Again, I am telling you that a large number of people believe she is agenda driven for the political left. This isn't 8th grade or debate class. It doesn't matter if you or I agree or disagree. The opinion I'm giving you isn't about whether it's true. I'm simply stating that it's a problem stacked against her, and whether you believe me or not, I am convinced it's a big part of why her anchorship of the CBS Evening News has failed miserably.

My point was to tell you all that a great many people are aware of her politics, and will never give her an inch if she declares herself to be an objective journalist. Which, by the way, I don't believe she has actually made overtures to suggest anyway, which I also said already. I don't get the feeling that she cares about it. Maybe it's a holdover from the morning show mentality, where there was less need to maintain (and convince the audience about) journalistic integrity, strictly speaking. But I think it's fair to say that CBS doesn't care about it, either. Like kar said, they've pushed the perky, cute, pretty woman angle.

Yes, Couric has her causes and her viewpoints but, to my knowledge, she's never roundhoused the CBS Evening News to fit her views. I think a lot of people actually wish she would, by shoehorning her celebrity in with her worldview to almost impose a bully pulpit, but I truly think she's more professional than that.

In this day and age however, quality journalism and news reportage is hard to gauge. If you're doing it, and doing it well, it is an invisible trick. You sense it, but it's not screaming at you and, unfortunately, you don't get the complete impact of one's talents until they're recalled in memoriam, as many will see with Tim Russert. However, we certainly know when we're getting heavy slant. There is a reason why Fox News has become a butt of the joke. They're flashy, boisterous and (gag) in-your-face, true attention whores across the board. Those who do their jobs well cannot be immediately recognized while the class clown are making fart noises with their armpits.

This is America; it's fine, she can do whatever she wants. But there's a sizeable portion of the American viewing public who is not going to buy her as a hard news anchor, because they are already acutely aware of her political bias.

Look at the difference in the across-the-board support for Tim Russert this week (may God rest his soul). He specifically went out of his way to prove he wasn't going to carry his former political career into his television news career. People respect that in a journalist who wishes to be considered unbiased. Call me old school, too, but I'm with Tim.

No wonder it failed.

Any other time they would've designed a campaign to emphasize her experience and credibility as a journalist. Run lots of clips of past “tough” interviews and montages of her being on the air for decades.

No interviews with the fentertainment shows about how this is a natural progression for a seasoned pro in the business for years, no big interviews hghlighting her experience in hardcore television journalism. The talk was about the novelty of having a woman as an anchor, not a trusted news personality that America could embrace.

I don't think that America would've balked if they'd sold her differently or played on her creditials. Instead they positioned her as Deborah Norville, not Cokie Roberts.