Cutely Serious? or Seriously Cute?

August 15, 2006

In her relentless campaign to gain credibility as the CBS nightly news anchor, Katie Couric continues her grueling trek through America’s heartland, doing biting, no-nonsense “listening tours” and issuing edgy, to-the-point press releases of her findings.

"We're going to take risks and try some new things, and we're not going to be tied to the formulaic evening newscast that we've all pretty much grown up with that hasn't changed very much in the last several decades," Couric said in a meeting reported by Reuters "We're going to take some chances and try some new things."

Does this include her signature insider report from inside her colon? We hope not.

CBS wants their news to stand out and be taken seriously -- more than it did under the reign of government conspiracy patsy and notorious kook, Dan Rather. But CBS also seems to want to include Katie’s trademark perkiness in the equation.

Is there a warm and fuzzy way to say “genocide?”

In that vein, Couric has told Reuters that she is sticking with the name “Katie” and not changing it to “Katherine” like she tried in her early days of “Today.”

So, cute or cutting? Bareknuckle or kid glove? The jury is still out.

And Couric still hasn't settled on a signature "sign-off." If she really wants to stake out the high ground, she needs something terse and earnest, like Rather's "courage." But as an indication of where the chips may fall, Couric has decided to bring in a seasoned, well-respected media consultant to help her come up with a tag.

According to Reuters, Katie has asked her Mom.