Katie Couric's ratings nose dive--Thanks, Rush!

[civildisoBDence]

CBS spent millions luring Katie "The Perky One" Couric from the Today Show.

A brief ratings spike has been followed with a nose dive in the nation's two largest media markets, and also in the capital:

NEW YORK CITY
WABC 7.1
WNBC 5.3
WCBS 3.7

LOS ANGELES
KABC 5.9
KNBC 3.1
KCBS 1.5

WASHINGTON, DC
NBC 9.3
ABC 7.8
CBS 2.5

Could it be that bringing Rush Limbaugh on the evening news blew Katie-pooh's credibility out of the water?

'Cause she sure is perky!

Newsprism

[Cooley Hurd]

1. You're under the impression she had ANY credibility BEFORE...

...she featured Oxy-Bonerpill boy.:rofl:

[Human Torch]

9. For me, Katie is like Rita Cosby, but with more teeth.

Don't get me wrong...she might be the kindest, most caring, most intelligent, gifted human being walking the planet. But for some reason, the woman makes my skin crawl. If I had to choose between watching her and Rita "She Hulk" Cosby, I'd go with Rita.

[AndyA]

2. I'm not surprised this has happened. In fact, I'm delighted!

It couldn't happen to a more deserving cotton candy head.

See ya, Katie. You won't last long. Perhaps they'll let you do Baba Walters style entertainment interviews. But maybe not...

[Imagevision]

3. How many years will pass before CBS figures new move with Katie?

[nam78_two]

4. She got Rush on the evening news???

Wow she is more moranic than I realized :wow:

[Robbien]

10. I believe Bill O'Reily will be on her show this week

In her free speech zone she has only allowed rightwingers to speak.

[Cha]

12. I wonder if that was her idea or

les moonves? Or sumner redstone?

[nam78_two]

16. Geesh

And she has already had the guy that blamed abortion and evolution for the school shootings..
I am amazed that gay marriage didn't figure in there too :eyes:

[Cha]

17. Are the cbs newies just catering to

the sleeze of AMerica?

[nam78_two]

19. And the zombies/nt

[JuniperLea]

5. I don't trust anyone that age (my age) who is still "perky"

But Rush on a mainstream news show is pretty stupid.

[nam78_two]

6. I don't trust anyone my age -which is slightly more than half hers

who is "perky" ;)!

[JuniperLea]

13. Good call!

I was being kind:)

[Cha]

14. Except when interviewing Michael Moore,

Howard Dean, Any Intelligent Dem..then she turns into a rottweiler on crack.

[Warpy]

7. It wasn't just Lamebawl

It was the consistent parade of neocons for the first eleven nights. That's a little over TWO WEEKS, folks, sufficient to turn off the slightly more liberal CBS audience until she's GONE.

She may or may not have had any control over her foul speech guests, but the procession of dreary conservatives sealed her ratings fate.

[Double T]

8. Looks like being 'perky' past the age of 21 is really dead.........

must be the fallout from the Prozac and Zoloft generation(s).

[AlCzervik]

11. The CBS news contains no news and that imo is the problem

Bob Scheiffer covered news, Dan Rather covered news and Couric from the 2 times i've seen her broadcast had about 5 minutes of news and the rest was either human interest and filler.

[aquart]

15. I told them I wasn't gonna watch her.

[Alpharetta]

18. I watched her last night for the first time

Didn't make it through the program.

She had some good stories about Republican lost momentum and gas prices.

But I just couldn't watch it. Her makeup looks like Elvira's.

[SoCalDem]

20. The sad thing is that THIS episode will be reason why

"wimminfolks just cain't be ankurs"..

Had they chosen Christianne Amanpour, they would be number 1 ...but they chose the generic perky-bot with the chiclet smile, and no one's buying it..

They'll eventually settle for another Gregory Goodhair with "chiseled good looks"..and all will be right with the world again..

[w4rma]

21. People watch the news for news, not the human interest crap that she has

been pushing.

Her ratings are in the toilet because she isn't treating the news like news. She is treating the journalism as she treated her feel good morning show.

[Nikki Stone 1]

22. CBS really miscalculated here

The morning show audience: stay at home moms, the elderly, the unemployed (for whatever reason) and the like.

This was the audience Katie was supposed to bring with her to the evening news, especially the elderly who make up network news programs' big audience. The problem is that stay at home moms (in general) and the elderly tend to be more conservative, and conservatives, male and female, have a more strict idea of gender roles and are less likely to support a woman in the anchor chair. I think CBS is fully aware of this, and they chose Katie because they were trying to soften the news, create a morning show in the evening. The desire, I think, was to pull in audience by changing the notion of the evening news.

The problem is that the format change is not working and Katie doesn't fit the traditional profile of new anchor. Either CBS has to push ahead with its agenda and tank or become "Good Evening America"; or they have to go back to the traditional format, which will eventually mean dumping Katie.

If CBS had chosen an anchor like Amanpour, they could have retained the traditional news format and pulled in working and professional women as viewers. This group is younger than the regular news audience and more likely to support a woman in the anchor chair. Someone like Amanpour would have also pulled in younger, more liberal males who remember Amanpour from CNN and Desert Storm. Professional women, btw, are a more loyal audience if they perceive the woman anchor is there because of her qualifications and not because the news execs found her perky, pretty or unthreatening.

[Kahuna]

23. That was real skanky of her to have Rush on. Little did she know

that would cost her all credibility. That's what she gets for being a dittohead.