The Couric Comeback? "The Second Act of a Three-Act Movie"
CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric has had a whirlwind year, and as the political season hits the home stretch, her use of new technology has gotten her high praise. The New York Times' David Carr writes about Couric the anchor, in the context of her Conventions webcasts and YouTube channel. "There was no convention bump in the ratings for Ms. Couric, and CBS and she remain a long way from precious bragging rights," he writes. "But the odd anchor out has been in the middle of things for the last few w

Katie Couric tests the waters with live webcasts
'CBS Evening News' anchor checks out the medium's possibilities by going live with more-casual, even cheeky, coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions. By Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 5, 2008 NEW YORK -- Katie Couric was listening to Declan McCullagh, CNET's chief political correspondent, explain Barack Obama's and John McCain's stances on Net neutrality. "Well, whatever that meant,"

Everyone Likes Katie Couric Again! [Good News]
Good news for Katie Couric: the ongoing psychodrama at MSNBC has caused people to forget entirely that she was widely considered a unhappy failure as the anchor of the CBS evening news. Remember how she hated the job, and the criticism, and was going to quit after the elections and take over for Larry King or something? That was a long time ago, and the spectacle of Chris Matthews versus Keith Olbermann versus Joe Scarborough versus NBC News brass versus viewers has basically taken all the negative attentio

Idle Chatter: 'NY Times,' Katie Couric, more
-Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has picked up a 6.4 percent stake in The New York Times Co., raising the prospect of another shareholder confrontation. [Bloomberg] -CBS has taken issue with a web ad put out by the McCain campaign, saying it falsely implied Katie Couric had criticized Barack Obama. [TVNewser] -You know what's weird and unnecessary? Parents who blog in character as their infant children. [NYT]

Resurgent Katie Couric Scores Palin Interview [Gets]
If Page Six is to be believed, Sarah Palin's second serious interview will come next week, when she will travel with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric. It remains to be seen whether Couric will lay the Republican vice presidential nominee embarrassingly bare as ABC's Charlie Gibson did last week. But just scoring the sit-down adds to the evidence Couric is mounting a sort of comeback from the dark days five months ago when she was said to be leaving CBS. A summary of Couric's oh-so-modest recent victorie

WE HEAR . . .
THAT Katie Couric, following in the footsteps of grumpy Charlie Gibson, will get the second big interview with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The CBS anchor will travel with the Alaskan hockey mom next week . . . THAT Malcolm...

Katie Couric's 'Lipstick' rescue: CBS
CBS News has rescued evening anchor Katie Couric from a Web-ad that attempted to parlay Couric's words on "sexism'' in the Republican Party's dispute with Barack Obama over "lipstick on a pig.'' The network demanded that YouTube pull the ad that the Republican Party had rolled out in response to Obama's remark about the McCain campaign's claims that it offers the real promise of change: "John McCain says he's about change, too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush.' Except for econom

Meredith Viera, Oversharing Dog Crap Expert [Amateur Veterinarians]
I really like Meredith. She's leaps and bounds more genuine than Katie Couric. But even she has been shoehorned by her bosses into the "We Need a Blog" syndrome. She is a classy gal, and it's a shame some NBC producer drove her to such depths that she's writing openly about her dog's defecation habits (albeit in a heartfelt way Americans can relate to). She writes: Here’s my life in a nutshell: I still haven’t found my charm bracelet, and Jasper our dog has started "relieving" himself again in our liv

AEROSMITH Guitarist, Son To Discuss 'Guitar Hero' On 'CBS Evening News'
Tune in to the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" on Thursday, September 11 to see AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry and his son Roman talking about "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". The show airs from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. Although AEROSMITH has yet to officially begin recording its new album, Perry has told Spinner.com that some of the new songs may be made available in a more unconventional means prior to a proper release: via "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". "We'll probably release some of the mus

Late Breaks: Katie, Brian, Charlie and Sarah
-Katie Couric and maybe even Brian "N-B-C! N-B-C!" Williams will get a shot at interviewing Sarah Palin, now that Charles Gibson's had his way with her. [WaPo] -The new version of WSJ.com that goes live tomorrow will offer "radical" new options for commenting, discussing stories, and other community activities. [Bits] -If you've ever worked at Bloomberg and had a baby, there's a decent chance you're part of a discrimination lawsuit now under way. [NYM]

Katie Couric Scores Sarah Palin Interview?
The next reporter after Charlie Gibson to get a chance to sit down with the Republican VP, is rumored to be Katie Couric.   Katie will travel with Sarah next week, reports Page Six. Related: What Did You Think Of Charlie Gibson’s Sarah Palin Interview? Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know What the Bush Doctrine is… Sarah Palin’s Interview with Charlie Gibson!

Gibson's Palin Interview: When, Where, How
Confirmed last night, ABC News' Charlie Gibson was picked by the McCain campaign to conduct the first interview with Palin, and today we learned more details of how it happened and what the interview will entail. We hear from insiders that Gibson was informed he was the Palin choice just after leaving Friday night's live World News broadcast from Los Angeles. In fact, he was supposed to immediately go take publicity photos with the other two evening news anchors involved in the Stand up To Cancer specia

McCain Ad Featuring Katie Couric Removed From YouTube
A new ad from Sen. John McCain relates to Sen. Barack Obama's recent "lipstick on a pig," comment. The video also features a comment from CBS' Katie Couric (see below for that backstory). The official McCain video on YouTube can no longer be accessed, as the message reads, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by CBS Interactive Inc." We hear CBS is pursuing the issue. But like most things on YouTube there are duplicates: The clip is from one of Couric's Reporter's Notebooks back in

CBS Upset At McCain Over Katie Couric
US television network CBS has expressed anger over John McCain’s unauthorized use of a news report from Katie Couric being used in his current political advertising campaign.  Watch the commercial here. The 40-second clip, which has been removed from You Tube, uses a grab of Couric’s news bulletin talking about sexism in the lead up to the election in November. CBS attacked the use of the clip releasing a statement saying, “CBS News does not endorse any candidate in the Presidential race. A

Couric Taken Out of Context: YouTube Pulls McCain Ad
According to reports on Politico and TVNewser, the McCain campaign's new "lipstick on a pig" web ad has been removed from YouTube after CBS's lawyers objected to its use of a quote by CBS News' Katie Couric, which the ad took out of context. Steve Krakauer of TVNewser has the story: The clip is from one of Couric's Reporter's Notebooks back in June when she criticized the media for some of the coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. The McCain ad, which was hastily produced for the Web, im

CBS Pulls the Plug on 'Misleading' McCain Ad
The McCain campaign tried to 'spin' footage of CBS news anchor Katie Couric talking about sexism, as it related to Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign, to their own benefit by tying it to Sarah Palin. A CBS spokesperson said, "CBS News does not endorse any candidate in the Presidential race. Any use of CBS personnel in political advertising that suggests the contrary is misleading." That was a little shady of the McCain folks, don't you think? [Image via Getty Images.]

Former Lady Abuser David Carr Presents Katie Couric an Olive Branch
Indeed, the tide is turning for Katie Couric. The former Today personality who two years ago tried making it as an evening news anchor has struggled for ratings and, in this industry, respect. She got neither. But the presidential election may save this woman. Last week we noted how the Keith Olbermann controversy had overtaken all the drumbeating about Couric's terrible audience numbers and her inevitable split with CBS' Les Moonves. And today, David Carr — who is not a member of the Times new media desk

Moonves Again Backs Couric After Conventions
CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves said he is “proud” of the performance of Katie Couric at the conventions and reiterated his inclination to give the third-place newscast as much time as it takes to build its ratings. “I’m a patient man,” he told B&C this week. “And no one has a gun to their head." CBS News was a consistent third behind NBC and ABC during coverage of the political conventions, though some nights they were very close to overtaking ABC

McCain Lipstick Ad VIDEO!
VIDEO! Here’s the video of the McCain Lisptick Ad. John McCain’s new lipstick ad video pictured Katie Couric from CBS in the commercial. After learning that Couric was in the video, CBS had the lipstick ad video removed from hosting sites like YouTube. The McCain camp is fast to make this video only less than 24 [...]

Couric To Interview Palin Next Week
Breaking: TVNewser has learned Katie Couric will interview Republican VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin next week on the campaign trail, days before the first presidential debate. We hear the interview will air on the CBS Evening News and on all CBS News platforms. It will also include something the previous two interviews did not — time with Sen. John McCain and Palin together. An announcement is expected shortly. Posted by SteveK | 10:30 AM | CBS new on

Couric Used in Swipe at Obama
CBS News so far is not commenting on the decision by Sen. John McCain’s campaign to use video of “Evening News” anchor Katie Couric to chastise Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a new Web advertisement. The new McCain ad rips Sen. Obama for his use of the “you can put lipstick on a pig” idiom yesterday on the campaign trail, a reference that Obama opponents have said was a dig at Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. The new ad uses a quick cutting technique to switch between three videos. The

Janice Min Backtracks, Grovels To Angry Right. Isn't That Just Like Us? [Open Letter]
Dear Us Weekly editor-in-chief Janice Min, I realize I told you it was a massive screw-up for you to go so hard on Sarah Palin. And I realize I might have even done my part to fan the flames. But seriously, was it really necessary to tell David Carr she "out Obama’ed Obama with her speech” and "came on like a supermom who is not going to take a lot of guff from anyone"? And whose idea was it to offer five whole free issues to all your enraged Republican hate-mailers, only so said hate -mailers could tur

Weekend Update: Obama Is Famous, Wonkette’s In Nebraska
While your editors continue the whimsical heartland trip across Nebraska, which grows a hundred miles wider each hour, other things are happening: The terrible German-Latino hurricane, “Gustav,” is getting so big and mean that the GOP may be forced to cancel the convention so as to look concerned! You can read all the Dave Barry stuff from Denver now, because what else is there to do while driving across Nebraska? Speaking of people named “David,” we ran into a grinning David Carr wa

NYT's New Media Desk Omits NYT Media Star [Newspapers]
The New York Timesannounced today that it's (finally?) starting a dedicated Media desk. The beat has been split between the Business and Culture sections, but now the paper is pulling a dozen reporters together and moving them to the third floor—the floor between the other two sections, and where the top Times editors now sit. Symbolic! It's all about "convergence," they say. But why now? And, look who's not going to be assigned to the Media desk:The Times' most visible media writer and newly minted a

Confirmed: David Carradine to Cameo in Paul W.S. Anderson's "Death Race"
MTV has it right from the horse's mouth: "I wanted to tip my hat to the original, but also wouldn't want it to become a cheesy cameo-fest. There's obviously been, "Oh, where's the David Carradine cameo?" It's there, and I think it's a nice thing for fans. In fact, I had a conversation with David about the movie this morning."