60 Minutes Puff Pieces

Hi. My name is Jamie Artkin and I want to be a (paid) Mad Man.

I am a huge fan of 60 minutes as many people will be able to tell you, and I am all for the occasional puff piece. I know the public can only handle so many exposes by Scott Pelley or bio’s by Byron Pitts, but Katie Couric’s involvement with the show has always baffled me.

Take a look at her last two stories on the show. Sully Sullenberger’s first interview after landing a plane in the Hudson river and last night an informative piece on Epilepsy. You would wonder why they would bring someone of such high esteem to do a segment on Epilepsy, until you find out the principle interviewee was David Axelrod, senior advisor to Barrack Obama.

For what other reason was Couric asked to do those segments besides the publicity she was going to get from it? The Epilepsy segment screamed of Leslie Stahl and ‘Sully’s’ interview should have been with someone like Morley Safer or the hard-hitting, yet compassionate Scott Pelley.

While CBS believes that it is positioning Katie Couric to be a more visible and respected member of the media because she is landing these ‘big’ interviews and stories, in my opinion she looks like more like a hired gun or to quote Adam Carolla, a blow hard. That is what she is, a giant blow hard who will stop at nothing to have her name at the top of the Google rankings.

So, instead of putting Couric in the class of Cronkite or Jennings or Brokaw, lets keep her in the category that she deserves to be in with Paris Hilton and Kate Gosselin.

Again, don’t forget to follow me on twitter @jamieartkin