aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Katie Couric: format matters!

Now that it looks like Katie’s move to CBS is a done deal, let’s talk format. If they do the same old evening newscast, who cares?

James Joyner’s dead wrong! (He doesn’t even bother with the gravitas coding.) Couric’s got Ted Koppel’s skills as an interviewer and I stand by my Murrow comparison. I want an updated Nightline in that slot; do a Newshour style rundown of the day’s top stories, then let Katie shine.

Not that it’s an original idea. This should be the last time I quote Former ABC News producer Paul Friedman’s advice to CBS News execs:

Summarize the news of the day in five minutes or so; spend a big chunk of time—10 minutes or so—on covering one really good story; and give people even more to think about by ending with opinion.

For those Couric junkies among us: CJR Daily, Press Gives Katie Couric the Britney Spears Treatment; Joe Gandelman urges CBS to give Schieffer a high profile spot that is his due (I certainly agree); Howard Stern says it won’t work; and Lost Remote quotes TMZ that Katie will announce leaving tomorrow on Today.

I’m skeptical about tomorrow but what do I know? I’m just a wannabe good ole Georgia boy so I set my TiVo…