Public Eye
April 11, 2007 11:16 AM

More Details About "Couric & Co." Incident

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
CBS News Issues
(CBS)
Yesterday, I posted an item about the "Couric & Co." blog apologizing for an "omission" involving the April 4 installment of "Katie Couric's Notebook." The Notebook, which has been removed from the site, bore striking similarities to a Jeffrey Zaslow piece in the Wall Street Journal, though no acknowledgment was made of Zaslow's work.

Today, new details have been made public. The first, and most significant, is that a producer has been fired over the incident. In the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz compared passages from the Zaslow piece and the Notebook.

The Notebook, he noted, included this: "For kids today, the library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out." Zaslow, meanwhile, had written this: "The library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out."

There has also been some discussion of the language in the Editor's Note, specifically the use of the word "omission." Writes Regret The Error: "This is a case of plagiarism, not omission." The site also expresses "hope this incident will inspire CBS to create an online corrections page and policy." We discussed how CBS deals with corrections last year.

In the comments section of my initial post, joycewest wrote this: "I didn't realize Katie Couric didn't always write the 'Katie Couric's Notebook' herself. Maybe I am naive, assuming that 'Posted by' means 'Written by,' but I wonder how many other people didn't know that?"

Couric has significant involvement in the Notebooks, though she does not write all of them. Every week, she meets with producers to go over ideas and discuss possible themes. Sometimes, she then writes the pieces herself; in other cases, a producer writes them, after which Couric edits and tapes them. In the case of the April 4 piece, Couric was involved in choosing the topic, though she did not write the piece herself.

Newsweek reported that this "episode started last week, when Couric and the show's producers gathered for a regular weekly meeting to discuss possible topics for the 'Notebook.'" That's not the case: Couric was on vacation last week, and the April 4 Notebook was pre-taped to run while she was away.

Zaslow has said he is satisfied with CBS' handling of the incident. He is quoted in the Post saying CBS "been very gracious and apologetic, and we at the Journal appreciate it."

Add a Comment
by paddyboyy April 12, 2007 3:28 PM EDT
I'm wondering why you people would try to pass something off as being written by Couric when it wasn't.

I'm wondering why a JOURNALIST would allow her name to be associated with something she didn't write.

I'm wondering why you "JOURNALISTS" think it's OK to LIE to people!

Making people think something was written by Couric (or anyone else) when it isn't is a barefaced LIE. Why is plagiarism a big thing when it was all a LIE in the first place?
You people have your priorities all up your a$$e$.

My respect for Couric has gone down the toilet.

For God's sake STOP LYING TO YOUR VIEWERS!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by joycewest April 11, 2007 7:41 PM EDT
Thanks for the explanation, Brian. I don't think I have a particular problem with this process of having staffers help with the writing and producing of these pieces. However, I have to say that I don't think most people understand why staffers write anonymously for someone else, or why this policy isn't revealed upfront.
It reminds me of the typical newspaper's editorial page, where the unsigned editorial, written by a staffer, stands as the publisher's opinion, though the publisher did not write it.
A newspaper I worked for occasionally ran editorials from the mother newspaper as its own without saying so. One day a reader came in demanding to speak to the writer of a gun-rights editorial. The writer of course was not in our state, let alone our newsroom. I was a bit tongue-tied trying to explain the policy of "staff in another state wrote this, but it's our publisher's opinion too." It didn't go over well.
Reply to this comment
by dryden5 April 11, 2007 7:29 PM EDT
I'm surprised that CBS is not revealing the name of the producer. I would think that the public has a right to know.
Reply to this comment
by k-sozer April 11, 2007 5:23 PM EDT
Troubling though it might be, it's better than just making up the news and denying the obvious, the way Dan Rather did.
Reply to this comment
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