First it was prized news anchor Dan Rather with the Rathergate debacle. Now it’s Katie Couric with Photogate. TVNEWSER blog reports on Katie Couric’s extreme makeover (err, Photoshop surgery) and showcases the side-by-side below.
TVNEWSER says the left photo is the official first-pic-of-Katie released by CBS at this year’s upfront. (TVNewser posted it in May.) The right photo is an edited version of the same photo, from the September issue of Watch magazine, which is owned by CBS.
But just as Dan Rather created a storm with his sketchy research and accusations of George W. Bush’s service record, Katie Couric and CBS have created a new storm nearing the size of the buzz storm created by Couric’s decision to anchor CBS News in the first place.
Unfortunately, I suspect the issue of weight, and CBS’s disapproval of people with normal weight, will now permeate Couric for some time. Presuming CBS was striving to seek women viewers by hiring Couric, then it will have some explaining to do, specifically to the millions of women the broadcaster just alienated. It’s a shame for Couric; I like her and admire how she’s overcome many of life’s struggles. This debacles pokes fun at her, in a sick way.
When will the news media learn that a new watchdog, a fifth estate, has arrived? Everything now is under surveillance, including the news media. It is incidents like these that fuel the fire of distrust that normal people have for traditional institutions of news. (But I confess: I still love 60 Minutes and TiVo it every week.) Thank god for blogs and empowered citizens to help keep the formal bastions of news in check.