CBS prolongs our agony

Determined somehow to prove that an anchorman (or woman) is still a relevant profession in 2006, CBS has named Katie Couric, in the words of their press release, “Anchor and Managing Editor of The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC.” Note the nearly (or actually) pathological narcissism of the title, undoubtedly negotiated to death by a team of lawyers, which elevates Couric to equal billing to the news itself. It’s almost as if CBS were acknowledging that this was not going to be the truth, but only the “world according to Couric,” a field day for deconstructionists. The desperation in this choice and in the need to preserve the role of “Anchor” itself is palpable. In the summer of 1995 I issued an endangered species alert for the Anchormanus Pomposis. I didn’t know then the Anchormanus Pomposa was in the wings.