Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Fake but accurate Katie suddenly "loses" weight
The "fake but accurate" standard at CBS is intact as of this writing, in case anyone was worried. In a recent promotional pic of Katie Couric, the actress--ooops, sorry, the serious reporter Couric--appears to have lost quite a bit of weight. It's all thanks to airbrushing that got out of hand. And I was so worried that Katie wouldn't live up to Dan Rather's ideals...Good thing there are still those in the CBS house who are willing to go out on a limb for their anchors, no?
NEW YORK - No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.
The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.
CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."
The original picture was snapped in May and was widely circulated to the media as an official photo of Couric.
Couric, 49, said she hadn't known about the digitally reworked version until she saw the issue. The former NBC "Today" show host told the Daily News, "I liked the first picture better because there's more of me to love."
Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., said Wednesday in a phone interview the photo alteration was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous."
Click here for the whole article. Journalistic fraud, alive and well... I wonder if there's a class on how to alter a photo? Or if I could just buy Photoshop and have at it. Of course, there are those who will say that this isn't really fraud. It isn't misleading, not in a harmful way. But come on, she hasn't even officially hit the airwaves yet, and already we're being tricked into thinking she's something she's not. Where will it end?
NEW YORK - No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.
The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.
CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."
The original picture was snapped in May and was widely circulated to the media as an official photo of Couric.
Couric, 49, said she hadn't known about the digitally reworked version until she saw the issue. The former NBC "Today" show host told the Daily News, "I liked the first picture better because there's more of me to love."
Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., said Wednesday in a phone interview the photo alteration was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous."
Click here for the whole article. Journalistic fraud, alive and well... I wonder if there's a class on how to alter a photo? Or if I could just buy Photoshop and have at it. Of course, there are those who will say that this isn't really fraud. It isn't misleading, not in a harmful way. But come on, she hasn't even officially hit the airwaves yet, and already we're being tricked into thinking she's something she's not. Where will it end?
