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Old 09-July-2007, 04:55 AM
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Default Katie "Sputum" Couric

According to story that will come out in New York magazine tomorrow, Katie Couric threw a hissy, slapping fit about the word "sputum". She doesn't like it apparently, and threw the tantrum when an editor inserted the word in a story about tuberculosis. They said she began slapping him furiously on his arm.

Sounds like a Monty Python skit. Anyway, if you happen to stumble across her, just say "sputum!" and see what happens............

-Richard
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Old 09-July-2007, 05:24 AM
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According to story that will come out in New York magazine tomorrow, Katie Couric threw a hissy, slapping fit about the word "sputum". She doesn't like it apparently, and threw the tantrum when an editor inserted the word in a story about tuberculosis. They said she began slapping him furiously on his arm.

Sounds like a Monty Python skit. Anyway, if you happen to stumble across her, just say "sputum!" and see what happens
Uh, no thanks. I don't want any of her sputum coming my way when she goes ballistic ...
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Old 09-July-2007, 09:25 AM
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According to story that will come out in New York magazine tomorrow, Katie Couric threw a hissy, slapping fit about the word "sputum". She doesn't like it apparently, and threw the tantrum when an editor inserted the word in a story about tuberculosis. They said she began slapping him furiously on his arm.

Sounds like a Monty Python skit. Anyway, if you happen to stumble across her, just say "sputum!" and see what happens............

-Richard
If it will come out in New York mag tomorrow, how did you find out about it?

I'm not doubting--just asking.

I've never liked Couric. She's too damn perky for me.
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Old 09-July-2007, 02:16 PM
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Pythonesque, indeed. Maybe she thought it meant something else.
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Old 09-July-2007, 02:34 PM
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I used to work in news and here's the deal:

Almost EVERY anchor (male and female) throws hissy fits.

Their egos are what gets them their jobs; not journalistic talent... that went out of the 'news business' long ago.

(been around too many of 'em....)
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Old 09-July-2007, 03:41 PM
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Heh.. I first read the thread title as "Katie 'Scutum' Couric." Silly to hope it was a positive, astronomy related story.... anyway...

I don't get it, though. So you don't like a word - why would you throw a fit? The whole thing sounds ridiculous!

CJSF
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Old 09-July-2007, 03:49 PM
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I don't get it, though. So you don't like a word - why would you throw a fit?
This is the first I've heard of this, but my guess would be that it showed up on her teleprompter and she tripped over it on-air. I can see how that would make her mad, because it might have made her look stupid.

It's also possible that this whole story is just a made up hit piece. She seems to be a popular target right now.
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Old 09-July-2007, 03:53 PM
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Yeah, I mean I was thinking maybe she tripped over it and was maybe part embarrassed and smacked the editor or whomever kind of in mock anger like "what do you think you're doing, putting in a word like that!" But if she really and honestly got that upset, she needs some valium or a vacation.

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Old 09-July-2007, 04:14 PM
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What's a Sputum?
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Old 09-July-2007, 04:21 PM
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Their egos are what gets them their jobs; not journalistic talent... that went out of the 'news business' long ago.
"Journalistic"..."Talent"...




I recognize the words, but why did you put them next to each other?...
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Old 09-July-2007, 04:31 PM
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"Journalistic"..."Talent"...




I recognize the words, but why did you put them next to each other?...
damn you, you beat me to it
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Old 09-July-2007, 05:44 PM
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And here it is:

Katie Couric Learns What Happens When Great Expectations Go Unmet -- New York Magazine

How did I find out? I'm in the grapevine.

Seriously, they leak this stuff all over the place to build hype, and the targets of these stories can even start damage control early to try to minimize impact. I happened to read it from an political e-mail "newsflash" thing I subscribe to.

-Richard
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Old 09-July-2007, 05:50 PM
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Pfft. This is what happens when the people who read the news become more important than the events they're reporting. Chalk it up to our Celebrity Culture. Anyone who is functionally literate can do the job, but they had to pay extra for a "name".
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Old 09-July-2007, 06:08 PM
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Les Moonves got pimpslapped with the reality that evening news people actually want real information, not fluff. Couric is all fluff.
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Old 09-July-2007, 06:26 PM
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I wrote this last year in the "Here Comes Katie ..." thread:
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Originally Posted by Celestial Mechanic
I tuned in at about 10 before the hour and caught the middle of her plug for the "Free Speech" feature. After that she introduced the new "Snapshots" feature and trotted out baby pictures of Prince Charles. She's trying to turn the evening news into a fluffy morning show! I tuned out in disgust.

BTW, I spent more time at Nancy "Planet X" Lieder's site than on Katie's program. Katie gets a thumbs down from me.
I think I'm going to have to subject myself to the whole half-hour of her show to see if she's improved any. Unless I start coughing up sputum and phlegm and hairballs, that is. (Yum!)
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Old 09-July-2007, 07:29 PM
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Why is it that every time I read about Les Moonves, this guy comes to mind?

From the great Turkey Drop episode:

"It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R... P!! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this!"
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Old 09-July-2007, 07:54 PM
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As God as his witness, he thought she could broadcast.
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Old 09-July-2007, 09:00 PM
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What's a Sputum?
I believe it's the Russian term for satellite.

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Old 09-July-2007, 10:23 PM
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Interesting... I know what sputum is but I have no idea what a Katie Couric is...<quickly Googles>... Oh, she's one of those. You'd think someone married to a colon cancer victim would be a little less sensitive.
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Old 09-July-2007, 11:20 PM
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Interesting... I know what sputum is but I have no idea what a Katie Couric is...<quickly Googles>... Oh, she's one of those. You'd think someone married to a colon cancer victim would be a little less sensitive.
Nah, she's one of those metrofeminine types that suffers from an overactive "ick factor" gene.
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Old 10-July-2007, 04:48 AM
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Their egos are what gets them their jobs; not journalistic talent... that went out of the 'news business' long ago.
I don't know, did it have all that much to do with it even long ago? "Yellow journalism" and "muckraking" are both old terms.

And I guess ego has something to do with it, but it can't be all of it. Lots of people have big egos. A nice face, good voice, composure are all important. Kind of like what makes a good president in the TV age.
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Old 10-July-2007, 06:11 AM
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I don't know, did it have all that much to do with it even long ago? "Yellow journalism" and "muckraking" are both old terms.

And I guess ego has something to do with it, but it can't be all of it. Lots of people have big egos. A nice face, good voice, composure are all important. Kind of like what makes a good president in the TV age.
In the U.S., it did seem for a brief time that TV news reporters (if not the news business in general) at least seemed like they were trying for journalistic integrity and/or objectivity. Those days are long past.

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A nice face, good voice, composure are all important.
As for appearance, newsreaders used to be chosen for their percieved journalistic cred, their avuncular and trustworty-looking appearance (trustyness?) and deep voices. Now they're talking heads chosen in the same way as any TV celebrity commodity. Just a shift in priorities, no deeper thatn before

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Kind of like what makes a good president in the TV age.
No, no, a thousand times no. That's what makes an electable president. What makes a good president has never changed-- good leadership, period.
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Old 10-July-2007, 06:31 AM
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You know, I had forgotten about it, but do you all remember Katie's Photoshop diet:

National Ledger - Katie Couric Photoshop Diet

Some of the PR people at CBS pulled that little stunt.

-Richard
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Old 10-July-2007, 07:17 AM
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You could've at least told us it was on the bottom of page seven.
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The stress has caused her to blow up at her staff for small infractions on the set. During the tuberculosis story in June, Couric got angry with news editor Jerry Cipriano for using a word she detested—“sputum”—and the staff grew tense when she began slapping him “over and over and over again” on the arm, according to a source familiar with the scene. It had seemed like a joke at first, but it quickly became clear that she wasn’t kidding.

“I sort of slapped him around,” Couric admits. “I got mad at him and said, ‘You can’t do this to me. You have to tell me when you’re going to use a word like that.’ I was aggravated, there’s no question about that.” But she says she has a good relationship with Cipriano. “We did ban the word sputum from all future broadcasts. It became kind of a joke.”
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Old 10-July-2007, 01:12 PM
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Default Re: Katie "Sputum" Couric

To join the cholus, who's Katie Colic?

The female star of some new sputum-up?
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Old 10-July-2007, 01:38 PM
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In the U.S., it did seem for a brief time that TV news reporters (if not the news business in general) at least seemed like they were trying for journalistic integrity and/or objectivity. Those days are long past.
Still a few out there, you just have to avoid the main broadcasts and get into the special reports. The talking heads are typically pretty useless, but the field reporters have some shred of the old school within them.
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Old 10-July-2007, 07:51 PM
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In the U.S., it did seem for a brief time that TV news reporters at least seemed like they were trying for journalistic integrity and/or objectivity...
And to think, I was out drinking that night
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Old 10-July-2007, 09:30 PM
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Anyone else wonder what Edward R. Murrow's grave RPMs are up to these days?
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Old 11-July-2007, 12:00 AM
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You could've at least told us it was on the bottom of page seven.
That would spoil the tease, and you wouldn't have read the whole thing. Which is why they do that. Just do like I do, and read backwards.

That's also generally where they put the caveats and yeah-buts. You may see a sensational sounding headline, and an equally sensational first paragraph, while the last paragraphs will tone down the hype with the reality.

-Richard
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Old 11-July-2007, 12:07 AM
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Anyone else wonder what Edward R. Murrow's grave RPMs are up to these days?
Not sure, but I suspect it would either demonstrate the existence of objects that can move faster than light, or could be the source of unlimited energy.
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