April 03, 2006
End of An Era
I'm a feminist, so I generally applaud accomplishments of women, including those who are "first" at something. But I don't agree with the selection of every woman who gains every position. If I did, I would be like people with whose stances I disagree, for example, those who follow their political party unwaveringly, no matter how wrong it is on an issue or how unqualified or incompetent a politcian/elected official may be.
So while not suprised, I am dismayed that Katie Couric has been chosen as the first sole woman anchor of a major network news show, the CBS Evening News. The only real quaification she has is cuteness, which palled years ago. I will not be watching her on the news show.
This is the end of an era for me. I have watched the CBS evening news program for 48 years. First with Walter Cronkite, who has never been and never will be equalled. Then Dan Rather, no Walter, but good in his own unique way.
Being stuck in a rut is not such a good thing, especially as you get older, so hopefully this change will lead to a new era of national news show watching for me.
I will soon be watching the NBC evening news show with Brian Williams. He has impressive qualifications, which Katie Couric comes nowhere near matching. As a former journalist, hard news experience is a must for my satisfactory news watching and reading.
From the NBC online bio: Since joining NBC News in 1993, Brian Williams has become one of the nation’s most accomplished and acclaimed anchors and traveling correspondents.
His live nightly hour-long newscast, The News with Brian Williams, has established a new brand of journalistic style and excellence. The broadcast is proud to count many of the nation’s lawmakers and opinion-makers among its nightly audience, and his work has been praised by many television critics and national publications.
In over 20 years of broadcasting, Williams has reported from 23 overseas nations on countless stories of national and international importance, including intensive live coverage of the September 11th attacks and their aftermath. After his election night coverage of the 2000 Presidential race, he was named Best Anchor by USA Today. In 1997, his continuous coverage of the death of Princess Diana was watched by countless millions worldwide on the networks of NBC. Millions also watched his many hours of live coverage following the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Among other overseas assignments, Williams covered the historic election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the Arafat-Rabin Mideast peace agreement from Jericho and Jerusalem, and the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Williams has anchored live newscasts from the Middle East, Russia and Europe on numerous occasions.
While serving as NBC News’ Chief White House correspondent, Williams circled the world several times, accompanying President Clinton aboard Air Force One and covering virtually every foreign and domestic trip by the President during his years covering Mr. Clinton. On perhaps one of the most historic trips of the Clinton Presidency, Williams was the only television news correspondent to accompany three U.S. presidents — Clinton, Bush, and Carter — to Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral in Israel.
Williams has been awarded three Emmys: for his 1987 coverage of the stock market crash, his 1993 coverage of the Iowa floods, and in 2001 for his live coverage of the crash of a Singapore Airlines 747 in Taiwan.
Before joining NBC News, Williams spent seven years at CBS’s owned-and-operated stations division as anchor and correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York, where he covered the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He began his service at CBS as a correspondent for the network-owned WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and was a correspondent at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. He started his broadcasting career “doing everything but operating the transmitter,” as he puts it, at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas
Prior to his broadcasting career, Williams worked in the White House during the Carter administration, beginning as a White House intern. He later worked as Assistant Administrator of the Political Action Committee of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington.
So while not suprised, I am dismayed that Katie Couric has been chosen as the first sole woman anchor of a major network news show, the CBS Evening News. The only real quaification she has is cuteness, which palled years ago. I will not be watching her on the news show.
This is the end of an era for me. I have watched the CBS evening news program for 48 years. First with Walter Cronkite, who has never been and never will be equalled. Then Dan Rather, no Walter, but good in his own unique way.
Being stuck in a rut is not such a good thing, especially as you get older, so hopefully this change will lead to a new era of national news show watching for me.
I will soon be watching the NBC evening news show with Brian Williams. He has impressive qualifications, which Katie Couric comes nowhere near matching. As a former journalist, hard news experience is a must for my satisfactory news watching and reading.
From the NBC online bio: Since joining NBC News in 1993, Brian Williams has become one of the nation’s most accomplished and acclaimed anchors and traveling correspondents.
His live nightly hour-long newscast, The News with Brian Williams, has established a new brand of journalistic style and excellence. The broadcast is proud to count many of the nation’s lawmakers and opinion-makers among its nightly audience, and his work has been praised by many television critics and national publications.
In over 20 years of broadcasting, Williams has reported from 23 overseas nations on countless stories of national and international importance, including intensive live coverage of the September 11th attacks and their aftermath. After his election night coverage of the 2000 Presidential race, he was named Best Anchor by USA Today. In 1997, his continuous coverage of the death of Princess Diana was watched by countless millions worldwide on the networks of NBC. Millions also watched his many hours of live coverage following the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Among other overseas assignments, Williams covered the historic election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the Arafat-Rabin Mideast peace agreement from Jericho and Jerusalem, and the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Williams has anchored live newscasts from the Middle East, Russia and Europe on numerous occasions.
While serving as NBC News’ Chief White House correspondent, Williams circled the world several times, accompanying President Clinton aboard Air Force One and covering virtually every foreign and domestic trip by the President during his years covering Mr. Clinton. On perhaps one of the most historic trips of the Clinton Presidency, Williams was the only television news correspondent to accompany three U.S. presidents — Clinton, Bush, and Carter — to Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral in Israel.
Williams has been awarded three Emmys: for his 1987 coverage of the stock market crash, his 1993 coverage of the Iowa floods, and in 2001 for his live coverage of the crash of a Singapore Airlines 747 in Taiwan.
Before joining NBC News, Williams spent seven years at CBS’s owned-and-operated stations division as anchor and correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York, where he covered the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He began his service at CBS as a correspondent for the network-owned WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and was a correspondent at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. He started his broadcasting career “doing everything but operating the transmitter,” as he puts it, at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas
Prior to his broadcasting career, Williams worked in the White House during the Carter administration, beginning as a White House intern. He later worked as Assistant Administrator of the Political Action Committee of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington.
posted @ 4:55 PM
