Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric (born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist who became well-known as co-host of NBC's Today. In 2006, she made a highly publicized move from NBC to CBS, and on September 5, 2006 she became the first solo female anchor of the weekday evening news on one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks. She currently serves as the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, and part-time contributor to 60 Minutes as well as anchor for prime time news specials for CBS News. Couric also blogs for The Huffington Post, a liberal news website and aggregated weblog.
Biography
Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia, the daughter of Elinor Tullie (née Hene), a homemaker and part-time writer, and John Martin Couric Jr., a public relations executive and news editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the United Press in Washington, D.C. Couric was raised Presbyterian,1 though her mother was Jewish.2 Couric's maternal grandparents, Born Hene and Clara L. Froshin, were the children of Jewish immigrants from Germany.3 In a report for Today, she traced her paternal ancestry back to a French orphan who immigrated to the U.S. in the nineteenth century and became a broker in the cotton business.
Couric attended Arlington, Virginia public schools: Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Junior High, and Yorktown High School4 and was a cheerleader.5 "Katie was always a great student in math," said Yorktown High School math teacher, Wilmer J. Mountain.citation needed
She enrolled at the University of Virginia in 1975, majored in English and History,4 and was a Delta Delta Delta sorority sister. Couric served in several positions at UVA's award-winning daily newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. During her third year at UVA, Couric was chosen to live as Head Resident of The Lawn, the heart of Thomas Jefferson's academical village. She graduated in 1979 with a degree in American Studies.
Television career
Couric's reporting career began when she was hired by Stan Hooper as a desk assistant for the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., later joining CNN as an assignment editor. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for WTVJ in Miami, Florida. During the following two years, she reported for WRC-TV, an NBC station in Washington, D.C., work which earned her an Associated Press award and an Emmy. Couric joined NBC News in 1989 as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent. From 1989 to 1991, Couric was an anchor substitute and filled in for Bryant Gumbel as host of Today, Jane Pauley, and Deborah Norville as co-anchor of Today, Garrick Utley, Mary Alice Williams, and Maria Shriver as co-host of Sunday Today, John Palmer, Norville, and Faith Daniels as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise. She also subbed for Daniels, Norville, and John Palmer as the news anchor on Today'.
Today (1991–2006)
In 1990, Couric joined Today as national political correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991 when Norville had a baby. Norville did not return and Couric became permanent co-anchor on Friday, April 5, 1991. In 1992, she became co-anchor of "NBC Now" – an evening time weekly TV newsmagazine with Tom Brokaw – which was later canceled and folded into part of Dateline NBC, where her reports appeared regularly and she was named contributing anchor. She remained at Today and NBC News until May 31, 2006, when she announced that she would be going to CBS to anchor the CBS Evening News, becoming the first solo female anchor of the "big three" weekday nightly news broadcasts.
Katie Couric has filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. Couric has also filled in for Maria Shriver on the Sunday Edition of NBC Nightly News from 1989 to 1992, and also for John Palmer on the Saturday Edition of NBC Nightly News in 1989.
Couric hosted or worked on a number of news specials, like Everybody's Business: America's Children in 1995. Similar entertainment specials were Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade in 1993, and Harry Potter: Behind the Magic in 2001. Couric has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. She has broadcast with Bob Costas, beginning with the 2000 Summer Olympics. She did not co-host the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Turin, Italy because of a scheduling conflict with a live taping of Today. Brian Williams co-hosted with Bob Costas instead.
Couric has interviewed many international political figures and celebrities during her career, including Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and First Lady Barbara Bush. John F. Kennedy Jr. gave Couric his first and last interviews. Couric has won multiple television reporting awards through her career, including the prestigious Peabody Award for her series Confronting Colon Cancer. Couric has also interviewed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Senator Hillary Clinton (her first television interview), Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and Laura Bush.
On May 28, 2008, Couric made a return visit to Today since leaving almost two years to the very day back on May 31, 2006. She made this appearance alongside her evening counterparts, NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams & ABC World News’ Charles Gibson, to promote an organization called Stand Up to Cancer and raise cancer awareness on all three major television networks; ABC, CBS & NBC. Couric, Gibson and Williams made appearances together on all three major network morning shows, first on CBS’s Early Show, then on NBC’s Today and finally on ABC’s Good Morning America.
CBS Evening News (2006–present)
[[File:Katie Couric at Hearth Truth 2009.jpg|thumb|right|Couric at the 2009 Heart Truth fashion show.
Couric announced on April 5, 2006 that she would be leaving the Today Show.6 CBS officially confirmed later the same day that Couric would become the new anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News with her first broadcast set for September 5, 2006. Couric would also contribute to 60 Minutes and anchor prime time news specials for CBS. Couric would remain the highest-paid news anchor at $15 million per year.7
Many criticized the move by CBS to promote Couric to the broadcast chair, arguing that she lacked the experience in hard journalism and credentials necessary to be a sole anchor of the CBS Evening News.8 CBS News had a video montage presentation with Bob Schieffer talking about Couric's experience as a Washington beat reporter back in the early years of her career. 9
On July 20, 2006, Access Hollywood reported that Couric intended to avoid certain anchoring situations that previous anchors have taken on. When asked about traveling to the Middle East, Couric was quoted as stating, "I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing". Access Hollywood later corrected this report,10 saying it was misleading and was based on a statement made by Couric after CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier was injured in Iraq in May while Couric was still co-hosting at Today.
Couric made her first broadcast as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on September 5, 2006. The program featured a new set, new graphics, and a new theme (composed by prolific movie score composer James Horner,11 and featuring a voice over from Walter Cronkite). It was the first evening newscast to be simulcast live on the Internet and local radio stations. Critics gave mixed reactions about the first broadcast, which drew around 13.6 million viewers, the highest ratings for the CBS Evening News since February 1998 and double the usual number of viewers.12 On September 19, 2006 the program placed first in weekly ratings. However, Couric's second week as anchor pulled in a close margin between rival NBC Nightly News with CBS' 7.9 million viewers compared to NBC's 7.3 million viewers for the week of September 11 – September 15, 2006. (Couric fell to third place on September 11, 2006 for that particular day with NBC, and ABC respectively taking first and second place, yet CBS remained at first place for the remainder of week.)13 By October 6, Couric had slipped to third place for the second week in a row, trailing ABC News by more than a million viewers.14 The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric continually finishes last in all major markets.15 Nonetheless, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric won the 2008 Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast.
In September 2008, Couric interviewed then-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Couric earned respect among critics for asking tough questions and the interview was widely disseminated.16 Couric's ratings rose significantly in the last four weeks of 2008, averaging 7.4 million, compared with 5.6 million for the year, and only half a million short of ratings leader NBC. 17
On December 24, 2008, MediaBistro wrote a piece about the Big Three network newscasts, praising Couric's CBS Evening News for extensive reporting that had, to its eyes, content better than its rivals.18 Another critic from MarketWatch praised Couric's recent work and said that people should watch out for her in 2009.19 Washington Post writer Tom Shales praised Couric as a warmer, more benevolent presence than her two competitors.20
Couric called into CNN's Reliable Sources for an interview with Howard Kurtz.citation needed They discussed a wide range of topics, including her scoop of a first interview with US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, her interview with President Barack Obama, and her recent increase in ratings after more than two years in the anchor chair. Couric, addressing her ratings, said that she doesn't necessarily think that two years is such a long time to get comfortable behind the desk and that she worries less about ratings than the quality of the work. She said "it's not a lot of fun being pummeled in the press," but that she does not take it personally: "I think that there are a lot of unhappy, sort of insecure, vitriolic people out there, and I always sort of feel bad for them, that this is how they spend their time."
Couric was honored for her "extraordinary, persistent and detailed multi-part interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin" which judges called a "defining moment in the 2008 presidential campaign." She was given the award for Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign by Reliable Resources, a group run out of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California.
On March 29, 2009, Couric was awarded with the Emmy Governor’s Award for her broadcasting career.
All Access.com reports Couric has made gains in New York over the past six months. During that time her broadcast has eclipsed NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams in household ratings and the 25-54 demographic. Couric’s newscast is the only one with increases from a year ago in the New York. Dispite this modest rise, she has remained in third place in the nightly news time slot and as of June of 2009 has under 5.5 million viewers.21
Public image
Couric has been called "America's Sweetheart" largely due to her ratings performance on The Today Show.22 Couric has occasionally been criticized for blurring the lines between entertainment and reporting, however. Couric's choice of short skirts while hosting the Today Show has led to her legs being one of the most widely identified aspects of her on-screen persona as well as the subject of many commentaries and tabloid web sites.23 On May 12, 2003, Couric guest hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and garnered 45 percent more viewers than on normal nights. CNN and the New York Daily News noted that instead of using Jay Leno's regular solid desk, "workers cut away the front of her desk to expose her legs while she interviewed American Idol judge Simon Cowell and Austin Powers star Mike Myers".
Other work
In a media crossover to animated film, she was the voice of news-reporter "Katie Current" in the U.S. version of the film Shark Tale. She also made a cameo appearance as a prison guard at Georgia State Prison in Austin Powers in Goldmember. She guest-starred as herself on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown in 1992 and in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace in late 2002. On May 12, 2003, she traded places for a day with Tonight Show host Jay Leno. Couric also co-hosted NBC's live coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1991 until 2005. Katie Couric delivered the graduation speech at Princeton University on June 1, 2009.24. She also works with Carmen Marc Valvo to help promote the deadliness, yet preventability, of colorectal cancer.
Personal life
Couric married Jay Monahan in 1989. Couric had her first daughter, Elinor Tully "Ellie" Monahan, on July 23, 1991; her second daughter, Caroline "Carrie" Couric Monahan, was born on January 5, 1996. Jay Monahan died of colon cancer in 1998 at the age of 42; as a result, Couric is a prominent spokeswoman for colon cancer awareness. She underwent a colonoscopy on-air in March 2000, and, according to a study25 published by Archives of Internal Medicine (July 14, 2003), inspired many others to get checked as well:
Katie Couric's televised colon cancer awareness campaign was temporarily associated with an increase in colonoscopy use in 2 different data sets. This illustrates the possibility that a well-known individual can draw attention and support to worthwhile causes.
She also was very active in the National Hockey League's Hockey Fights Cancer campaign, appearing in some public service announcements and doing voice-overs for several others. Couric is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States.
On October 7, 2005, Couric broadcast her own mammogram on the Today show, in the hopes of recreating the "Couric Effect" around the issue of breast cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.26
Her sister Emily Couric, a Virginia Democratic state senator, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54 on October 18, 2001. Couric gave a eulogy at the funeral. She pointed out that it irritated Emily when people asked her if she was Katie Couric's sister. She told the mourners "I just want you to know I will always be proud to say 'I am Emily Couric's sister'." Couric has two other siblings, Clara Couric Batchelor and John M. Couric Jr.
Couric was the honored guest at the 2004 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation fall gala.27
In 2007, Couric began dating 33-year-old entrepreneur (and triathlon competitor) Brooks Perlin.28
Controversies
Katie Couric's Notebook controversies
In April 2007, one of "Katie Couric's Notebook" columns on the CBS News website, a piece about the declining use of libraries, was shown to bear striking resemblances to an article by Wall Street Journal author Jeffrey Zaslow, "Of the Places You'll Go, Is the Library Still One of Them?". In the ensuing controversy, it was revealed that Couric does not generally write these columns, although they often include first-person recounting of supposed events. On April 12, 2007, CBS admitted that her most recent column was indeed plagiarized from a Zaslow article without her knowledge, and that the unidentified producer who provided the material had been fired. Couric continues to maintain that she wrote the article. The article has since been removed.29
The same month, in a "Katie Couric's Notebook" titled "Is America ready for a President who grew up praying in a mosque?", Couric's video cited a Los Angeles Times article which reported that according to childhood acquaintance Zulfan Adi, U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama had "prayed in the mosque."3031 The video was later taken down from CBS' website and the transcript amended with "In a later Chicago Tribune article, however, the source [Adi] said he was not certain whether they prayed together."3233)
References
- ^ Whatever Katie Wants
- ^ Friedman, Roger (February 13, 2004). "Gibson's 'Passion' in Very 'Select' Theatres". FoxNews.com. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111307,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ ""Ancestry of Katie Couric"". About Genealogy: Couric Family Tree. About.com. p. 2. http://genealogy.about.com/od/famous_family_trees/a/katie_couric_2.htm. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ a b Ask the Expert: Katie Couric. Power to Learn. Cablevision.
- ^ Dellinger, Paul (April 14, 2006). "Radford man makes Katie Couric connection". The Roanoke Times. http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/60889. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
- ^ Katie Couric Leaving NBC for CBS | Women Lifestyle, Fashion, Health, Beauty and Personality
- ^ CBS Corporation
- ^ Stephen Winzenburg (2006-04-09). "Is Couric ready for prime-time TV-news". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-04-09-forum-couric_x.htm.
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/31/eveningnews/main1957258.shtml
- ^ Access Hollywood
- ^ ""James Horner"". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000035/. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-media-couric.html
- ^ Friedman, Jon (September 18, 2006). "Why Katie Couric is losing momentum". MarketWatch. http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={8983FBE4-E1FA-482F-BF92-634DBB81049A}&dist=rss&siteid=mktw. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
- ^ CBS Trailing ABC By 1 Million +
- ^ Shister, Gail. "New producer brought in for 'CBS Evening News'", Philadelphia Inquirer, March 9, 2007.
- ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={5C747603-F143-45ED-AED7-84AC269BABD9}&siteid=rss
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i935003166745e37d0f251ff9cba3781e
- ^ Media Bistro.com
- ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/five-media-stories-watch-2009/3F71F405-A6A2-4A35-B105-E3A2A0BEE77F?dist=msrv_2
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012803756.html
- ^ http://www.examiner.com/x-5468-NY-Media-Examiner~y2009m3d27-CBS-Katie-Couric-to-receive-lifetime-achievement-at-Sundays-NY-Emmys
- ^ http://www.yelp.com/biz/katie-couric-new-york-city
- ^ Katie Couric Interview: Crossed Legs and More
- ^ http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/02/02/22593/
- ^ Colorectal Cancer And The Katie Couric Effect
- ^ http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/news-20051006000000-moreonquottoday.html
- ^ 2004 Friends for Life Fall Gala
- ^ Meet Katie Couric's Young New Boyfriend - Katie Couric : People.com
- ^ Roberts, Johnnie L. (April 10, 2007). "Couric's Contretemps". Newsweek/MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18046837/site/newsweek/. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ "Katie Couric: 'Is America ready for a President who grew up praying in a mosque?'". Insight. April 10-16, 2007. http://www.insightmag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=3B028AAAA0664EC4BA9D22D2592F3046. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
- ^ B.J.L.; S.S.M. (2007-04-12). "Couric's "Notebook" rehashed debunked Obama rumors". Media Matters for America. http://mediamatters.org/items/200704130003. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
- ^ Kandra, Greg (April 11, 2007). "Katie Couric's Notebook: Obama's Background". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/04/11/couricandco/entry2673784.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-12-16. (amended version)
- ^ Barker, Kim (2007-03-25). "History of schooling distorted". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703250340mar25,1,4608161.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
External links
![Journey Back to Ireland [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21WG4M7N85L._SL160_.jpg)
![Clip](/viewVideo.html?title=Palin On Foreign Policy&videoType=YouTube&summary="Exclusive": Katie Couric talks with Gov. Sarah Palin about her foreign policy experience and Alaskas proximity to Russia.&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/nokTjEdaUGg&fs=1&hl=en&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://0.gvt0.com/vi/nokTjEdaUGg/default.jpg&celebrity=Katie Couric)
