March 10, 2006
My Favorite Anchor
I like Bob Schieffer very much. If the worst happens and CBS names Katie Couric as permanent evening news anchor, I won't be able to watch it again. She has little hard news credentials. Her greatest credential seems to be being "cute", which is nauseating at best. I watched the Today Show for years but am now watching Good Morning America because the anchors are so much better than NBC's.
Here's hoping Schieffer is anchor for a long time! Yep, I'm a groupie!
THE TEMP IN THE ANCHOR'S CHAIR
By Linda Stasi, New York Post
March 10, 2006 — He's too old to have one, and I'm too old to be one. I'm talking about Bob Schieffer and groupies, obviously. Or maybe not so obviously.
I've become a groupie because Schieffer is a remnant of what reporters are supposed to be - relentless, honest and honorable.
In the world of good-looking, 30-something anchors, it seems almost impossible that a 69-year-old man — who was simply warming the seat until Katie Couric or some other happy face could take over — would have brought the ratings up to contender levels and turned the news back into something interesting, intriguing and, yes, important.
First thing you notice when you walk into Schieffer's big office (did I mention "very") is that it looks like a control tower — all windows, pitched high over the CBS newsroom. From here, he can watch all the action down below — and the action can watch him.
Dan Rather, he says, had those windows curtained off, and the first thing he did was rip them down.
But that's not all that's different.
Schieffer can take chances with The CBS Evening News because, frankly, "I don't want the job," he said. "I've reached a stage in my life when it doesn't matter."
"Look," he said to me over some pretty good coffee, "Had this all happened 10 years ago, I'd be in there fighting. But I was planning to retire this year. Now, I just want to hold on long enough to be on 60 Minutes! " he laughed.
Yes, he likes Katie Couric very much, and no, he's not disappointed he didn't get the job way back when. "I am sorry I hurt people along the way though," (to the top apparently). But he has his priorities in order now.
"In 2003, I had bladder cancer," he said with his usual candor. "So is this new job a temporary assignment? Hell, life's a temporary assignment!"
Here's hoping Schieffer is anchor for a long time! Yep, I'm a groupie!
THE TEMP IN THE ANCHOR'S CHAIR
By Linda Stasi, New York Post
March 10, 2006 — He's too old to have one, and I'm too old to be one. I'm talking about Bob Schieffer and groupies, obviously. Or maybe not so obviously.
I've become a groupie because Schieffer is a remnant of what reporters are supposed to be - relentless, honest and honorable.
In the world of good-looking, 30-something anchors, it seems almost impossible that a 69-year-old man — who was simply warming the seat until Katie Couric or some other happy face could take over — would have brought the ratings up to contender levels and turned the news back into something interesting, intriguing and, yes, important.
First thing you notice when you walk into Schieffer's big office (did I mention "very") is that it looks like a control tower — all windows, pitched high over the CBS newsroom. From here, he can watch all the action down below — and the action can watch him.
Dan Rather, he says, had those windows curtained off, and the first thing he did was rip them down.
But that's not all that's different.
Schieffer can take chances with The CBS Evening News because, frankly, "I don't want the job," he said. "I've reached a stage in my life when it doesn't matter."
"Look," he said to me over some pretty good coffee, "Had this all happened 10 years ago, I'd be in there fighting. But I was planning to retire this year. Now, I just want to hold on long enough to be on 60 Minutes! " he laughed.
Yes, he likes Katie Couric very much, and no, he's not disappointed he didn't get the job way back when. "I am sorry I hurt people along the way though," (to the top apparently). But he has his priorities in order now.
"In 2003, I had bladder cancer," he said with his usual candor. "So is this new job a temporary assignment? Hell, life's a temporary assignment!"
posted @ 7:08 PM
