CBS News and how to rebound in journalism, or Katie for Dan.
What I see is old style journalism within CBS meeting an uprising from a more "entertaining"-based format via younger, more glib, always-striving-to-be-entertaining graduates--the new generation of journalist. They, of course, and their corporate sponsors, who want to start all potential sales with a consumer not in bad spirits (informed.)
It is still going on at CBS, and you can read it in pundits' asides.
Proof of some success of the new, less left cadre is Katie Couric, who now has CBS News lower than when she went in.
Katic is well aware of the applause draught, and you can read it in her smiling-over-desparate look daily. She seems near weeping from consumer insult and it is hard to watch.
The other day, determined to change the critics (the critics is this case are the viewers, responding to commissioned queries), Katie held a candle-lit interview, positioned herself as usual with her special contortive relaxed sit-lay that looks like somebody who is over-acting a demonstrtion to a class on how to be dramatically relaxed on a story, and as usual, the cut of the skirt--as with almost all the current newsie vamps--had that vague promise that if she slid a little that way suddenly, innocently, you could see half way up her ass. (Nobody, though, quite matches venus fly trap Coulter in the genre.)
There was no overt schitk attention to anything else, though, other than the story at hand. As you can probably guess, this was handled with all the shssss-quiet ambiance of an Oprah-style emotion munch fest, or, depending on your particular gut, a festive unscabbing.
Quiet on the set! We are going to . . . accomplish . . . a news story.
Katie's method is to focus on the real significance of the news--the salient, philosophic truth in news to her is not how the story affects us so much as how much it moves her.
Eric Severeid once told a journalism class that sometimes you have to educate briefly first, in order to accomplish your story.
She seems to be teaching us, via her meaningful glare apparatus, promising us that the core significance of any future news story will always be calibrated to her tonal warble. Her hair-trigger impatience body read will geiger her approval/disapproval relays, helping the viewer with stance clarifications.
Well, there Katie was, using the story itself as a lead-in to display her personal reaction to the story itself, her wrestling ballsily with mother base tragedy, and dramatically accomplished by way of sofening and drooping mouse mug and the salient, time-proven, undeniably effective cracking and warbling vocal tonations.
All this on the 30 minutes of CBS nightly news.
I myself prefer to be informed over being fondled.
Those who have the baton have the responsibility of just who they pass the baton to.
