Determined somehow to prove that an anchorman (or woman) is still a relevant profession in 2006, CBS has named Katie Couric, in the words of their press release, “Anchor and Managing Editor of The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC.” Note the nearly (or actually) pathological narcissism of the title, undoubtedly negotiated to death by a team of lawyers, which elevates Couric to equal billing to the news itself. It’s almost as if CBS were acknowledging that this was not going to be the truth, but only the “world according to Couric,” a field day for deconstructionists. The desperation in this choice and in the need to preserve the role of “Anchor” itself is palpable. In the summer of 1995 I issued an endangered species alert for the Anchormanus Pomposis. I didn’t know then the Anchormanus Pomposa was in the wings.
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1. scott:All together now:YAAAWWWNNN!!!
Apr 5, 2006 - 4:20 pm 2. ForNow:“I issued an endangered species alert for the Anchormanus Pomposis. I didn’t know then the Anchormanus Pomposa was in the wings.”
-is is a 3rd-Declension ending for either masculine or feminine. You’re not going to have a Latin verb switching between -is and -a for masculine and feminine respectively. Anchormanus Pomposus would be better. Especially since the -osus, -osa, -osum ancestral to the English “-ous” is a 1st- & 2nd-Declension adjectival suffix.
Anchormanus would be masculine unless taken as a 4th-Declension noun in which case it could possibly be feminine like manus “hand.” But from the English-language viewpoint, Couric an “anchorman”?
Anchorwomana makes more sense for Couric. Ah, but there’s no “w” in Latin, perhaps that seemed an impediment. But instead it doesn’t matter, “w” IS used in Latin names of species, genera, etc.
Apr 5, 2006 - 4:30 pm 3. Ray Zacek:How about PEND — Perky Evening News Diva?
Apr 5, 2006 - 4:48 pm 4. ptiusa:IIRC, this title format began at least as far back as Dan Rather. This led to substitute anchors during his reign being required to begin the broadcast by saying, somewhat incongruously, “Welcome to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. I’m [e.g.] Roger Mudd.”
Apr 5, 2006 - 4:57 pm 5. Kevin Peters:Roger:
Anchor person- newsreader. Couric, why not. The slant will be the same no matter who they fill the slot with. The biggest question is whether she will continue the Today show tradition of wearing glasses during the “serious news” stories and wearing contacts during the perky human interest stories. Bi-foculs for stories on the elderly? I second the “yawn” notion. Courage anyone?
Apr 5, 2006 - 5:00 pm 6. Old Dad:I think we’ve got a classic “end of life” marketing strategy here. The CBS suits aren’t dopes. They know this product is on its last legs. They know that the Perkster has legs with its primary market–over 60. They’ll nurse this cash cow to senility.
That means that they’ll cut everything that affects short term share–we’re talking Regis and babe of the month type news.
The Perkster has her pension. Good on ‘er.
I wonder what the suits have in the wings? They could do real news, but that would be hard and expensive, and there’s lots of competition now.
I’d run Andy Griffith.
Apr 5, 2006 - 5:14 pm 7. Lola:If CBS thinks I’m going to be watching the nightly news because Katie’s speaking, they’ve got another 2×4 coming at them. I don’t watch CBS News and don’t intend to start anytime soon, and in fact I’ve stopped watching the nightly news on NBC and ABC for the most part.
Apr 5, 2006 - 5:52 pm 8. Macker:Just think: a match made in (what CBS terms as) Heaven: the Tiffany B***h at the Tiffany Network!
Apr 5, 2006 - 7:04 pm 9. The Cranky Insomniac:I believe every evening news anchor also has the Managing Editor title. I used to work at NBC, and I know Brokaw did and Brian Williams does. I’m pretty sure it’s considered industry standard.
That said, please continue bashing Couric and CBS News. It pleases me greatly.
Apr 5, 2006 - 7:23 pm 10. Tim:What is a “CBS Evening News,” and why should I care?
Apr 5, 2006 - 7:33 pm 11. ForNow:What is a “CBS Evening News,” and why should I care?
CBS Evening News is a long-lived propaganda cult now best known for providing a watershed moment in the history of the blogosphere. It attempted to use blatantly counterfeit 1970s Air Reserve memos to tip a Presidential election against the GOP and stonewalled when people across the country easily analyzed them to pieces. With all the military & former military people able to communicate together online about the language, appearance, & character of the memos, along with a blogosphere community with a statistical overrepresentation of folks who’d spent YEARS staring at MS-Word documents & fonts, the CBS news propaganda cult had slit its own reputation’s throat. The blogosphere became established for all to see as a formidable force in public affairs. Meanwhile, CBS’s “Anchorman,” a dubious character named Dan Rather long associated with Dem fundraiser and disgraced ex-pol Ben Barnes, found his “news” career ending, likewise, in disgrace. Dan Rather is often mentioned in the same breath with Walter Duranty, as a bargain-basement version of Duranty.
Apr 5, 2006 - 8:23 pm 12. scott:So…
Apr 5, 2006 - 8:34 pm 13. Kevin Peters:What is the frequency,Kenneth?
Roger:
I think managing editor may be like the title producer for movies. Very flexible and it could define extensive duties or literally nothing.
Apr 5, 2006 - 8:51 pm 14. HA:Couric? Heh.
Heh, heh, heh! Bwaahaahahahaha!
Snort!
Seriously?
Stick a Couric in CBS News. Its done.
Apr 6, 2006 - 3:49 am 15. Fenrisulven:Bad move. The only thing Katie has going are her looks, and she’s already peaked. Considering her comsetics budget, its time for me to invest in Botox.
Apr 6, 2006 - 5:48 am 16. photoncourier.blogspot.com:Tom Wolfe commented that a “newscaster” is simply the modern incarnation of a linotype machine…something that merely formats and presents the information and thoughts developed by others.
Apr 6, 2006 - 6:57 am 17. ahem:This is Couric’s and CBS’s swan song. When the experiment fails–as we know so certainly it shall–both can retire to some well-deserved obscurity.
Apr 6, 2006 - 6:57 am 18. Kevin Peters:Rogeer:
Apr 6, 2006 - 8:53 am 19. mojo:T.V. News is a joke so this isn’t a comment on quality. But CBS has been stuck in last for so long this might actually be a good move. Remember, I am not talking about journalistic quality or integrity. Couric can read a teleprompter as well as anyone else that is out there, don’t ask me why but she has a large group of people who love her so at least they will get an initial ratings bumb, and she can be a liberal mouthpiece just as well as anyone else CBS has. They were never going to hire a impartial journalist for the job so her ability is really beside the point. This has everything to do with marketing and nothing to do with journalism. Desperate last place organizations often go for the hail mary play. This might actually work. If it doesn’t they will still be where they are now, last place.
We got the bubble-headed-bleached-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you íbout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Itís interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry
– Don Henley
Apr 6, 2006 - 8:54 am 20. HA:Couric’s selection has a “New Coke” kind of feel to it. All the marketing guys thinks it will be great, but the consumer’s will reject it.
If CBS want’ed to be the leading network news organization, they would have opened up the check book, ripped out and signed a blank check and handed it to Brit Hume.
CBS with Brit Hume would have done to NBC and ABC what Fox did to CNN. They would have completely dominated evening news. But then they would have haven to given up their leftist, DNC controlled agenda.
So instead of having the evening news presented by a cranky old DNC mouthpiece, it will be presented by a perky, young DNC mouthpiece. Gone forever will be the opportunity to be the Fox of network news.
The selection of Couric wasn’t a business decision, it was an ideological decision.
Apr 7, 2006 - 4:28 am 21. Stace:I certainly agree with Roger’s endangered species alert. I’m picky about the form though. In binomial nomenclature, only the first word (the genus) is capitalized, and both words are italicized.
For example, the animal that, as I write, is bothering me about it being chowtime, belongs to Canis familiaris.
Apr 7, 2006 - 10:11 am 22. Kevin Peters:HA:
Apr 7, 2006 - 1:26 pm 23. HA:All of the relacements for CBS were going to come from the NYC-DC liberal bubble. CBS would cough out any moderate to conservative choice so that was already a given. CBS isn’t trying to inovate or create a new paradigm, they are trying to win the battle between the identical triplets of CBS, NBC, ABC. That is why I call it a marketing decision rather then ideological. The left slant was a given.
Kevin,
Well if this was a marketing decision, then whoever made it either failed Marketing 101 or took it at Moscow State University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_State_University
We have 3 networks fighting over a market segment comprised of half the country, while nobody is targeting the segment comprised of the other half of the country.
CBS had a chance to monopolize the conservative half of the country and leave NBC and ABC to fight over the “liberal” half. Instead, CBS will at best continue to be the “me too” leftist network.
My guess is that there will be an intial spike of interest after Couric starts, but soon the prevailing wisdom will be “what the hell were they thinking?”
Apr 7, 2006 - 8:52 pm 24. Kevin Peters:HA:
Apr 8, 2006 - 11:32 am 25. HA:That is the point I was trying to make. CBS, like all of the once Big Three, was never going to re-examine their antiquated thinking and make wholesale changes that would bring in new viewers. They are just trying to beat the other two networks for the remainders of the shrinking pie. When I said it was a “good move” it was in the context of their network turf wars.
Kevin,
I think we agree on CBS’s strategy in selecting Couric. But I disagree that this was a “marketing” decision. I suspect that the marketing people were over-ruled by the leftist ideologues who gravitate into journalism.
Apr 9, 2006 - 4:28 am