Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik finds a journalism professor specializing in gender issues (also known generally in academic circles as studies in "Screw Off, Mister") at the University of Colorado at Boulder to advocate Couric's hard-news cred, and she's more than happy to throw Matt Lauer under the bus to do it:The question being asked again and again in one form or another: Does the broadcaster who rose to prominence in morning TV as the "girl next door" have the "gravitas" to anchor the nightly news? The answers, according to some analysts, might have as much to say about societal attitudes toward women in power as they do the talents of 49-year-old Couric.
"It's seems kind of unfair that the question is even being asked," says Marguerite Moritz, a professor of journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder who specializes in issues of gender.
Totally unfair to even question The Fluffy One's street cred? Really? Let's blame sexism and big bad patriarchal society for all Couric's issues, right? But wait, there's more:
...[T]he on-air moment that Moritz feels is most relevant came on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when Couric was at NBC's anchor desk as terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"If she has developed an image of being lighter-weight or softer, I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that she did most of her work at a morning show," Moritz says. "On the other hand, if you watched her as I did on Sept. 11, you saw her handle a big, big story for which there was no preparation. I mean, I've got the tapes, and they show her being completely in control. The person who had the harder time was [co-anchor] Matt Lauer. At times, he was struggling with his composure - while she was calm."
Well, there you go. When all else fails, throw somebody on the floor and step on them. You're guaranteed to rise at least a little bit.
