CBS denies Katie Couric said she would not go to dangerous war zones

[DeepModem Mom]

NY Post, "Page Six": 'ACCESS' BLOWS KATIE QUOTES

July 22, 2006 -- "ACCESS Hollywood" expressed "regret" last night for reporting on its Web site that Katie Couric would refuse to set foot in dangerous war zones as the new anchor of the "CBS Evening News."

Earlier this week, the NBC-owned celebrity news show's Web site stated: "Katie Couric, who takes over the 'CBS Evening News' in September, told 'Access Hollywood' that at this point, she would not venture into the Middle East hot spot. 'I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing,' Katie said."

That comment was widely reported yesterday, including on Page Six. But it turns out to be an old quote that "Access Hollywood" took out of context. In a clarification, a spokeswoman for the show said Couric's remarks "were from a previous interview on May 30 in regards to whether or not she would go to Iraq in light of injured CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier."

The Web site story has since been clarified and includes comments Couric made regarding the current Middle East crisis at the Television Critics Association last Sunday.

Those comments give a very different view of how she feels about being on the front line. "I think, yeah, of course I would want to be there," Couric told critics, according to a transcript provided to Page Six by a CBS source....

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm

(Did CBS execs tell Katie that traveling to war zones was part of the job of a CBS anchor?)

[Katina]

1. does anyone really care about Katie Couric?

I guess she figures she can't wear her Manolos in a war zone.

[LostinVA]

I figure it's because she has kids

Quite a few war correspondents tend to stop when they have kids -- both male and female.

[valerief]

6. NO ONE CARES ABOUT HER. You're right. She had her

colonoscopy fifteen minutes of fame. The rest of the time she was a talking head, shilling for the right, nothing to pay attention to. Maybe if we don't talk about her, she'll go away. No one watches CBS Evening News anyway.

[MADem]

2. Well, ya know what? If I were her, I wouldn't go. Hell, she is a widow

and she has kids, if she were a widower with kids it would be same deal.

Kids need parents--it's stupid to put yourself in danger if you can avoid it. What benefit is there to seeing her in a flak jacket--she can't make phone calls, do interviews from this end, and give a young journo moving up the food chain a break???

When her kids are 18, in college, out of the house, their trust funds set up, sure, go ahead.

But in their formative years they should have the one parent they have left. It's not worth any amount of money to take a chance on denying them that.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. CBS might think she could have chosen not to take the job. nt

[MADem]

5. Well, if they are gonna pay her millions, and not specify when she is

permitted to take a crap, restyle her hairdo, and the amount of cleavage she is allowed to display, to say nothing of her collateral responsibilities in addition to plunking her ass behind the anchor desk, then they ARE stupid. Profoundly stupid. And if she's in violation of the contract, then they can tell her to hit the road. But somehow I think that neither scenario is true.

Hell, pre-nups for fewer millions have plenty of goofy clauses. I can't help but think this is one of those "made up" gossip stories, that has maybe one fifth truth and four fifths horseshit in it.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Could be! nt

[gratuitous]

10. I tend to agree

I wonder, then, why Ms. Couric, a widow with kids, would take on such a risky job as being a network news anchor, knowing its dangerous requirements? Is it the only job she could get? The only one that paid her well enough to take care of her kids? Gosh, my heart goes out to all single mothers struggling to make it through.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

15. I agree with you,I don't want to see her children lose another parent.

As a matter of fact,I wish they could set up little video cameras in rocks like they do here. They could be motion detector cams.
WildCam: Brown Bears @ nationalgeographic.com www.nationalgeographic.com/bearcam Live cam., of bears at Alaska's McNeil River as they gather for their annual salmon feast.

[malaise]

3. Why should she go

I don't even listen to the woman but she has two father less children. Why the fugg should she go?

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Please, let Katie go to a war zone

It might wake her up a bit to see people intent on trying to kill each other.

Katie Couric as anchor of the CBS Evening News simply shows how little commitment CBS now has to realinformative programming. CBS was the network of Murrow and Cronkite. It once was the standard of network news. Now it's become a joke. Couric is an embarrassment to journalism.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. Maybe Katie is of the Floyd Kalber school of newscasting.

Floyd was a longtime Chicago news anchor and did the Today Show for awhile. He carried a lot of weight in Chicago in his time. Once a new producer told Floyd he would be covering a breaking story from the scene and Floyd said essentially 'I am the Anchor. You meant to say you will be sending a reporter to the scene.'

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Good story -- thanks. nt

[acmejack]

12. You know what? I am willing to give her a chance.

I am kind of surprised people are so down on her. From what I have heard of her personally, she is sharp and is capable of doing the anchor job. I am willing to see her succeed or fail on her own merits.

As for going places where she has a good chance of getting her ass blown off, if she doesn't have to go there, in my mind she is stupid to do so. Anyone who does go to a place like that is either a thrill-seeker or a mercenary.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. She's a Republican shill

[schmuls]

13. this is a non-story