Katie Couric does the best newscast, says RTNDA
While viewership continues to slip and all that “Katie is leaving after the election” talk still swirls, it looks like the industry actually likes her show.
The CBS Evening News won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast from the Radio Television News Directors Association the other night. ABC won the most awards, including Best Overall, Documentary, Hard news, Spot News Coverage, and Videography. Not really sure what the difference is between Best Newscast and Best Overall, but maybe Best Overall combines all facets of a TV network’s news division while Best Newscast just focuses on the 30 minute nightly show that the network does. Either way it’s something I’m sure you’re going to see in ads for The CBS Evening News.
CBS News also won for Best Web Site (I’d link to the full list of awards but the RTNDA site seems to be down right now.)
Temporary Tim Russert replacement named
There’s been speculation about who will replace Tim Russert on NBC’s Meet the Press. David Gregory, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Katie Couric were a few of the rumored possibilites. Jovie Baclayon of E! Online reports that Tom Brokaw will be temporarily replacing the tragically-lost news anchor. NBC announced today that the former Nightly News anchor and South Dakota native would take over moderating responsiblities on Sunday mornings. He will guide discussions through the November presidential elections.
Steve Capus, NBC News President, made this statement about Brokaw’s decision to step in: “To have someone of Tom’s stature step up and dedicate himself to ensuring its ongoing success is not only a testament to his loyalty to Tim, but his enduring commitment to NBC News and our viewers.”
After 21 years helming the program, Tom Brokaw retired from NBC Nightly News in 2004.
Tim Russert died of a heart attack last week on June 13th. He was 58.
[via Yahoo TV]
Katie Couric: The Tax Man Cometh
Katie Couric’s charm isn’t winning over audiences on television and it certainly isn’t helping get the tax man off her back. He wants the CBS newswoman to pay her debt now.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has issued a warrant for Couric for an unpaid bill for $210.41 dating back to 2003.
Rep Matthew Hiltzik characterized the debt as a minor oversight, telling the New York Daily News that her bills were being sent to an old address. Couric’s on vacation, he added, and will settle the matter upon her return.
Considering she earns $15 million a year anchoring the CBS Evening News, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Katie Couric has her own YouTube channel - VIDEO
Lately, the only Katie Couric most people have been seeing is the one that’s depicted in the picture to the right: serious, sober, possessing whatever gravitas she can muster in her role as anchor of the CBS Evening News. But where can you see the goofy Katie, the one that people came to know — and some got sick of — for fifteen years on the Today show?
Why, on YouTube, of course! In fact, Katie has her very own page on the leading video sharing site, where she posts extended Evening News interviews and behind-the-scene footage. The behind-the-scenes stuff is where you see Katie at her most impish, doing things like snapping Larry King’s suspenders as he leads her to the set of his show, singing with Bette Midler, and meeting with mommy bloggers in her office (check out the huge Warhol-esque portrait of herself she has hanging near her desk!).
The LA Times explains that Couric started filming and posting the videos in response to the clips of her that Harry Shearer posted on his My Damn Channel website; she even says “Harry Shearer, I’m gonna get you” on her introductory video.
The videos aren’t bad, though it’s alarming how big of a “posse” Katie drags around with her everywhere. But at least she shows some warmth, as the video below shows. Before and after she was on Larry King Live, she chats up some paparazzi on the way in and a family on the way out, all the time plugging the YouTube channel. So, even if she’s playing it up for her YT camera, it still shows a side of her we haven’t seen in almost two years.