.

She's worth every dollar they pay her.

[seabeyond]

21. i can top that catty. i haven't seen the view in years. just turned it on

my gosh, what has happened to the faces. they dont look real. meredith, but especially star jones, seemed like caricatures. the lighting???? just a shocker.

ok, that is it for me in catty. i only do catty about once a decade.

[Samurai_Writer]

24. Star Jones looked much better when she was bigger

And before she had all that plastic surgery. She looks like a ghoul now.

There, that's my cattiness for the day.

[GRLMGC]

31. She DID look better heavier

Her face looks weird. Like her features are too big for her head now or something

[Atman]

23. I'm worth the money

Really. They should try me. In fact, I'm so confident they'll like me, I'll do it on a pro-rated basis for ONE MONTH. If they don't like me, I'll happily walk away with just 1/12th of Katie's salary!

[alarimer]

25. Well news anchors are just newsreaders anymore

So I don't think it much matters. But I don't see how it is worth $15 million a year. I'd do it for a hell of a lot less. LOL.

[in_cog_ni_to]

29. Randi Rhodes calls them "Model" news readers.

They aren't journalists. Walter Cronkite was a journalist. Christiane Amanpour is a journalist. The bimbos who READ the news these days are there for one reason and one reason ONLY...their looks. I have NO RESPECT for any of them. NONE. I wonder how they feel knowing they will NEVER measure up to the likes of Cronkite and Amanpour? Why would anyone waste a jornalism degree to be a bimbo "model" news reader?

Mike Malloy asked this question last night, "Why didn't CBS hire Christiane Amanpour?" GREAT QUESTION.

[RoyGBiv]

32. Personality v Journalist

In a rare moment of exhibiting intelligence, a local radio morning show made this distinction. Couric is a "personality," and she is replacing a "journalist." Paraphrasing what they said, it's no wonder followers of CBS News who actually expect to hear news are upset about this. It'd be like someone ordering a seven-course meal and being brought a piece of bubblegum and charged the same price.

Couric is a "personality." In this world, today, personality gets paid. Talent, competence ... not so much.