One of the highlights (or lowlights) of my internship this past winter was seeing -- or perhaps almost not seeing -- Today Show high priestess Katie Couric outside Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. She was impeccably dressed in a tweed suit and heels, and was wearing way too much makeup. Since she only had one cameraman dancing attendance, my coworkers and I almost walked right past her without registering our brush with celebrity. In light of the recent media frenzy surrounding Couric, however, I wish we had paid more attention to observing the perky morning show host. As sources have leaked information that she will confirm her departure from NBC today to the anchor chair on CBS's evening news, previously held by Dan Rather and now currently occupied by the increasingly popular Bob Schieffer, Couric herself has become not only a reporter of the news but a generator of it as well. The question remains as to why Couric's departure has created so much conversation. In a high-tech 21st century, both an anchor's gender and the evening news broadcast itself should be increasingly irrelevant.
Couric. who has been anchor of the Today Show since 1991, is known for her attractive outfits, legendary legs and perkiness -- not for her investigative reporting skills. The emphasis on these traits is most likely due to the type of journalism she has been expected to do between 7 and 10 a.m., rushing from interviews with movie stars to reports on policy to fashion segments. However, these are not the characteristics typically attributed to evening news anchors, who are known for their graying hair, somnolent voices, and ability to discuss serious events in between commercials for laxatives and denture adhesives. Thus, there has been much discussion about whether the decidedly feminine Couric has the "gravitas" -- read as manliness, seriousness or other similar adjective -- for the job.
If she were to become the first female officially appointed to the sole anchor position -- Elizabeth Vargas acted as sole anchor at ABC after Bob Woodruff was injured -- Couric would be plagued by these types of concerns. Regardless of whether she is able to do the job, the personality she has cultivated during her long and successful tenure at Today, the one that has made her in a sense the face of NBC, seems in direct contrast to that needed to deliver the nightly news, particularly at a rival network. And of course the undercurrent to much of this debate is guilty unease over whether a woman can do what has traditionally been a "man's job." I would imagine that this is the subtext behind the constant discussion of Couric's gravitas, as well as a cause for the will-she-won't-she fascination with Couric's move to NBC.
The other aspect of the fuss over Couric's future is that, while the gender debate should hopefully become irrelevant, the nightly news is well on its way toward that fate. With decreasing viewership and an aging audience, it is no longer the preeminent source of information that it once was. Traditional media in general is on the decline, with newspaper readership switching online or to other sources of news, and with the 24-hour cable news networks serving as key sources of television information. It is worth noting, however, that even in this new age of constant information, many of the most visible news personalities -- from Bill O'Reilly and Anderson Cooper to Andrew Sullivan and the Powerline bloggers -- are male. The debate over Couric is perhaps indicative of a greater gender divide in the media. Thus, even with the decline of the nightly news, the gender issue persists.
Ultimately, the debate over Couric seems to ignore the declining importance of the nightly news. It is perhaps indicative of a greater gender divide in the media, one that still puts male writers and anchors on "important" stories and has Elizabeth Bumiller of The New York Times covering presidential tastes and fashion, not executive policy. The media frenzy over Couric is mostly likely due to this issue, since it can be seen as a chance to obtain some gender parity, even if only in one type of media. So, while Couric's as-yet unconfirmed ascension to the anchor throne at CBS may be seen as progress, it may just be one small step for Katie, not one giant leap for womankind. And considering the attention usually given to Couric's legs, that seems a fitting legacy.
