Courage, Katie

It isn't her fault, but CBS has made Katie Couric into Joan of Arc. The network people keep telling us that the news we hear is going to be different when she becomes the evening news anchor.

To make sure that we tune in to her, they've put her picture on buses and magazines, and I wouldn't be surprised if CBS pasted her picture on the Statue of Liberty.

One of the reasons for all this hoopla is that Katie is the first woman in television history to solo as a nightly news anchor. I love all the fuss CBS is making to prove that a woman can do the job as well as a man.

If the ratings go down, it won't be Couric's fault. Cable television is stealing viewers away from the networks. And the Internet is taking audiences from cable television. Where it will all go, only Rupert Murdoch knows.

Does it make any difference if a woman gives you the news instead of a man? If you talk about the sexes, you get into a lot of trouble. I think of all the stories that could come up and how Couric would present them.

There is no doubt that American women will be looking at her clothes when she announces fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The fact that a woman is delivering news about a hurricane really doesn't make the storm any different from when Brian Williams reports it. I don't think I would even mention Couric's gender if CBS hadn't spent all that money plastering her photos in the subway.

I don't know her personally, but I wish her luck. It will be a wonderful day when all three broadcast networks have female anchors.

The difference between newspapers and television is that you couldn't care less what a female newspaper reporter looks like when she tells you about a tsunami in Indonesia, fighting in Sudan or the Kentucky Derby. Many of the bylines only give the initials and no one stops to think, "I wonder who did her hair?" Or, "She shouldn't wear a navy blue Oscar de la Renta suit."

It's interesting, and not very important, that Tom Cruise was fired by Paramount Pictures just before Katie Couric was going to go on the air. I heard, but I can't verify, that they want her to jump up and down on the couch when Tom DeLay goes on trial.

If we're going to talk about Katie's clothes, I also would like to know where Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson get their suits.

There's no business like news business.

2006Tribune Media Services