Couric Blames NBC for Interview With Jayson Blair

NewsMax ^ | 3/5/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

NBC's chit-chat hostess Katie Couric is scrambling to distance herself from her controversial interview with disgraced New York Times fabricator Jayson Blair.

"Well, you know, I wasn't all that involved in getting this interview. I wasn't," she insisted last night to CNN's Larry King. However, as Poynteronline's Romenesko column notes today, NBC promos touted her "Katie Couric exclusive" with Blair.

What about those who denounce her promotion of the notorious fiction writer?

"I think that - I mean, I understand their perspective," she stammered. "I also think there's something to be learned from people who do the wrong things as well as the right thing. If we had to limit our interviews to everybody who was doing good and contributing to society, I'm afraid that might be an awfully short list."

Aah. Then perhaps Katie's next interview on "Today" could be with ... herself.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

"...something to be learned from people who do the wrong things..."
Up next on Today, Charlie Manson on homosexual couples...

[newgeezer]

NBC's chit-chat hostess Katie Couric

In this case, it strikes me that S's are more appropriate than C's.

[KellyAdmirer]

Why interview somebody whose only claim to fame is a complete and utter lack of credibility? What can you learn from interviewing someone famous only for lieing? And why help him stay famous? No wonder Couric's show is tanking in the ratings.

[Cincinatus]

In this case, it strikes me that S's are more appropriate than C's.

I disagree. Katie is the very embodiment of the "C-word."

[jpthomas]

She was probably just as "uninvolved" as she was in trying to land an interview with the Unabomber:

Source: The Smoking Gun

[Wright is right!]

""Well, you know, I wasn't all that involved in getting this interview."

This is a true statement. The people who line up the guests and interview subjects are called "producers" or "assistant producers." They are the ones with the fat Rolodexes whose job it is to procure "gets" for the programs. Qouric did the interview, but she most certainly didn't line it up. NBC pays staffers to do that.

Michael

[Wright is right!]

This letter is the exception that proves the rule.

Michael

[jpthomas]

I'm sure that 99% of the time, you are correct that the underlings do most of the work in lining up an interview. The "celebrity media personalities" like Katie occasionally get involved when it involves a big catch.

[Cicero]

I would assume that somebody like Katie Couric has a veto over doing interviews. Her stooges are out there scrambling for notorious people to interview, but if she really, really doesn't want to do one, she has the power to refuse.