I’ll admit I have written quite a number of blogs about Katie Couric. Most of them were penned in the days following her historic move to the “CBS Evening News.” Next month will mark Couric’s first anniversary at the CBS anchor desk and wouldn’t you know that her big day is being marred by the publication of a new book that allegedly paints the peppy former “Today” show queen in a very unflattering light. Talk about timing.
It’s no secret that Couric has faced a ton of criticism in the last few months. Rating for her show have tanked since her first month on air. What’s more, in the last few weeks she’s been in the center of a firestorm regarding who is to blame for the plummeting numbers. So I guess for someone to write a book about Katie Couric–widowed mother of two daughters who in addition to her day job has raised $30-million for colon cancer research–would be a bit too much to ask.
Perhaps, it wouldn’t sell as many copies as the new book written about Couric by author Ed Klein, once the respected editor of The New York Times Magazine. His book “Katie: The Real Story” hits store shelves in the next few weeks and offers a great shot of Couric on the cover. Inside, though, the shots taken at her by the author are at times cruel (at least in the excerpts I’ve read).
Klein has offers tidbits about the “real Katie” in what he calls “Newsbreaks.” For example, he writes that Couric was secretly negotiating with CBS chief Leslie Moonves to become the first solo woman network anchor long before she opted not to renew her “Today” show contract. In fact, Klein writes “she had made up her mind to jump ship a year before she actually did.”
Klein also reports that Couric was “personally involved in every aspect of the ‘CBS Evening News’ makeover, from choosing the show’s theme music to OKing segments of the broadcast including the one called ‘Free Speech.’ ” (Which was later eliminated after it got reamed by critics.) Personally, I don’t see that as very revolutionary material given that all TV news managing editors, which Couric is, are heavily involved in the decision making process for themselves and their shows.
As for Couric’s response to the new book, she has yet to make a comment. However, her team of publicists and handlers say they hope once the one-year anniversary of Couric’s rise to the evening news anchor chair passes, critics will give the star a break and start taking a serious, hard look at her work, rather than her personal life.
Either way I get the feeling nothing is going to deter Couric from living her life the way she wants to.
Related Articles:
Do You Watch The Evening News?
Celebrity News: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Katie Couric Makes History Again
Katie Couric’s “Magic” Weight Loss Program