With a stellar journalism career that has netted her the 2008 and 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast and the 2009 Walter Cronkite Award, it's hard to imagine anyone telling Katie Couric that she could never cut it as a journalist.
But the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News said at the Women's Conference in Long Beach that she had to face criticism early in her career, including from a news director who said she could only make it as an anchor "in a really, really, really small market."
Couric said it was Tim Russert, the late NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press, who gave her a chance. He told her he had admired her work, especially the way she pounded Marion Barry, the mayor of Washington D.C. at the time, "like a pit bull hot on the trail of an alley cat," she remembered Russert saying.
"He told me that I had spunk and unlike Lou Grant, he liked spunk," she recalled.
His encouragement led Couric onto a successful path, from being a deputy Pentagon correspondent to subbing for the NBC Nightly News to anchoring the Today Show.
She eventually ran into that discouraging news director and reminded him about the "really, really small market" comment.
"And then (I) inquired sweetly if he considered the entire nation a small enough market," she said.
Couric said she learned a lesson from that experience, which has changed the way she now looks at the underrated co-worker or the enthusiastic intern.
"It takes one person, just one person, to see something special in someone else," Couric said. "My mom used to say, 'Everybody needs a cheerleader,' and in my career, that was Tim, and that changed everything."
But the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News said at the Women's Conference in Long Beach that she had to face criticism early in her career, including from a news director who said she could only make it as an anchor "in a really, really, really small market."
Couric said it was Tim Russert, the late NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press, who gave her a chance. He told her he had admired her work, especially the way she pounded Marion Barry, the mayor of Washington D.C. at the time, "like a pit bull hot on the trail of an alley cat," she remembered Russert saying.
"He told me that I had spunk and unlike Lou Grant, he liked spunk," she recalled.
His encouragement led Couric onto a successful path, from being a deputy Pentagon correspondent to subbing for the NBC Nightly News to anchoring the Today Show.
She eventually ran into that discouraging news director and reminded him about the "really, really small market" comment.
"And then (I) inquired sweetly if he considered the entire nation a small enough market," she said.
Couric said she learned a lesson from that experience, which has changed the way she now looks at the underrated co-worker or the enthusiastic intern.
"It takes one person, just one person, to see something special in someone else," Couric said. "My mom used to say, 'Everybody needs a cheerleader,' and in my career, that was Tim, and that changed everything."
Paul Eakins reports on Long Beach City Hall, and local and regional
politics. A newcomer to the Press-
Kris Hanson reports on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,
covering environmental issues, economic triumphs and
pitfalls and trade trends of America’s largest port.
He also writes a weekly column “On The Waterfront”,
appearing Tuesdays, and also produces an occassional video
and column titled “On The Job,” which follows the hard-working
men and women who keep Southern California’s economy humming.
Karen Robes Meeks came to work for the Press-
Leave a comment