CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is featured in a lengthy, wide-ranging profile in Elle Magazine this month by Rebecca Traister.
Couric reflects on the famous Gov. Sarah Palin interview, that Traister writes, “will be cited for generations, that will likely lead Couric’s obituary.” Says Couric: “The truth of the matter is that…an interview like that doesn’t come around that often. [It was] one of the most important interviews I’ve ever done.”
Couric says she has no plans to leave the CBS Evening News, despite rumors last year she would after the election. “She took ownership of her broadcast in this election year,” says EP Rick Kaplan. “She was much more comfortable in the anchor chair; it belonged to her all of a sudden.”
She also talks about the criticism she’s received, and her mixed feelings about the idea it’s because she is a woman. “I still think the overwhelming image of women is, ‘Who looks better in this dress?’ she says, although noting, “I’m not one of those people who says it’s all sexism. I think there’s a whole confluence of reasons this transition was hard for me.”
In a rare interview, Ellie Monahan, Couric’s 17-year-old daughter is part of the piece as well. Click continued to see what she had to say about her mom…
By e-mail, 17-year-old Ellie Monahan tells me that one of her mother’s talents is her ability “to relate to people in a way that makes them feel like they’ve known her forever. Whether she’s interviewing a world leader or wounded (physically or mentally) veterans from Iraq, she acts completely NORMAL around them and makes them laugh. Her ability to make some of her most serious interviews casual while still retaining the professionalism they demand confounds me.”