Not Barack, but Katie Couric falls in the polls...again
So you probably think I am obsessed with Katie Couric or something, but I am really just disappointed and saddened to see such a renowned and talented female journalist fall to her professional doom.
Once, the lovable, perky and friendly TODAY show host, news-watchers around the world seemed to think that she had what it took for them to turn to first thing in the morning. She was relentless, yet compassionate and could report on the devastation of hurricane Katrina to the latest summer fashions. People liked her and respected her.
So what has changed so much that one-third of Americans now say they have a negative view of Couric? In the most recent Gallup Poll released Thursday (May 3rd) "One-third of Americans say they have a negative view of Katie Couric, her personal popularity lagging behind rivals Charles Gibson and Brian Williams just as her evening news program trails in the ratings."
The article continued to say that:
"She's handicapped by the number of people - 29 percent in this poll - who explained their negative opinion by saying they simply "don't like her," Gallup said. Once one of the most popular personalities in TV news, her negative ratings crept up during her final years at "Today.""
BUT, she definitely doesn't lack in name-recognition. "At least people know who she is," Gallup said. "Only 13 percent of the respondents said they had never heard of Couric, compared to 19 percent each for Gibson and Williams."
See the entire article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/1401AP_TV_Poll_Anchors.html?source=rss
So what went wrong? In my opinion Katie should have NEVER left the TODAY show. Her counterparts (Matt, Al and Ann) helped make it seem like one big happy family, so people tended to want to tune in more to watch Couric. However, I think toward the end of her TODAY show reign, she lost sight of her goal as a journalist and became too engulfed in the tabloids and the whole "hollywood" scene. She even began dressing differently, and frequented the cover of PEOPLE and The Enquirer regarding which celebrity wedding she attended and who she was dating. I hope that Couric is able to get their act together. I do have faith in her abilities, but in a business where patience disappears as fast as coffee in a newsroom, I don't know how long CBS and the viewers will wait to see if things change. After all, in this biz, ratings are pretty much everything.
posted by LL @ 9:34 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I think that Katie's popularity started to decline at the end of TODAY. She reminds me of OPRAH where people slowly started to get sick of her. I agree though that she committed career suicide when she made the jump from NBC TODAY to CBS nightly news. That was definitely a mistake. But, it does not surprise me that her ratings are down... and to be honest, it doesn't shock me that 29 percent of people do not like her. I do not know why or how, but I feel like her likability factor is gone.
I don't really think I ever liked her. She always seemed so fake. I guess that was ok for a morning show, but it doesn't translate at all to the evening news. I can't watch her at all.
Man, I'm starting to really feel sorry for that poor woman. Even if she became too intoxicated with fame and glamour, she can't possibly be oblivious to what's going on now: to be under so much scrutiny, the pressure of proving herself as a "serious journalist" and then deliver the perkiness/likeability/etc. CBS expected from her when they handed her an enormous contract...well, I guess that contract will soften the blow, but you still have to feel a little sympathy.
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