You may have read at Romenesko that Katie Couric's "listening tour" is being held without any local news media opportunities. (Other than glimpses from insiders at CBS stations, such as longtime TV Barn reader Jason DeRusha's blog at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis.)
Now you're going to hear ... the rest of the story: Katie is speaking here to a roomful of TV critics Sunday morning. Many of whom are members of the local news media. Including the critic in Minneapolis, where our new sister newspaper is located and where the dustup recounted in the link above took place.
Obviously, that doesn't justify the CBS henchmen's tactics in confiscating some poor blogger's pen. But just so you know: The network is probably saving her for us. It was handled badly, but they aren't running from the media. And after she speaks here, I'm guessing the PR spigot will pretty much be on full blast and you'll be sick of reading about her in, oh, three days from now, if not sooner, if not right now.
You may have also read my Public Eye commentary linked today at Romenesko. If not, here's a direct link to my piece. It's a good long gulp but I'm really happy with how it came out.
Some of us got sick of reading about Katie several months ago, and that nausea still hasn't abated. Really, who cares about this other than the network suits, Katie, and her agent? My love of "Countdown" and "The Daily Show" ties in directly with the reason I no longer watch network or local news -- the former are the only two "news" shows on the air that don't regurgitate White House talking points and call it "news". TV news has failed because it has lost the art of investigating a story, reporting on both sides of an issue, trusting the viewers to draw their own conclusions, reporting global news, and leaving "celebrity reporting" to the gossip rags. This fixation with stories about Katie, in lieu of stories that actually impact the world we live in, is exactly what has bankrupted news programs.
Posted by: | July 14, 2006 at 09:00 PM