TVSquad

Much has been said about Katie Couric and her year behind the anchor's desk on The CBS Evening News (some of it by Couric herself in a controversial New York interview). But now a journalist is going to interview Couric and she's going to talk about everything that's going on with her and with the news biz in general.

Veteran newsman Marvin Kalb is going to interview Couric as part of the Kalb Report Series, which is produced by George Washington University, Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center, and The National Press Club. The interview will take place live on stage next Tuesday at The National Press Club, in front of students and members of the NPC.

So much controversy about Katie Couric taking over The CBS Evening News. And now here it is a year later (she started on September 5, 2006), so I have to ask: how do you think she's doing?

I'll admit I had my doubts and might have even expressed them here, but in reality, I think she's doing fine. She can't do anything about the ratings, and the show was in third place long before Couric took over. As Bill Maher said when he was asked at the time how Couric was going to do, "I think she'll read the teleprompter fine." And she's done a fine job. Sure, there were some odd growing pains, like addressing the audience by saying "Hi everyone," the "Picture of the Week" and "First Person" segments that were dropped, and it looked a while there like they were going to end each episode by showing her legs, but the show has gotten a lot better.

All this talk about how Katie Couric is single-handedly destroying network news (supposedly) overlooks one fact: she's actually losing less viewers than Brian Williams over on NBC.

Couric lost 287,000 viewers over the first 39 weeks of her show compared to what the show did last year, and during that same time, Williams lost 533,000. He's now in second place behind ABC and Charles Gibson.

Of course, it doesn't mean that everyone who is leaving NBC or CBS is going over to ABC and Gibson. I think it's an indication of what's going on with network news in general (and NBC in particular).

Well, that's not entirely true. This post by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is more about Fat Tuesday and New Orleans, but those two phrases just didn't fit into the whole letter "B" thing I had going.

But he does mention Britney Spears and the court hearings about Anna Nicole Smith's body and her baby:

"Viewer warning: there will be no mention of Britney Spears' baldness or rehab in tonight's broadcast, nor will there be any mention of Anna Nicole's "body possession" hearing."

Ha. That's great to hear, though I wonder if he can promise that for every broadcast. I'm sure when the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby is finally revealed and/or there is a funeral for Smith, it will be mentioned. (Plus you can get tons of coverage over on MSNBC.)

But "The Daily Nightly" is a good TV news blog, with posts by not only Williams but other NBC reporters as well.

Oh, aren't there more important stories to worry about in these times?

There's a scandal brewing in the TV news and donut-loving communities (I guess it's no surprise that those two different communities would overlap some day). It seems that CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric mentioned how much she likes the Munchkins over at Dunkin' Donuts on her blog, and then Dunkin Donuts sent her "a gazillion of them...boxes...along with crates of piping hot coffee." Of course, this sent bloggers and people who comment on blogs over the edge, accusing Couric of breaking ethical rules and getting paid off.

Calm down, breathe, and think about this rationally. Do you think Couric wrote this so she could get free donuts? Do you really, really think that getting some free food from a local business is going to sway the way Couric covers the company or, um, donuts in general? Alarm clock catastrophe!

At this point I'd just like to say I love the new Lexus.

[via Gawker]

As you know, today is the fifth annivesary of 9/11, and there will be a ton of coverage on all of the major networks today. Starting at 7, the morning shows on ABC, CBS, NBC and on cable will not only have several stories about the day, many of the channels will actually interrupt regular programming and show footage of their TV coverage on that day, how they broke the news, in real time as the events happened.

The History Channel will have several documentaries and news specials on 9/11 all day long as well. And all of the TV network web sites have special features about the day, including that footage of their programming that day (all free, I believe, though you have to register for CNN's Pipeline trial).

Some people won't want to watch any of this coverage, others will be fascinated by it.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the state of network news. With the resignation of Dan Rather, the retirement of Tom Brokaw, and the death of Peter Jennings, along with the coverage of news we get with CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, many feel that the days of the dinnertime nightly network news shows are just about over. But not so fast: Verne Gay at Newsday gives his ten reasons why we need those network news shows.