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Anchor Blues: Who's Tarting Whom?

Jun 16 2007 Filed in: Ascribe.net Preview

They're at it again... more instances where anchors/journalists are trying to squeeze out actual newsmakers with shenanigans, bold statements and general assholic behavior.

- Dan Rather ignites a feud with his former network. Accusing CBS of "tarting" up its broadcast by hiring Katie Couric, Rather told Joe Scarborough's that the network was trying to "dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience." CBS chief executive Les Moonves called his remarks "sexist," to which Rather replied that Moonves "doesn't know about the news." This spat is such a waste of space... news outlets are spending time on this! I don't particularly like Katie Couric in her new role, and never watched Today, but can't we give her a chance to find herself before we pass judgment? Um, hello, it's been nine months since she started. Many anchors took years to catch on -- and even got fired (Peter Jennings, early on) before they dug in their heels.

- Just getting the story... or too close to the action? Despite how CNN's Rick Sanchez irritates the hell out of me, the kid in Georgia got the wrong sentence for his sex crime and that injustice deserved attention. But in reporting the story Sanchez became outwardly jubilant and pressed himself inside the frame when word came down that the judge threw out the 10-year sentence (the prosecutor is appealing). It was WAY too much, too soon, too close, when Sanchez should have stood back and let the events unfold. Watch the clips on Pipeline if you don't believe me.

- Oh by the way... Longtime NBC Nightly weekend anchor John Seigenthaler was replaced by Lester Holt, in one of the most underreported cost-cutting moves of the year. Seigenthaler had an 11-year run at helm of the weekend broadcast -- a position that, apparently, "was a luxury [NBC] could no longer afford," according to USA Today. Seigenthaler's rich, bass, deadpan (and dead-on) delivery was yet another comfortable chair we'll not get to enjoy anymore.