"Where was Katie?"

Well, now we know exactly where the priorities of CBS News lie in the Katie Couric era. Let's summarize:

• Tragic hiker death in Oregon: Producers secure an exclusive with the widow and Katie swoops down to conduct it. CBS deems it so newsworthy, interview is stretched into two parts so it can carry over to "The Early Show."

• Gerald Ford dies: Katie is on vacation. Her staff handles the early news.

It didn't escape the notice of reader Richard Feldan, either:

"I watched all three network news programs tonite. Of course, they all led off with news and background on former President Ford. I noticed that both NBC and ABC brought back their primary anchors (B. Williams and C. Gibson) from the holiday break to cover and co-ordinate the stories.

"Most glaring by her absence was CBS anchor Katie Couric. Where was Katie? I'm sure CBS can come up with a good reason, but if Williams and Gibson can be brought in to cover this big story, why not Ms Couric?"

Here's another question: When do the Aaron Brown comparisons start?

CBS told Brian Stelter, ""Katie Couric is out of the country but is returning to anchor all of CBS News' special coverage of the funeral ceremonies and will anchor the CBS Evening News from New York tomorrow night." Still, as media watcher Tom Rosensteil noted, "you don't want to be the only network that didn't do something when the others did."

Comments

[ML]

Maybe a better question is where is CBS News these days? And, seriously, where IS Aaron Brown? Would be nice to see him back on TV. I really miss his quirky reporting and interviewing style.

ML

[roy]

Ya know for all the hoopla about Mr. Cooper, his ratings are lower than Aaron Brown's were.

--roy

[Jason]

Its amazing how instant star syndrome can wear off. I'm glad CBS left Katie on vacation. At least this way the viewers were allowed to see the far-suprerior Russ Mitchell, someone who knows how to report hard news.

[Aaron]

I like Russ, a lot. And despite the crush of names on the "60 Minutes" masthead, it seems to me there's room for a brother there.

[Paul C]

People have gt to relax a little. Its not like she was out playing golf across the street. Had she been in the country, I'm sure she would have been there. As it is, she is coming back to cover the funeral. So what? As sad as it is, this was not exactly 9-11. This was the death of a 93-year-old man. An important man, yes. But this is not an earth shaking event. Had it come during a busier news cycle, it would not have gotten nearly the attention as it has. Once the breaking news of that death was announced, the funeral is the next big event surrounding this story. The rest is filler that helps out nicely during a slow news week.

[Marcus]

Would Katie have hustled back to break the news when Saddam gets executed?

I'm just saying...

[Aaron]

"Had it come during a busier news cycle, it would not have gotten nearly the attention as it has."

Dude, you are so not in the news business.

[Mark Roberts]

You can just imagine what Frank Stanton would have thought of the network's performance. The Tiffany network has gone the way of the Tiffany lamp.

"Countdown" last night showed an NBC clip of John Chancellor reporting the Squeaky Fromme incident in 1975. Chancellor ended the lead-in with this simple phrase about President Ford: "He's all right". Simple, elegant.

Then there was film of the President in San Francisco after Sara Jane Moore's little outburst. President Ford was answering questions and interacting with reporters in a natural, human way, clearly startled but still in command of the situation. You don't see that with our current President.

President Ford now looks pretty good compared to a lot of what followed him, especially what we have now. It's not being stated that way overtly. But I'm detecting that theme in much of the coverage of his life.

[Tom]

"The Tiffany network has gone the way of the Tiffany lamp."

How true. But the Tiffany lamp still has at least some value as an antique.

[Marvin]

Why does this surprise anyone? CBS showed their hand when they went with a celebrity tabloid morning show host rather than fishing from the traditional pool of career journalists. Just like the rest of main stream media.

Anderson Cooper got a little fame because he's pretty and cried on-air during Katrina. So, we got 2 hours of him and Brown got the axe. Donahue was MSNBC's top show, but he got axed for bad-mouthing the war pre-invasion. These MSM execs are willing to shoot themselves in the foot to push their agenda.

[Mark]

CBS couldn't be bothered to interrupt a Letterman rerun to break the news of the death of a former president. Then, today, during a live football game (the Sun Bowl, of some importance to many Missourians), Katie broke in halfway through the second quarter for roughly 15 minutes to show the Fords arriving for the private family funeral that CBS didn't even cover. And CBS wonders why their news is in 3rd place...

[Jason]

Maybe CBS has some sort of note in Katie's contract that says when she's in third for more than a year, she has to switch places with Russ Mitchell and become the Early Show newsreader.

[Billy]

Please ask Lara Logan if she would like to have the job. She just has something about her that Katie has not got.

[Jason]

Hiring Katie has turned out to be a huge waste of money. CBS has more than capable people around to fill in Rather's shoes. They should have started by leaving Bob Schieffer in the chair until he wanted to leave, then simply promote someone like Lara Logan or Russ Mitchell, or Scott Pelley. The news that we are getting now could just as well be reported by Julie "Chenbot" Chen.