Bad news for Katie Couric

From the Associated Press...

The fifth week was the toughest for Katie Couric, whose viewership on the CBS Evening News has dropped each week since her debut the day after Labor Day.

Her broadcast averaged 7.04 million viewers last week, third to NBC's Nightly News (8.56 million) and ABC's World News (7.97 million), according to Nielsen Media Research.

I have to admit that when it comes to the evening news, I'm more or less a dispassionate and distracted viewer. I get my news throughout the day from the internet and Fox News, and typically get disgusted with the unabashedly leftist slant on the big three broadcast networks.

That being said, I do pay enough attention to note the overall "personality" of the three news programs. Gibson (ABC) is almost grandfatherly, Williams (NBC) is polished much like Jennings and Brokaw were. Elizabeth Vargas (ABC), despite the initial fanfare, seems to be slowly vanishing as a co-anchor. Couric, dressed and poised to try to present a more serious image than she did on the early morning show, still can't seem to escape the "while the usual male anchor is away" feel.

I'm sure feminists are spitting mad over it, but I really don't think that there exists a female anchor on broadcast news that can be taken as seriously in delivering the news as male anchors. Margaret Mead's propaganda aside, it goes beyond cultural, to the very heart of masculinity and femininity. Dad protected you, mom comforted you. News is serious and often uncomfortable. It just doesn't have the same impact when delivered by a woman as it does delivered by a man; especially when the female anchor's perception of femininity seems limited to either "perky" or "serious like a man". Not that Couric, as well as tons of female TV journalists aren't professional, but when it comes to that top spot, the least little thing is important. 

Now, I also want to point out that I've found that most of the time when women find themselves unable to do a job quite as effectively as a man, it eventually turns out that it's because they were trying to do it the way men do. Let me point out an example of a female journalist who I believe stands out because she brings a certain feminine dignity to her work. Lauren Green of Fox News. She often subs on the FoxNews morning show, Fox and Friends and sort of seems out of place because her personality is more reserved and dignified than the light, friendly atmosphere of a morning show. If there's a woman that could (and possibly may) come close to competing with a man for a top anchor position, it's her. 

There's that bubbly, fun kind of femininity (we saw in Katie Couric, and served her well), then there's the dignified, poised femininity that Lauren Green exudes. In her attempt to be serious, Couric just isn't totally convincing. Unfortunately if Lauren Green works for Fox, then chances are she not Liberal enough to be considered for such a powerful position in one of the broadcast networks. That problem, only wanting Liberals, would be the heart of the trouble. Liberals refuse to believe that men and women are different, therefore wouldn't see that a woman needs to approach her job in a completely different way than a man. Conservatives, on the other hand, freely acknowledge the difference, which is why you'll see so many more examples of feminine poise and grace among Conservative women than you will Liberal women. Which also may explain why Fox News is able to find so many amazingly competent female reporters/journalists/correspondents.

In the end, rather than change their closed-minded views, Liberals will blame the prejudices of the audience on Couric's inevitable removal. But then, don't they always blame someone else. 

Posted by Danny Carlton at October 10, 2006 5:58 PM