The continued demise of CBS News

Edward R. Murrow.
Walter Cronkite.
Dan Rather.
Katie Couric.

What is wrong with that list?

Messrs. Murrow, Cronkite and Rather have all rubbed me wrong at some point in time for their blatantly political campaigns loosely disguised as newscasts. In the case of Mr. Rather, it rightfully cost him his job.

But each of those individuals has also shown the ability to be a serious newsman, bringing into the homes of millions of Americans some of the hardest-hitting stories of their eras, and always doing it with dignity. Mr. Rather may have fallen during an election, but on 9/11, at the end of the Cold War and even standing at the eye of a powerful hurricane, he was always impressive, fair and decent to the people who tuned in to his newscast.

Meanwhile, Messrs. Murrow and Cronkite are both legends unto themselves, the men who made CBS News the onetime powerhouse it was, and then men who Americans could trust the most in an era when news only came in two formats: six columns wide and thirty minutes long.

I don’t for a second object to a female anchor – it is a move long past due. Rather, I object to Katie Couric. After 15 years of morning show garbage highlighted by softball interviews, mediocre product spots and B-list author chitchats, I just wonder how it is that she is qualified to be the new managing editor of CBS News.

An anchor is both a newsman and a television personality, but the former quality ought to always outweigh the latter. In Mr. Couric’s case, these standards are entirely backwards, as a valuable smile seems to now matter more in the halls of CBS than veteran reporting status or political intellect.

Don’t look now, but the Tiffany Network just settled for silver plating.