Iraq is ratings drag for Katie Couric

[sabra]

Source: AP

NEW YORK - If some people thought traveling to Iraq and Syria was a ratings stunt for Katie Couric, it didn't work out that way. The "CBS Evening News" tied a record low with just under 5.5 million viewers last week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday. Last week and Memorial Day week are the two least-watched CBS evening newscasts since at least 1987, and probably far earlier.

CBS said it wasn't surprising, and argued that last week's numbers were artificially deflated because of U.S. Open coverage.

The trip's journalism outweighed commercial considerations, said CBS News President Sean McManus.

"We never expected it to do well in the ratings and it didn't," McManus said. "We knew that this was a long-term commitment to Katie and the show and we really felt it was important to establish our reporting there."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070912/ap_en_tv/tv_couric_in_iraq_5

[partylessinOhio]

1. Oh, yeah? Spinning Katie.

[rodeodance]

2. JOE Lieberman said today that Katie Couric said surge was going well----he

actually said that today at the Senate hearing.!!

[The Count]

4. TEEVEE WOULDN'T LIE TO YOU, WOULDN'T IT? Joementum getting desperate

for sources, ain't it?

[tabasco]

3. Maybe she oughta get Rush Limbaugh back on the show.

That was the low point in the history of CBS News.

[doeriver]

18. Couric Killed The CBS Evening News: Death By Rush Limbaugh

I totally agree here. What in the hell was Katie Couric and all those CBS news executives thinking? That Couric would magically draw away the far-right wing conservative nut-jobs from the Fox News Network to watch Katie host the CBS Evening News ?

I am sure that these types of comments about CBS Evening News with Katie Couric would awake Limbaugh and his Ditto-heads from their self-medicated conservative mind sleep with their hog-jowls dancing with howls of gleeful laughter. I have regularly watched the CBS Evening News for nearly thirty years and I am thinking that Katie Couric really screwed up with starting up her tour of duty as the CBS Evening News anchor by her launching off her initial week by bringing conservative republican talk show entertainer Rush Limbaugh for his commentary.

That was the last edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric that I have ever watched, excluding briefly surfing through the channels with the CBS Evening News as a picture-within-a-picture on the widescreen.

I am now pretty much watching the ABC evening news program, or less frequently, the NBC evening news broadcast (perhaps I should say the "NBC-Universal evening news program" - I remember reading somewhere that the Bush family bought into Universal in a big way a couple of years back) as I cannot receive over-the-air broadcasts of PBS in the Northeast Tennessee by antenna.

Perhaps CBS should consider a regularly prime-time network alternative to the Comedy Central The Daily Show by producing a new prime-time "news" program on CBS with Al Franken as the host...

[PSPS]

5. HA! Even CBS's "record low" is far beyond the wildest dreams of cable news shows.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. This is a really stupid clean up on a bad marketing scheme

Why send a crew to Iraq of all places if you're going to claim this crap when the project bombs?

CBS said it wasn't surprising, and argued that last week's numbers were artificially deflated because of U.S. Open coverage.

Admit it, you threw a hail mary and it was fumbled. It happens, but don't pretend it was anticipated. Geeze, maybe the fact that you don't credit people with having a brain to think with is why your ratings are so low? :think:

[maseman]

7. I work in media

and can ASSURE YOU that ratings mean everything to CBS and all the other networks. Revenue follows the ratings and we all know Sumner Redstone is all about the revenue.

Katie has been a flop for CBS and I am glad her BS trip to Iraq was a failure. I actually liked her on the Today Show but her putting Limbaugh on and towing the line for Bush has realy rubbed me the wrong way.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. I know a thing or two about marketing

And all I can do is agree with you.

They tried, they failed. End of story.

If CBS cannot hold a decent market share they're going to continue to lose revenue. That is the bottom line. The only question that remains is how long are they willing to take a loss before they pull the plug?

I believe that if handled differently Couric could have been a different story. Fluff was not what their viewers wanted in an evening news anchor. It was a bad venue for them to explore at the expense of the first female national news anchor. As it is they've went the wrong route and everyone involved has paid the price.

The entire thing is really a damn shame.

[countmyvote4real]

9. It's the ghost of Deborah Norville. Sort of.

Both were up and coming reporters that were pretty on camera. Both were elevated to replace "America's sweetheart," Jane Pauley. Norville was the first replacement and resented most by the Today Show following. Couric got a leg up on that when she ultimately replaced Pauley by replacing an ill received Norville.

Ironically enough, after being anointed by the Today Show, both women left NBC for CBS properties. And both managed to exit with some degree of superficial success. It took Noville much longer to hitch her wagon to the relatively respectable “Inside Edition.” On the other hand, Couric, was thrust to become the voice/face of CBS Evening News.

I can’t say whom is ultimately responsible there, but Couric appeared on camera in ridiculous interviews with RW nuts. And all these years later, Norville comes across as the more responsible person and reporter.

FTR, I no longer watch ANY national or local broadcast news unless there is a weather event that directly confronts ME. I get my news from the anonymous “tubes.” There is no personality required other than a track record for calling or quoting it like it is.

Couric made her own bed. She will be fine. Her children will be fine. Her biggest problem is that she is neither Jane Pauley or Walter Conkrite. I no longer trust her as if I ever did when she discussed issues beyond food. (More irony, Couric is at her best shilling products. It doesn’t matter where they come from. She will obviously sell out to the highest bidder.)

Long live Deborah Norville.

[Botany]

10. roflamo

The trip's journalism outweighed commercial considerations

:rofl:

The "Good News" out of Iraq w/ Perky Katie?

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. People don't like obvious propaganda

No surprise.

[DRoseDARs]

12. "...were artificially deflated because of U.S. Open coverage." CBS is blaming tennis? n/t

[tanyev]

14. Who knew the CBS audience was comprised entirely of tennis fans?

:shrug:

[mikeytherat]

16. So, the U.S. Open, which was broadcast on CBS, failed to keep viewers

for the evening news on, well, CBS.

Damn, that's some good spin. Add a few pirouettes and it'll be one great routine!

mikey_the_rat

[booley]

13. what did she do that deserved better ratings?

From what i can tell, she went to Iraq tears after her betters had already gone to report on exactly what the Pentagon wanted her to say.

She could have phoned it in.

[mikeytherat]

15. Katie Couric is ratings drag for Katie Couric.

'nuf said.

mikey_the_rat

[Javaman]

17. so no talent couric does bad, who would have guessed?

So let's see, the majority of america wants us out of Iraq and know it's a pile of shit, but squeaky toy couric say's it's just darling over there, because as she even admitted to us, that the military is giving here a cleansed view of the bullshit.

so bad reporting, fantasy Iraq war league spin, and just an over all crappy ass level of professionalism is what cbs says is something that was expected.

wow, just wow.

[bigworld]

19. Did CBS ever refer to Dan or Walter by their first name?

I didn't think so. She'd get more respect among the TV audience if the head honchos gave her more respect.