For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession
of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than
the citizens of America.
Being a nightly news anchor gives one a great opportunity to be a Media
PUTZ. Charlie Gibson shared
the award with George Stephanopoulos on April
24 for their "classic" debate in Philadelphia.
And Brian Williams got
the award on June 12 when he "brushed off accusations
that the corporate networks knowingly used Pentagon shills as alleged "neutral" experts
on the Iraq War."
Now, it's Katie Couric's turn. Couric
almost lost the award to Campbell Brown and Erica Hill of CNN for their trashing
of the
hearings looking into impeachment.
But as distasteful as what Williams, Gibson, Stephanopoulos, Brown, and
Hill did, what Couric did was such a violation
of journalism ethics that she should be fired. America's "sweetheart," Katie Couric isn't
just the anchor of the CBS Evening News, she is also the managing editor.
Couric's interview with John McCain involved the removal
of an answer by McCain that would have made him look foolish, and an answer
to a different
question was inserted into the interview without disclosure from Couric or
CBS.
Substituting a different answer is a direct violation of CBS News protocol,
and Journalism 101. The blame magically shifted to an unnamed producer who
edited the piece.
But Couric is responsible for what airs on the CBS Evening News, along
with executive producer Rick Kaplan. Yet neither of them was admonished,
punished, or otherwise disciplined for an unethical act.
This isn't the
first time a huge
breach of ethics has occurred under the
watch of Katie Couric. A CBS News producer was fired and the network issued
an apology after a Couric essay on libraries was plagiarized from The Wall
Street Journal. Amazingly, Couric read the essay in the first person as
if she had written it. So for $15 million a year, she can't even write
up copy
that is supposed to be from her that isn't even news copy. But at least in that case, someone was fired. At this point, no one has
been disciplined or fired for editing out a McCain gaffe without identifying
that the interview had been manipulated for political purposes.
Numerous reports have Couric leaving the CBS Evening News chair sometime
around the first of the year. The better solution would have been to have
her terminated and her $15 million/year contract voided due to unethical
journalistic behavior. After all, the journalism careers of Jayson Blair,
Janet Cooke, and Stephen Glass were destroyed
due to their mendacity. Why
shouldn't Couric suffer the same fate?
For putting political pressure to protect John McCain ahead of the truth,
Katie Couric is our BuzzFlash Media PUTZ of the Week.
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