TCA: Katie Couric calls the amount of attention she receives ‘befuddling’
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Speaking via satellite from New York, Katie Couric told reporters today that “it’s befuddling to me the amount of attention I have received.”
“I spend every day really focused doing the best job I can,” she added.
CBS News President Sean McManus said that he does not get hung up on the evening broadcast’s ratings, which have fallen since Couric took over the newscast nearly two years ago.
“All we can do is put on the best broadcast we can, and we’re doing that,” McManus said. “I continue to believe that if we do that, more people will watch the broadcast.”
At a time when the cable news networks are aggressively pursuing political coverage, Couric said she believes CBS has an opening to distinguish itself through the kind of reporting it is doing on the presidential election.
“There’s much more room for opinion on the cable news networks, particularly Fox and MSNBC now, and it’s much more political commentary,” she said. “And we want to have political insight, but we do want to have accuracy. And I’m not suggesting they’re not accurate, but it’s from a distinct point of view. And I think to have level-headed, well-thought-out, well-researched, accurate information is something that viewers really crave.”
McManus also fielded questions about correspondent Lara Logan’s recent contention that the network is giving short shrift to stories from Iraq.
“I think if you ask Lara again about the quality of her coverage and the amount of her coverage, specifically from Iraq, I don’t think you’d find as much criticism,” the news president said. “It’s hard for me to imagine anybody who has done better or more coverage from Iraq than Lara Logan has, and we’re proud of that.
“I also don’t remember any stories that she did that were necessarily longer that had been compromised because they were cut down,” he added. “Every correspondent that I know is always frustrated because they never get on the air often enough.”
Jeff Greenfield, CBS’ senior political correspondent, said he hopes the media “has learned its lesson” from the way the press covered the lead-up to the war in Iraq.
“The basic, I think, truth probably is that the skeptics were put on the inside of newspapers and the back of stories and the stories about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were featured on Page One,” he said. “There was insufficient skepticism… Should there be anything that looks like a run-up to an attack on Iran, I believe and I hope that the coverage will be much more tough minded.”
McManus defended the decision of the three broadcast networks to send their top news anchors to interview Sen. Barack Obama during his upcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East.
“I think if we didn’t cover it, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs,” he said, adding that the trip presents an opportunity to assess Obama on the world stage.
“It’s not as if it’s going to be, you know, ‘How do you like the weather in Jordan, Senator?’” Couric added. “I mean clearly, there are a number of really critical questions.”
-- Matea Gold