What’s the purpose of Katie Couric‘s summer tour?
“It’s an attempt to hear from regular folks on a whole broad range of things that will help us make decisions on how we can better serve our viewers,” CBS Evening News EP Rome Hartman tells the AP.
In addition to Denver, Katie is coming to San Diego on July 14, according to KFMB. (“No lights, no cameras, just your opinions,” they say.) Then she’s coming to San Francisco on July 17, according to KPIX. Three down three to go…
> David Bauder says “the idea seems reminiscent of the ‘listening tour’ around New York state embarked upon by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was considering launching her 2000 Senate campaign…”
Click continued to read one e-mailer’s complaint that Katie is sticking to the big cities…
An e-mailer asks: “Why is it when a media megaphone wants to “talk to people in the community about what issues are of interest to them” it’s always a big city. Why not spend a day in a small North Carolina town like Hope Mills, Boone, Wilmington or Gastonia? Do we not have interesting opinions? Or are our hotels too small? I swear we have limo service here. We promise you’ll feel at home Katie. This is simply the television equivilant of a book tour. Katie gets her ego stroked, CBS gets a promo tour, and the local populance gets to feel like someone gives a crap about “the issues that interest them” so they’ll tune in. Once the five cities are announced, it’d be interesting to research CBS ratings there. Nothing like the perky one visiting the unwashed to get those TVs clicking.”