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August 30, 2006 9:50 AM

Look Honey, They Shrunk The Anchor

Posted by Vaughn Ververs
(CBS)
Considering it appeared in a promotional magazine for the network, the fact someone at CBS apparently decided to touch up a photo of incoming anchor Katie Couric to make her look a little smaller isn’t the biggest scandal in journalism. Forgive us for not obsessing over it. Still, it’s not something that looks particularly good for a news organization. CBS News says it was done without the knowledge of Couric or the network. CBS News President Sean McManus says he was “disappointed,” and the New York Daily News has the story.

Update: There have been some complaints that the TVNewser blog was not credited in this post for originally raising the photo issue. Indeed, the issue was first featured there. The reason for linking to another story in this post was that the Daily News was the first place I saw reaction from CBS News, which took the story further.
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Couric
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CBS News Issues
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by oxyopia_ August 31, 2006 8:12 PM EDT
Katie Couric, with extra pounds or without, with makeup or without, is the most beautiful lady in the world. Always has been and always will be. In addition, Katie has tremendous talent in seeing through the administrations propaganda and telling it as it is. One of the many differences between Katie Couric and you haters is that Katie has an open mind, where you obviously have empty minds. We should be begging her to accept the Presidency of the U.S.A. and restoring the U.S. to an honest country that is respected again.
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by August 30, 2006 8:14 PM EDT
Isn't this really from TVNewser? Why not give him credit?
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by johnwesthoff August 30, 2006 7:08 PM EDT
Show me a cover photograph of any female celeb that has NOT been touched up. This is standard practice. So what.
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by mattcat25 August 30, 2006 5:41 PM EDT
So, this is how Oprah Winfrey does it...

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by jbkalt August 30, 2006 5:37 PM EDT
You're right, it's not worth obsessing over. Still, it seems to be making the rounds quite quickly today, as it did yesterday, when TV Newser first reported the story.
As is now being lamented all over the blogosphere, most of the mainstream media, including this CBS blog, has failed to credit TV Newser. It's an influential blog that a lot of people read and they truly broke the "story."
Give credit where credit is due.
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by lisadudley August 30, 2006 5:10 PM EDT
how sad that a woman as lovely as Kati Couric is still deemed unacceptable by the men who run media. What does that tell the rest of us who struggle with accepting our bodies?
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by batmanic-2009 August 30, 2006 4:51 PM EDT
Who cares about body image when you've got a hard-nosed, no-nonsense, investigative journalist as your anchor? Like Cronkite and Murrow were. Like an injured Kimberly Dozier is.

As far as making the news more perky, I think Mary Hart might have been available - and she might have been cheaper. Those hard-hitting reports at the Oscars were pretty dangerous....
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by rdepontb August 30, 2006 3:36 PM EDT
Ms. Couric is a good looking woman, with or without a few pounds one way or the other. No big deal if the photo folks want to touch up some details unless those details include either actual devil's horns or angel's wings.

My own body image problem is that I constantly see myself as thin. No one has called me or my organizational to task about it. Good luck to Katie and all of reporting; a good place to pause and revisit why they're all there.
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by ddblackstone August 30, 2006 3:12 PM EDT
CBS clearly has an affinity for misleading the public. First, Rather and Mapes are caught red-handed trying to pass off fake documents and offering rather thin excuses. Now, without one thought about its already dismal reputation, CBS knowingly fakes up a picture of someone they want to pass off as having credibility, honesty and gravitas. Just goes to show how dishonest, hypocritical and psychopath-bordering the management and staff at CBS News is.

Murrow is spinning and kicking......Good Job, CBS....nothing you ever say or do is to ever be taken seriously. CBS News apparently thought it was simply to boring and below them to report the news....now they think they are entitled to create the news. What an arrogant and ignorant company.

DDB
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by kkbxo123 August 30, 2006 2:57 PM EDT
Taking into consideration Ms. Couric's "attention to detail" I'm highly doubtful that Watch's editorial team took any pounds off without having received some direction. My first thought is that none of us should continue to be surprised at the horrifically growing number of people with body-image issues, and related illnesses. My second thought is of how much respect and credibility Couric might have gained by coming out with a more carefully worded statement. Finally, regardless of the millions spent to make us think otherwise, my bet is that the CBS Nightly News is soon to be nothing more than a high-gloss version of the entertainment shows that follow the broadcast. Now THAT'S what I call a loss.
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