In an interview with Katie Couric published Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back on criticisms over the Biden administration’s response to the border even though she’s not technically “in charge” of it.
Couric took to Twitter Sunday night where she criticized her former employer CBS for replacing anchor Norah O’Donnell on “CBS Evening News” with two male anchors. Couric said the call was “bizarre” and slammed the network for being so disconnected.
“It was more than a little disappointing to read that Ms. O’Donnell would be replaced by two men, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois,” Couric wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, noting that she respected both Dickerson and DuBois. “The two people who will be greeting Americans watching evening newscasts will be men.”
To work on “CBS Evening News,” the lead anchor role O’Donnell will be departing next month after announcing in July that she was moving to a new position within CBS, which Couric herself took over before leaving the network in 2011.
And Couric added, “It’s odd and more than a little out of touch that even while CBS has announced a restructuring that introduces an additional layer of women executives, the leading editorial decision makers will mostly be men.”
She also stressed the need for diversity in journalism, especially as it relates to a possible presidential campaign by Vice President Harris.
“We’re also in the midst of a campaign that could result in the election of the first woman president, and first woman of color as president. It’s a potentially historic story — one that needs a diverse group of journalists covering it,” Couric wrote.
In addition, CBS News announced that “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan will contribute reports to the show from Washington D.C.
However, what’s even more concerning for Couric is that the “CBS Evening News” powers are actually three white men: executive producers Bill Owens and Guy Campanile, along with brand marketing director Jerry Cipriano.
While she did commend Cipriano (who she says was her “right-hand writer” at CBS) and noted that, to his credit, he’d spoken out against some of the Trumpian chauvinism on Madam Secretary, “male writers have blind spots.”
Describing her time at the network, Couric said: “While I was at CBS, I read copy written by one of my male colleagues describing Hillary Clinton in a way that struck me as subtly sexist. I asked my team, ‘Would you describe a male candidate this way?’ We rewrote it.”
“‘CBS Evening News’ has been in third place for decades. While I couldn’t move the needle during my time as anchor, I had hoped to open minds,” Couric concluded. “Traditional broadcast news may be waning, but more than half of the viewing population should still demand more from the industry. Until then, once again, nightly network newscasts are the purview of a few good men.”
