Various news sources have intimated that Katie Couric will be leaving her NBC Today Show slot to take up the Evening News anchor position at CBS.

CBS certainly needs someone to revitalize their newsroom given the past indiscretions of Dan Rather, but Base10 doesn't think Couric is the answer. While she does have some good qualities for a newscaster--she's pretty and somewhat witty--she definitely lacks the gravitas necessary for the job.

I could think of worse examples, but just this morning, she had Chris Mathews on about the withdrawal of Tom Delay from his Congressional race. (See below). Mathews--certainly no Base10 favorite, but obviously well prepared--launched into a careful analysis of Delay's Congressional district and likely candidates. Couric cut him off and said, "Wow, that's a lot of information first thing in the morning!" Maybe she'll do better at night.

The other thing that makes her a poor choice is that she has very poor interviewing skills. I don't think I've ever seen her do an interview that was not either a puff-piece where she failed to challenge the subject sufficiently or where she did seek to do a hatchet job on the person and failed miserably.

- posted by Base10 @ 8:20 AM