Meet the Real Katie Couric

CBS’s New Star Adores Liberals, Scolds Conservatives — And Thinks America Should Be More Like France

Executive Summary

2006-06-22-CBSENKatiepromoAfter more than two decades in which Dan Rather used his CBS Evening News anchor desk as a soapbox to punish conservatives and promote liberals — years in which the Evening News tumbled from the undisputed ratings leader to a poor third place among the nightly newscasts — CBS has elevated Katie Couric, the longtime co-host of NBC’s Today, to sit as Rather’s permanent replacement.

In TV ads promoting Couric’s arrival, outgoing interim anchor Bob Schieffer claimed: "She’s tough, she’s fair, she’s a straight-shooter....Just watch." But meeting with TV critics in early July, Couric suggested a desire to supplant journalistic objectivity with activism. "There are cases where we can be more solution-oriented," Couric proposed.

If her track record is a reliable guide, any policy "solutions" promoted by the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric will likely consist of tiresome liberal clichés: greater burdens on private business, more spending, more taxes and a bigger role for government. Media Research Center analysts have documented Couric’s liberal slant since the day she started on Today back in 1991. Over the years, Couric has embraced liberal politicians, admired Europe’s nanny states, and harshly castigated conservatives in general and the religious right in particular.

Couric’s years on Today have seen her liberal skew on full display. This report presents a detailed accounting of the kind of bias that’s likely to greet viewers of the CBS Evening News starting in September.

See Also:

"Katie Couric: Profile in Bias"

(8/30/07) Media Reality Check: "New Network, Same Old Biased Katie"

(9/4/07) "From CyberAlerts, Couric's First Year: Her 30 Most-Biased Moments"