Katherine Anne Couric
( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, she was
Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host at all of the
Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an assignment editor for
CNN. She worked for
NBC News from 1989 to 2006,
CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and
ABC News
ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
from 2011 to 2014. In 2021, she appeared as a guest host for the game show ''
Jeopardy!'', the first woman to host the flagship American version of the show in its history.
In addition to her roles in television news, Couric hosted ''
Katie'', a
syndicated
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
daytime talk show produced by
Disney–ABC Domestic Television from September 2012 to June 2014. Some of her most important presenting roles include co-host of ''
Today'',
anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ...
of the ''
CBS Evening News'', and as a correspondent for ''
60 Minutes''. Couric's 2011 book, ''The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives'', was a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestseller. In 2004, Couric was inducted into the
Television Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Katherine Anne Couric was born in
Arlington, Virginia, the daughter of Elinor Tullie (née Hene),
a
homemaker
Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a hous ...
and part-time writer, and John Martin Couric, Jr., a
public relations executive and
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
editor at ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' and the
United Press in Washington, D.C. Her mother was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and converted to
Presbyterianism before the marriage. Couric's maternal grandparents, Bert Hene and Clara L. Frohsin, were the children of Jewish emigrants from Germany. Couric's father had
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
English,
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
, and
German ancestry. She was raised Presbyterian.
In a report for ''Today'', she traced her patrilineal ancestry back to a French
orphan who immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century and became a broker in the cotton business.
Couric attended
Arlington Public Schools: Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Middle School, and
Yorktown High School,
[Ask the Expert: Katie Couric]
''Power to Learn''. Cablevision. and was a
cheerleader. As a high school student, she was an intern at Washington, D.C.
all-news radio station
WAVA. She enrolled at her father's alma mater, the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
, in 1975 and was a
Delta Delta Delta sorority sister. Couric served in several positions at UVA's award-winning daily newspaper, ''
The Cavalier Daily''. During her fourth year at UVA, Couric was chosen to live as Senior Resident (SR) of
The Lawn, the heart of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...
's Academical Village. She graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in
American Studies.
Television career
Career beginnings
Couric's first job in 1979 was at the ABC News bureau in
Washington, D.C., later joining
CNN as an assignment editor. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for the then-CBS affiliate
WTVJ in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
.
During the following two years, she reported for
WRC-TV, the NBC owned- and -operated station in Washington, D.C., work which earned her an
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...
award and an
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
.
NBC
Couric joined ''
NBC News'' in 1989 as Deputy
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simpl ...
Correspondent. From 1989 to 1991, Couric was an anchor substitute. She filled in for
Bryant Gumbel as host of ''
Today'';
Jane Pauley and
Deborah Norville as co-anchor of ''Today'';
Boyd Matson,
Garrick Utley,
Mary Alice Williams, and
Maria Shriver as co-host of Sunday ''Today''; and
Connie Chung,
Bob Jamieson,
John Palmer, Norville,
Faith Daniels
Faith Daniels (born March 9, 1957) is an American television news anchor, reporter, and talk show host.
Early life
Daniels was born to an unwed mother and lived eight months in a Catholic orphanage before being adopted by Steven A. Skowronski, a ...
,
Margaret Larson
Margaret Larson (née Pelley; born February 24, 1958) is an American broadcast journalist and television presenter. Her most notable position was with NBC News. She worked as a foreign correspondent from 1990 to 1992 and news anchor from 1992 to 1 ...
and
Ann Curry as anchor of the former NBC News program ''
NBC News at Sunrise''. She also subbed for Daniels, Norville, and John Palmer as the news anchor on ''Today''.
During Couric’s ''Today'' interview with presidential candidate
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...
on June 11, 1992, viewer phone calls were included. She deflected his bewilderment when a phone caller slipped the following question by the program’s technical crew: “Have you ever had the desire to mind-meld with Howard Stern’s penis?”
Couric returned to NBC to co-host the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
opening ceremonies with
Mike Tirico
Mike Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's '' Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play an ...
, and to provide additional Winter
Olympic coverage and athlete interviews. During the opening ceremony she suggested, erroneously, that the Dutch use their skates as a normal mode of transportation during wintertime, prompting criticism and bemusement from the
U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands and others. Couric apologized that her intended compliment did not "come out" as intended, which the Embassy accepted, and invited her to the Netherlands for a tour.
''Today'' (1991–2006)
In 1989, Couric joined ''Today'' as national political correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991 when Norville went on maternity leave. Norville did not return and Couric became permanent co-anchor on April 5, 1991.
In 1994, she became co-anchor of ''
Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric''—an evening time weekly TV
newsmagazine with Tom Brokaw—which was later terminated and folded into part of ''
Dateline NBC'', where her reports appeared regularly and she was named the anchor. She remained at ''Today'' and NBC News for fifteen years until May 31, 2006, when she announced that she would be going to
CBS to anchor the CBS Evening News, becoming the first solo female anchor of the "big three" weekday nightly news broadcasts.
While at NBC, Couric occasionally filled in for
Tom Brokaw and
Brian Williams on ''NBC Nightly News''. From 1989 to 1993, Couric also filled in for
Maria Shriver and for
Garrick Utley and later
Brian Williams and
John Seigenthaler on the Weekend Edition of ''NBC Nightly News''. In addition, during her time on ''Today'', she served as a host of the annual
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for 14 years from 1991 to 2005. On June 17, 1997, Couric asked the ''Washington Post''’s
Bob Woodward about the
Clinton "Chinagate" scandal: "Are members of the media, do you think, Bob, too scandal-obsessed, looking for something at every corner?"
Couric hosted or worked on a number of news specials, like ''Everybody's Business: America's Children'' in 1995. Similar entertainment specials were ''Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade'' in 1993, and ''Harry Potter: Behind the Magic'' in 2001. Couric has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
. She has broadcast with
Bob Costas, beginning with the
2000 Summer Olympics.
Couric has interviewed many international political figures and celebrities, including presidents
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
,
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
,
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
,
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...
and
George W. Bush, and
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
Barbara Bush.
John F. Kennedy Jr. gave Couric his first and last interviews.
Couric has won multiple television reporting awards throughout her career, including the prestigious
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for her series ''Confronting Colon Cancer''. Couric has also interviewed former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair,
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (her first television interview),
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
author
J.K. Rowling, and
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...
.
On May 28, 2008, Couric made a return visit to ''
Today'' since leaving almost two years to the very day back on May 31, 2006. She made this appearance alongside her evening counterparts,
NBC Nightly News'
Brian Williams &
ABC World News'
Charles Gibson, to promote an organization called ''
Stand Up to Cancer'' and raise cancer awareness on all three major television networks;
ABC,
CBS &
NBC. Couric,
Gibson and
Williams made appearances together on all three major network morning shows, first on
CBS's ''
Early Show'', then on
NBC's ''
Today'' and finally on
ABC's ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
''.
Couric returned for a week-long stint as co-host of Today in January 2017 to mark
Matt Lauer's 20th anniversary as anchor of the program.
Move to CBS News
''CBS Evening News'' (2006–2011)
Couric announced on April 5, 2006, that she would be leaving ''Today''. CBS confirmed later the same day that Couric would become the new anchor and managing editor of ''
CBS Evening News''. Couric would also contribute to ''
60 Minutes'' and anchor prime-time news specials for CBS. Couric earned US$15 million per year while at CBS, a salary that made her the highest paid journalist in the world, a salary similar to Barbara Walters' at ABC. She made her first broadcast as anchor and managing editor of the ''CBS Evening News with Katie Couric'' on September 5, 2006.
CBS heavily promoted Couric's arrival at the network, hoping to revive the evening news format, but there were suggestions that it backfired. Although there was much interest during her first week as anchor, ''CBS Evening News'' remained a distant third in viewership, behind ''
ABC World News'' and ''
NBC Nightly News''. While Couric's ratings improved over her predecessor,
Bob Schieffer, ABC's
Charles Gibson widened World News' lead over Evening News.
Couric also announced CBS News's official projection for the
2008 United States Presidential Election.
The ''CBS Evening News with Katie Couric'' won the 2008 and 2009
Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast.
In 2009, Couric was awarded the Emmy Governor's Award for her broadcasting career.
[Se]
''The Governors' Award''
She has interviewed presidents, cabinet members, celebrities, and business executives around the world, including President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, Former President
George W. Bush, Former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice,
John Edwards just after the announcement that his then-wife Elizabeth's cancer had returned, Israeli Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni,
Norah Jones and
Michael J. Fox.
Couric led CBS News' coverage of the
2006 midterm elections, the 2008 Presidential election and conventions, and
2010 midterm elections
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's first term. Republicans ended unified Democratic control of Congress and the presidency by winning a majority in the H ...
. Couric was the first network anchor on the ground in
Port au Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
after the
2010 Haiti earthquake. After the
BP oil spill, Couric anchored from the Gulf Coast weekly and brought much attention to the disaster. She reported from
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
's
Tahrir Square during the
Egyptian Revolution in 2011. In April 2011, she led CBS News' coverage from London for the
.
Couric was the only solo female evening news anchor in the United States, until December 21, 2009, when
Diane Sawyer succeeded the retiring
Charles Gibson for ''
ABC World News''. Couric and Sawyer were previous rivals as the hosts of ''
Today'' and ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', respectively.
In early 2011, Couric announced that she would be leaving her anchor post at ''CBS Evening News'' when her contract expired. Couric made her final broadcast in the ''CBS Evening News'' chair on Thursday, May 19, 2011.
''60 Minutes'' (2006–2011)
Couric was a ''
60 Minutes'' correspondent and contributed six to eight stories a year for the program. Notably, she was the first to interview pilot
Chesley Sullenberger after the
"Miracle on the Hudson" airplane landing. She also interviewed
Valerie Plame,
Robert Gates and
Michelle Rhee for the program.
Palin interviews (2008)
The
Sarah Palin interviews with Katie Couric were a series of interviews Couric taped with 2008 U.S.
Republican Vice Presidential nominee
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
. The interviews were repeatedly broadcast on television before the
2008 U.S. presidential election
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...
. Couric received the Walter Cronkite Award for Journalism Excellence for the interviews.
Steve Schmidt
Stephen Edward Schmidt (born September 28, 1970) is an American communications and public affairs strategist who worked on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
, McCain's senior campaign strategist and advisor, later reflected on the interview, saying "I think it was the most consequential interview from a negative perspective that a candidate for national office has gone through..."
[Steve Schmidt, Unplugged]
April 27, 2009 interview with Hugh Hewitt ( Townhall).
''CBS Reports'' (2009–2011)
Couric was the lead reporter for two ''
CBS Reports'' series, which aired across all
CBS News platforms. The first series, "CBS Reports: Children of the Recession", highlighted the pain suffered by the youngest of the then ongoing Great Recession's victims. The series won the
Columbia School of Journalism's
Alfred DuPont Award for Excellence in Journalism
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
. The second series, which aired in early 2010, was "CBS Reports: Where America Stands", which featured veteran CBS News correspondents reporting on major issues facing the United States in the decade ahead with research by the CBS News Polling Unit.
''@katiecouric'' (2009–2011)
Couric hosted a weekly, one-hour interview program on CBSNews.com. Her first guest was
Fox News Channel host
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
. Subsequent interviews have included former
Vice President Al Gore, actor
Hugh Jackman, recording artist
Shakira, First Lady
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
,
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
columnist
Thomas Friedman, singer
Justin Bieber, actress
Jane Lynch, talk show host
Ellen DeGeneres, actor
Daniel Radcliffe,
Bill Gates, former
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...
Chief of staff
Rahm Emanuel, national
Tea Party movement leader
Michael Johns, football player
Drew Brees, and author
Malcolm Gladwell.
Return to ABC News
ABC News (2011–2013)
From 2011 to 2013, Couric was a special correspondent for
ABC News
ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
, a role she has incorporated into her talk show. Her first appearance on the network was a
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 1 ...
interview on ''
Nightline
''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
''. Couric co-anchored coverage of the tenth anniversary of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, alongside
Diane Sawyer,
Christiane Amanpour,
Barbara Walters,
Elizabeth Vargas,
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos ( el, Γεώργιος Στεφανόπουλος ; born February 10, 1961) is an American television host, political commentator, and former Democratic advisor. Stephanopoulos currently is a coanchor with Robin Robe ...
, and
Robin Roberts
Robin Roberts may refer to:
* Robin Roberts (newscaster) (born 1960), ''Good Morning America'' anchor and former ESPN anchor
* Robin Roberts (baseball) (1926–2010), American baseball player
* Rockin' Robin Roberts (1940–1967), singer
See al ...
. Couric was hosting ''Today'' on ''
NBC'' at the time of the attacks, and led
CBS News's coverage of the fifth anniversary. Couric also guest co-hosted ''
The View'' and ''
Live! with Regis and Kelly''. Couric interviewed
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
in primetime on Thanksgiving as part of ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving''. In November 2011, Couric hosted a special primetime ABC news program highlighting
Regis Philbin's retirement, after Philbin's 25-year tenure at ABC.
Similar to colleague
Barbara Walters, Couric anchors specials for the network and for the
newsmagazine ''
20/20''. While she contributes to the news program all throughout the year, in 2011, Couric created her newly annual special ''The Year with Katie Couric'', which is a program that marks the end of the year and covers some of the biggest newsmakers and news events of that year. This is a collaboration with ''
People'' magazine, which also reflects events in the world of news, sports, politics, and major headlines that helped shape the world. This is very similar to that of Walters's iconic ''Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People'', a year end program that marks the end of the year and acknowledges the people that had the most impact on the year at hand with interviews on their perspective of the year. As part of the special, Couric interviews fellow members of the media that can provide some insight on some events that occurred.
From April 2 to 6, 2012, Couric substituted for co-anchor Robin Roberts on ABC's ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', her first stint at hosting a morning news show since leaving ''Today''.
''Katie'' (2012–2014)
On June 6, 2011,
ABC announced that Couric had signed a record US$40-million contract, and would begin hosting a daytime talk show for its
Disney-ABC Domestic Television arm that would debut in September 2012; Couric would also contribute to ABC News programming. On August 22, 2011, it was announced that Couric's talk show would be called ''
Katie''. ''Katie'' is the second web show that Couric has been affiliated with, the first being ''@katiecouric'' on the ''
CBS Evening News''. The first episode aired on September 10, 2012.
Couric has incorporated her affiliation with the ABC News Division with her ABC Daytime show by having news colleagues
Christiane Amanpour,
Deborah Roberts
Deborah Ann Roberts (born September 20, 1960) is an American television journalist for the ABC News division of the ABC broadcast television network.
Early life and education
Roberts was born in Perry, Georgia to Benjamin Roberts, a business ...
, Mike Boettcher, Matt Gutman, Richard E. Besser, Richard Besser, Marci Gonzalez, Jim Avila, Dan Abrams, Josh Elliott, Brian Ross (journalist), Brian Ross, ABC News weather anchors Sam Champion and Ginger Zee, as well as ''
ABC World News'' anchors Diane Sawyer and David Muir correspond on ''Katie'' for important news events. On the domestic end of her affiliation, Couric has had as guests ''The View'' co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan of ''Live! with Kelly and Michael'', as well as some cast members of the soap opera ''General Hospital''.
Disney-ABC Domestic Television renewed ''Katie'' for a second season starting in fall 2013. However, in October 2013, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' wrote that ''Katie'' was close to cancellation because of a low Q Score, low ratings, and a reported disdain of her core female audience. The syndicated show averaged a 1.7 household rating during its first season and a 1.8 in the 2013–14 season. In December 2013,
Disney–ABC Domestic Television announced that ''Katie'' had been canceled.
Production was scheduled to continue until June 2014.
Yahoo! / ABC News (2014–2017)
In November 2013, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announced she had hired Couric as Global Anchor of Yahoo! News. Couric debuted in the new role on January 13, 2014, in an interview with former United States Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates. She later interviewed United States Secretary of State John Kerry.
In March 2015, in an effort to collaborate and to consolidate their news pools, Yahoo News and
ABC News
ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
has expanded their partnership to include specials and features, with Couric and other Yahoo editors to appear in daily segments on ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
''. The extended partnership secured Couric as having a spot in the ABC News division, as a special contributor.
In her book ''Going There'', Couric admitted to editing a 2016 interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The edits included removing portions of Ginsburg's statements that were critical of NFL protestors kneeling during the national anthem. Couric stated that her intent was to "protect" Ginsburg from her potentially unpopular comments as they were "unworthy of a crusader for equality".
In June 2017, after Verizon purchased Yahoo! and combined it into Verizon Media, Oath, Couric decided to end her contract at Yahoo! News, preferring to work with them on a "project basis" only, while she continues to expand her own production company.
Public image
Couric was dubbed "America's Sweetheart," largely due to her co-anchor role for 15 years on ''Today (NBC program), The Today Show''. On May 12, 2003, Couric guest-hosted ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' as part of a swap campaign, and had 45 percent more viewers than on other nights. She has been the only guest host used by Jay Leno on either ''The Tonight Show'' or his short-lived ''The Jay Leno Show''. Leno filled in for her on ''Today'' that same day.
CNN and the New York ''Daily News (New York), Daily News'' noted that instead of using Leno's regular solid desk, "workers cut away the front of her desk to expose her legs while she interviewed ''American Idol'' judge Simon Cowell and ''Austin Powers (film series), Austin Powers'' star Mike Myers (actor), Mike Myers".
On July 21, 2021, in response to Piers Morgan's criticism of Simone Biles, Couric shared an image on Twitter that featured Piers Morgan alongside images of Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk (activist), Charlie Kirk with the text "Bullying successful women is a coping mechanism for a lot of mediocre men," overlaid across the image. In reply, Piers Morgan, called Couric's own history of alleged bullying into question when, on July 30, 2021, he tweeted "Hmmmmm... you really want to play the bully card?" and included a link to a September 25, 2014 story from the Inquisitr, titled "''Katie Couric A Bully, 'Terrorized' Co-Host Ann Curry On 'Today' Show''" in the tweet.
Other work
In a media crossover to animated film, Couric was the voice of news-reporter "Katie Current" in the US version of the film ''Shark Tale''. She has also made cameo appearances in ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (as a Georgia State Prison guard) and an episode of ''General Hospital'' (as a journalist pretending to be a doctor: a storyline she helped create). She guest-starred as herself on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' in 1992 and in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'' in late 2002, and made a cameo appearance on a ''Pawn Stars'' episode.
On May 12, 2003, she traded places for a day with ''Tonight Show'' host Jay Leno. Couric also co-hosted NBC's live coverage of
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1991 until 2005. She received the Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement in 2005. Couric delivered the graduation speech at her alma mater
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
on May 20, 2012, at Randolph-Macon College on June 1, 2013, and at Princeton University on June 1, 2009. She also works with Carmen Marc Valvo to help publicize the deadliness, yet preventability, of colorectal cancer. On May 16, 2010, Couric received an Honorary degree, honorary doctor of science degree for her efforts in raising awareness of colorectal cancer and for her commitment to advancing medical research from Case Western Reserve University, and later gave the university's 2010 convocation keynote address. In 2016, she starred as herself in Sully (film), ''Sully'' to recreate the ''60 Minutes'' interview for the film.
In 2011, she gave the university commencement speech at Boston University and was awarded another doctoral degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. She has also hosted a Sesame Street special, "When Families Grieve." The special, which aired on PBS on April 14, 2010, dealt with the issues that children go through when a parent dies. On February 6, 2011, Couric guest-starred on the post-Super Bowl XLV, Super Bowl episode of ''Glee (TV series), Glee'', playing herself interviewing Sue Sylvester after the cheerleading team lost the championship. Sylvester sarcastically referred to Couric as "Diane Sawyer" during the segment.
Couric is the author of two children's books and a non-fiction collection of essays. Her children's books ''The Brand New Kid'' (2000) and ''The Blue Ribbon Day'' (2004) were illustrated by Marjorie Priceman and published by Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday. ''The Brand New Kid'' topped the The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' best seller list for children's picture books, and was adapted into a 2006 musical by Melanie Marnich and Michael Friedman (composer), Michael Friedman. Couric's third book, ''The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives'', was published by Random House in 2011. The book is a collection of essays compiled over the past year by Couric; contributors include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Queen Rania of Jordan, and former ''Today Show'' colleague
Matt Lauer. Couric said that a 2010 convocation keynote address she gave inspired her to write the book. To this end, all profits of the book will be donated to Scholarship America.
In December 2013, Couric ran a segment on the HPV vaccine
which critics accused of being too sympathetic to the scientifically unsupported claims that this vaccine was dangerous.
For example, Seth Mnookin accused her broadcast of employing false balance. In addition, Alexandra Sifferlin, of ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine, compared Couric to Jenny McCarthy, a well-known anti-vaccine celebrity.
On December 10, 2013, a week after the original segment was aired, Couric posted an article on ''The Huffington Post'' responding to this criticism, in which she stated:
Throughout the 2010s, Couric served as executive producer on several films. In 2014, Couric was an executive producer and narrator for the documentary ''Fed Up (film), Fed Up'', examining the food industry and obesity in the United States. In 2016, Couric was an executive producer and narrator for the documentary ''Under the Gun'', examining Gun violence in the United States, gun violence and gun control in the United States. The documentary was criticized for having an eight-second pause for "dramatic effect" inserted instead of the answer given to a question Couric posed to a gun-rights group in Virginia. Couric posted a response on the documentary's website stating, "I take responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)", and she included a transcript of the response she received. Later that year, the VCDL filed a defamation lawsuit for $12 million against Couric and the film's director, Stephanie Soechtig, for continuing to promote and distribute the film without correcting the pause. The lawsuit was dismissed after a Virginia judge determined that the film scene was neither false nor defamatory. In 2015 Couric founded Katie Couric Media, a film production company which has partnered with National Geographic to produce several documentaries. The first of these, ''Gender Revolution'', premiered in 2017. She was also an executive producer of ''Flint (film), Flint'', a 2017 Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime drama about the Flint water crisis, Flint, Michigan, water crisis. In 2018, Couric hosted a docudrama series titled ''America Inside Out with Katie Couric'', which was telecast on the National Geographic Channel.
Couric is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of
the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
In 2019, she served as executive producer on Netflix's true crime miniseries Unbelievable (miniseries), ''Unbelievable''.
Couric signed on to serve as a substitute host of ''
Jeopardy!'' in January 2021 following the death of Alex Trebek. Her episodes aired from March 8 to March 19.
Personal life and charitable work
Family and relationships
Couric married attorney John Paul "Jay" Monahan III in 1989.
She gave birth to their first daughter, Elinor Tully "Ellie" Monahan,
in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 1991; their second daughter, Caroline "Carrie"
was born in New York City on January 5, 1996. Her husband died of colorectal cancer in 1998 at the age of 42.
In September 2013, she became engaged to financier John Molner after a two-year relationship.
Couric married Molner in a small, private ceremony at her home in The Hamptons on June 21, 2014. The two star in the online cooking series ''Full Plate with Katie & John'', appearing on the Sur La Table website.
Her sister Emily Couric, a Virginia Democratic Party (United States), Democratic state senator, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54 on October 18, 2001. Couric gave a eulogy at the funeral. She pointed out that it irritated Emily when people asked her if she was Katie Couric's sister. She told the mourners, "I just want you to know I will always be proud to say 'I am Emily Couric's sister'." Couric has two other siblings, Clara Couric Batchelor and John M. Couric, Jr.
In 2010, Couric attended a dinner party at the house of convicted sex offender socialite Jeffrey Epstein alongside Chelsea Handler, Woody Allen, Charlie Rose, Prince Andrew, Eva Andersson-Dubin and
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos ( el, Γεώργιος Στεφανόπουλος ; born February 10, 1961) is an American television host, political commentator, and former Democratic advisor. Stephanopoulos currently is a coanchor with Robin Robe ...
. The party was reportedly Couric's only encounter with Epstein.
During the January 15, 2021 appearance on ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', Couric revealed that she is distantly related to William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States.
Cancer and advocacy
On September 28, 2022, Couric revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer on June 21 of that year after a routine screening. She underwent surgery for the disease in July and began radiation treatment on September 7.
Couric had become a spokeswoman for colon cancer awareness ever since her first husband had died from the disease. She underwent a colonoscopy on-air in March 2000, and, according to a study published in 2003 in ''JAMA Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine'', may have inspired many others to get checked as well: "Katie Couric's televised colon cancer awareness campaign was temporarily associated with an increase in colonoscopy use in two different data sets. This illustrates the possibility that a well-known individual can draw attention and support to worthwhile causes." On October 7, 2005, as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Couric broadcast her own mammography, mammogram on the ''Today'' show, in the hopes of recreating the "Couric Effect" around the issue of breast cancer.
She also was very active in the National Hockey League's Hockey Fights Cancer campaign, appearing in some public service announcements and doing voice-overs for several others.
Couric was the honored guest at the 2004 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation fall gala. As the Guest of Honor for the inaugural American Cancer Society Discovery Ball, Couric was recognized for her leadership in increasing cancer awareness and screening. In 2011, Couric became the Honorary National Chair of the National Parkinson Foundation's Moving Day campaign, a grassroots campaign to spotlight Parkinson's disease awareness on a national level. Couric's father died in 2011 at age 90 from complications due to Parkinson's disease.
Bibliography
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See also
* New Yorkers in journalism
References
Sources
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* Weller, Sheila (2015). ''The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News''.
* NBC News April 26, 2011
External links
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Katie Couric blogat ''The Huffington Post''
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