Couric the Mouthpiece

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(From TP.) CBS news anchor Katie Couric was on CBS's Face the Nation yesterday. She's been reporting from Iraq and she told host Bob Schieffer that, in Gen. Petraeus's view, things are going remarkably well with the Surge. She also said that she found "signs of life that seem to be normal" and that, in her view, "there are definitely areas where the situation is improving".

But there was this key qualifier: "Of course, that’s what the U.S. military wants me to see, so you have to keep that in mind as well."

You think?

There is no doubt that there has been improvement in some areas in Iraq. And there may even be signs of normalcy here and there.

But this is Katic Couric reporting from Iraq, not some shill for the warmongers. She's an important and influential figure in the mainstream American news media, an establishment figure with a good deal of credibility, however justified, a lofty figure in whom viewers are expected to place their trust, rightly or not. Whatever her image, whatever her celebrity, she is supposed to remain neutral, impartial, a fount of objectivity. She can see that she was being manipulated, but she allowed herself to be manipulated, and, indeed, while admitting that she was being manipulated, went right ahead and reported what her manipulators wanted her to report.

All is well, all is swell, that is what they wanted me to see, wanted me to say, but I'm saying it anyway, and I'm covering my ass by telling you that they wanted me to see that all is well, all is swell.

Katie Couric wants to be taken seriously, no? She wants to be a serious journalist, no?

She may not be a shill, but she's more than willing, it seems, to be a mouthpiece. And she simply cannot be taken seriously.

Any questions regarding the utter corruption of the mainstream American news media? Katie Couric's making millions and playing right along.