Information about Katie Couric

Katie Couric
Birth name Katherine Anne Couric Born January 7 1957 (1957--) (age 50) in Arlington, Virginia, USA
Statistics Occupation Television Journalist Gender Female Marital status Widowed Spouse Jay Monahan (1989–1998) Children Elinor Tully "Ellie" Monahan Caroline Couric Monahan Notable credit(s) The Today Show Anchor and Co-Host (1991–2006) CBS Evening News Anchor (2006–present)

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 woman to solo-anchor of the weekday evening news on one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). She currently serves as the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, replacing Bob Schieffer on September 5, 2006. Schieffer served as the interim anchor following the departure of long time anchor and managing editor Dan Rather on March 9, 2005.

Biography

Early life

Katie Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia to Elinor Hene, a homemaker and part-time writer, and John Martin Couric Jr., a journalist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the United Press in Washington, D.C. Couric's father was Episcopalian and her mother was Jewish. Couric was raised Episcopalian.^[1] Her maternal grandparents, Berthold B. Hene and Clara L. Froshin, were the children of Jewish immigrants from Germany.^[2] In a report for The Today Show, 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,^[3] and Yorktown High School, in Arlington Virginia.^[4]

She enrolled in the the University of Virginia in 1975, majored in English and History,^[5] 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 academic 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 Tomorrow.

The Today Show (1991- 2006)

In 1990, she joined Today as national correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991 when Norville had a baby. Norville never returned and Couric became permanent co-anchor on Thursday, 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 any of the "big three" weekday nightly news broadcasts.

Previously female NBC anchors Jessica Savitch, Jane Pauley, and Connie Chung, ABC News anchor Carole Simpson and Elizabeth Vargas, and CBS News anchor Susan Spencer had worked solo on weekend duty newscasts. Elizabeth Vargas also did solo duty on weekday nightly news broadcasts following the departure of the injured Bob Woodruff. Katie Couric has filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. Couric has also filled in for Garrick Utley on the Sunday Edition of NBC Nightly News from 1989 to 1992, and also for Maria Shriver 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 "specials" of a commercial nature 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 Show. 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 British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Senator Hillary Clinton (her first television interview), Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and First Lady Laura Bush.

CBS Evening News (2006-Current)

Couric announced on April 5, 2006 (her 15th anniversary as permanent co-host of Today), that she would be leaving the show, despite a 20 million dollar a year salary offer. “I wanted to tell all of you out there … that after listening to my heart and my gut, two things that have served me pretty well in the past, I will be leaving Today at the end of May." she said. “I really feel as if we’ve become friends through the years”. Couric appeared emotional at times as she made the announcement on Today. “Sometimes I think change is a good thing,” she said. “Although it may be terrifying to get out of your comfort zone, it’s very exciting to start a new chapter in your life".^[6]

CBS officially confirmed later the same day that Couric would become the new anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric with her first broadcast set for September 5, 2006. Couric would also contribute to 60 Minutes and anchor primetime 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. The criticism was centered around Couric's lack of experience in hard journalism and credentials necessary to be a sole anchor of the CBS Evening News, when compared to previous anchors such as Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite, who was named in multiple viewer polls "The Most Trusted Man in America".^[8] Beginning in 2005 and through 2006, the Today program faced increasing competition from Good Morning America, which became more popular when Robin Roberts joined Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, as co-hosts. Thus, she had a very small choice: either get finally defeated by Good Morning America and stay on the show or take the risk and go on the CBS Evening News where she gambled that she would be successful.^[9]

On July 20, 2006, Access Hollywood (an NBC program) reported that Katie intended to avoid certain anchoring situations that previous anchors have taken. When asked about travelling to the Middle East, Katie 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".^[10] Access Hollywood later corrected this report,^[11] 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 Katie Couric was still co-hosting at The Today Show.

Couric made her first broadcast as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Tuesday, September 5, 2006. The program featured a new set, new graphics, and a new theme (composed by prolific movie score composer James Horner,^[12] 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.^[13] 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's 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.)^[14] 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.^[15] The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric continually finishes last in all major markets.^[16] Under Couric, several promising and popular CBS News correspondents mysteriously saw their airtime diminish significantly. Trish Regan, Elizabeth Kaledin, Sharyn Alfonsi and Lee Cowan all have departed from CBS since Couric took the reins of the Evening News, only to be replaced by a host of unknown reporters. As of the first week of May 2007, the viewership of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric was the lowest since at least 1987.^[17]

Public image

Couric has been admired and criticized for blurring the lines between entertainment and reporting. 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 and the subject of many commentaries and Web sites.^[18] On May 12, 2003, Couric guest hosted the late night television show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and gathered 45% more viewers than on normal nights. CNN and the New York Daily News noted that instead of using 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. Most foreign versions use a different voice, but she is still credited. 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 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.

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 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 is currently raising her daughters on her own. She underwent a colonoscopy on-air in March 2000, and, according to a study^[19] 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 an 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 broadcasted 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.^[20]

Emily Couric, a popular Virginia Democratic state senator and Katie's sister, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54 on October 18, 2001, after a battle with the disease. Couric was quite close to her sister and gave a eulogy at the funeral. She pointed out that it irritated Emily when people asked her if she was Katie Couric's sister. Katie 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.

Celebrity news, such as People,^[21] reported that Couric dated smooth jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, but they reportedly broke up in February 2005. She was previously and has intermittently been linked with multi-millionaire TV producer Tom Werner, whose home base of California has reportedly proved problematic for the New York-based Couric.

Couric was the honored guest at the 2004 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation fall gala.^[22]

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. The article has since been removed.^[23]

In another of her April 2007 "Katie Couric's Notebook" columns, she made claims about Barack Obama studying at a "radical madrasa, or Koranic school."^[24] After a lot of outrage, the column was later heavily edited to state that the rumours were "later disproved."^[25] Originally the comments read: "rumors his campaign denied, declaring that Obama is now a practicing Christian."^[26]

In July 2007 New York Magazine published a story by Joe Hagan on the first ten months of her tenure at CBS News. The story quotes Couric as having days when she wonders why she ever decided to take the job at CBS, and reports that she acknowledges having made some mistakes, such as making too many changes too fast. The story also emphasizes that overall Couric still believes that she made the correct decision, and that she still is committed to making the CBS Evening News a success. Couric is described as frustrated that some of her colleagues in the news division have been saying negative things about her to the press, and suggests that two of these have been former CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer, and current 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. Hagan also reported that in June of 2007 Couric slapped one of her editors repeatedly on the arm for inserting the word sputum in a report regarding tuberculosis. Couric had previously told editor Jerry Cipriano not to include the word in her script. "I sort of slapped him around. I got mad at him and said, 'You can’t do this to me. You have to tell me when you’re going to use a word like that." Couric was also quoted as saying that, while aggravated, she has a good relationship with Cipriano. “We did ban the word sputum from all future broadcasts. It became kind of a joke.”^[27]CNN reporter Jeanne Moos reported on July 9, 2007 that the reason Couric was irritated was that "sputum" had been inserted into the script after she rehearsed it; reading it for the first time live on air she mispronounced the word. This is the context for her slapping Cipriano on the arm and instructing him to warn her before putting words "like that" (that might be mispronounced) into her script. Moos also demonstrates what the slapping incident looked like (see: [1]

External links

• Katie Couric at the Notable Names Database
• Katie Couric at the Internet Movie Database
• Katie Couric Debuts On CBS
• Katie Couric's CBS News Bio
• Katie Couric on The Colbert Report from March 22, 2007
• Parody Blog of Katie Couric

Preceded by Deborah Norville	Today Co-Anchor '''April 5, 1991 – May 31, 2006	Succeeded by Meredith Vieira
Preceded by Bob Schieffer (interim)	CBS Evening News anchor '''September 5, 2006–present	Succeeded by Incumbent

•  • [ e] Anchors of Today
Garroway • Chancellor • Downs • McGee • Walters • Hartz • Brokaw • Pauley • Gumbel • Norville • Garagiola • Couric • Lauer • Vieira

•  • [ e] Anchors of The CBS Evening News
Douglas Edwards • Walter Cronkite • Dan Rather • Connie Chung • Bob Schieffer (Interim) • Katie Couric

•  • [ e] 60 Minutes Correspondents
Current	Anderson Cooper • Katie Couric • Steve Kroft • Lara Logan • Scott Pelley • Morley Safer • Bob Simon • Lesley Stahl • Mike Wallace
Former	Christiane Amanpour • Ed Bradley • Dan Rather • Harry Reasoner • Diane Sawyer • Meredith Vieira

References