After the hoopla and the assurance that she would reinvent the 30-minute national newscast, Katie Couric proved to be a disappointment as “Evening News” settled into the comfortable mediocrity of third place. Viacom made a bad bargain – at what they’re paying her, the money would have been better served going into the Iraq “reconstruction” project.
Maybe she can channel in some of her excess funds herself! Wanting to get a little more out of the onetime “Today” co-anchor, the corporate overlords have sent their shiny bobblehead to Iraq and Syria to finally do some gritty, frontline reporting. She’ll be seeing some action, too – just last night, violence erupted in Karbala after a million Shiite pilgrims were ordered to leave the city.
It’s a win-win situation for CBS/Viacom. Couric is going into a volatile region in the midst of both an occupation and a civil war: erstwhile viewers are bound to tune in. And if something should *ahem* happen to their star anchor while she’s in the Middle East, they can recoup part of her contract, find a more seasoned replacement and milk the sympathy for ratings. But they’re not that calculating and cynical… are they?
