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| Katie Couric
Television Journalist |
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NBC Photo
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“Ridiculously normal,” is how Katie Couric described herself in a 1991 interview with the New York Times, but Couric’s career in broadcast journalism has been anything but routine. After almost thirty years in the industry—including fifteen as cohost of NBC’s Today show—Couric rewrote history books on September 5, 2006, with her highly publicized move to The CBS Evening News, where she became the first female solo anchor of the weekday evening news on broadcast television, in addition to a correspondent for the venerable news magazine show 60 Minutes. Couric has made her mark as an accomplished interviewer, posing questions to such sought-after subjects as Anita Hill, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Jerry Seinfeld, and as a skilled reporter, covering a wide range of news and feature stories and even such high-profile events as the Olympics. Throughout her career, Couric has been known for her likeable, approachable manner, making viewers comfortable about inviting her into their homes. In announcing her decision to move to CBS on Today, she reinforced this relationship with her viewers by announcing her departure in her trademark personal style: "I wanted to tell all of you out there who have watched the show for the past 15 years that after listening to my heart and my gut, two things that have served me pretty well in the past, I've decided I'll be leaving Today at the end of May, I really feel as if we've become friends through the years." In addition to her journalistic achievements, Couric cofounded the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance—a nonprofit organization that promotes prevention and awareness of colorectal cancer—in the wake of her husband’s 1998 death from colon cancer.
Couric was born on January 7, 1957, in Arlington, Virginia. Her father, a local newspaper editor, encouraged her interest in journalism, and in both high school and college she worked on school newspapers. Her broadcast career began soon after her 1979 graduation with honors from the University of Virginia when she was hired as a desk assistant in the Washington bureau of ABC News. Her first day at her first television journalism job was unforgettable. Upon learning her name, Sam Donaldson, then a coanchor of ABC’s World News Sunday, began to sing “K-K-K-Katie!” as he jumped on her desk. He then invited her to accompany him to a White House briefing.
Over the next several years, Couric learned the news trade. At CNN, she worked as an assignment editor, associate producer, political correspondent, and producer. From 1984–89 Couric earned valuable on-air experience as a general assignment reporter in two local news markets, Miami and Washington, DC. While at WRC-TV, NBC’s Washington affiliate, Couric won both an Emmy and an Associated Press Award for her story on a dating service for the handicapped and also attracted the notice of Tim Russert, then NBC’s Washington bureau chief. He offered her a job as a Pentagon correspondent. As she prepared to take on the new assignment, Couric realized that she needed further education on military operations, and so she spent part of her honeymoon studying Jane’s Fighting Ships, the military hardware directory.
For Couric, reporting on the inner workings of the military was a defining moment in her career. Calling the Pentagon “the most testosterone driven place in America,” she hailed the experience as a “great equalizer.” “I think it elevated me in the eyes of a lot of people,” said Couric. “You can’t be an airhead and cover F-14s.”
In 1990 Couric joined the Today show as its national correspondent. Her brief stint as a substitute coanchor in early 1991 was such a success she was offered the job permanently. At the time, the Today show was in a state of transition, with ratings down in the wake of former coanchor Jane Pauley’s replacement by Deborah Norville. Viewers quickly warmed to Couric’s sense of humor and approachability, and before long the Today show had resumed its solid lead in the morning show ratings race. A key part of NBC’s financial success, Today contributes an estimated $300 million a year profit to the network.
“Morning-show anchors take a very interesting role in people’s families,” she told Ken Auletta in a 2005 article in the New Yorker. “People don’t want too much cynicism. I hope people want intelligent questioning... I hope people want us to be appropriately challenging... But there’s a certain reassuring quality about morning television; it reminds people that the world is still in one piece and turning, and here’s what people need to know about.”
In her long reign as coanchor, Couric has consistently shifted between serious, thought-provoking pieces and more lighthearted stories. Tom Brokaw has described her on-air personality as a “mix of effervescence, self-deprecating humor and empathy for the human condition.” She is also quick on her feet. In 1992, as Couric was at the White House to meet with First Lady Barbara Bush, President George H.W. Bush accidentally entered the interview area. Couric proceeded to conduct a twenty-minute, improvised interview with the president. Many of her interviews have been exclusives, the “gets” chased by all television journalists, including a conversation with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in January 2003 on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom; a five-part morning show exclusive with John and Patsy Ramsey about the death of their daughter, JonBenet; and the first interview with Tricia Meili, the young woman who became known as the Central Park Jogger after she was brutally attacked by a gang in 1989. Couric has also anchored live coverage of such major news events as the Columbine school shootings and the 9/11 attacks.
In April 2006, after much public speculation and hoopla, CBS announced that Couric had accepted its offer to take over the CBS Evening News, replacing interim anchor Bob Schieffer and following in the footsteps of such CBS legends as Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite, and Dan Rather. Rome Hartman, Schieffer’s executive producer, summed up what many people consider Couric’s greatest asset: "What people appreciate most about Katie is that she's real—that's really her up on the screen."
In 1998 Couric suffered the death of her husband, Jay Monahan. After cofounding the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance with Lilly Tartikoff, widow of former NBC President Brandon Tartikoff, Couric created a Today show series called “Confronting Colon Cancer,” which encouraged viewers to take more precautionary methods against cancer. During one segment, she famously underwent a colonoscopy on camera. Couric won a Peabody Award for the series. As a result of the attention Today has paid to colorectal cancer, the number of colonoscopy screenings nationwide has increased almost 20 percent. Researchers refer to this as “the Couric effect.”
Web Assets:
Transcript of 3/4/04 interview with Larry King
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