The Dumbing Down of Network News

Just when you (okay, I) think the corporate media is at the bottom. When some in media finally hear the Bush bandwagon so out of tune they are beginning to take a newly objective look at the world around them.

CBS confirms the awful rumor.

Katie will be anchoring the network news - in the evening - during the week. I can't count, at least not on my hands alone, the number of women more qualified to host than Couric.

Yes, she is still attractive. She's even reasonably articulate. I have watched her for years, though, and can't imagine why she wants the job. She has never seemed really interested in world affairs. Social issues and entertainment events, sure, she has taste and a certain dated style, but national politics and international messiness have never seemed to have an appeal for her.

She can't tell the difference between a political talking point and a substantive position statement. She demonstrated as much in a recent interview with Howard Dean when she wanted to insist that Democrats in congress had taken money from the Abramoff lobbying machine. This because the Republican talking point for the issue has been that Abramoff's tribal clients had donated to Dems, and she bought it. Equating the clients he victimized with the crimes of the lobbying firm was base if she knew she was doing it; otherwise, she was just plain ignorant.

That's just one example of her lack of depth and substance. She has talent and personality, but she is not what the American public needs on what should be one of the bulwarks of history's first draft, The Evening News.