Debate Over Mt. Hood Widow Interview
Reactions to the piece, in the comments section of both the Web version of the story and Couric's blog post on the subject, have been mixed. Some lauded the interview. One commenter, vriss, called it "one of the best interviews I have ever seen on TV." Wrote blrichard: "I liked the interview. It was really a personal story that I think was meant to allow the audience to feel 'connected' to the news. Sometimes it is just better to see the faces and stories behind the news headlines, not just read what happened."
But many commenters were critical.
"I was absolutely appalled watching you spend nearly half of tonight's newscast broadcasting the interview with Karen James. Surely she has suffered a tremendous tragedy and my heart goes out to her," wrote bmangham. "But dedicating half a newscast to the death of one individual who died voluntarily doing something he loved is disgusting. This display of sensationalist broadcasting is spectacularly inappropriate at a time when thousands of people are dying in Iraq, or retuning from war horribly injured and maimed - a daily occurrence that's sure to continue for many months."
Here's pgage: "With all due respect, the prospect of Katie Couric interviewing someone like one of the 'Mt Hood Widows' (a term which itself is repulsive) epitomizes what I most feared when I learned she was taking over the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News. This seems like the kind of voyeuristic sensationalism that is the staple of the Morning shows, with no real news value. Ms. Couric has shown that she is capable of doing better, and I hope that she does."
I contacted "Evening News" Executive Producer Rome Hartman for his thoughts, but he has thus far not responded to the request. We will amend this post with his comments if and when he provides them. It was, we should note, a slow news day yesterday, one in which Donald Trump's latest publicity stunt was among the top stories at many media outlets. That left more room for the "Evening News" to devote so much time to the interview.
But a slow news day can also be an opportunity – a chance to bring viewers undercovered stories and provide greater context to them. That the "Evening News" opted instead to run the lengthy James interview has left some viewers unhappy. "[Other tragic stories] are just as important as this one, but of course they can't all occupy 10 minutes of the Evening News," wrote scwebster. "This story should not have either."