NBC's Katie Couric Signs a $100 Million Contract
With the entertainment being produced by Geraldo Rivera in the name of "news", we open the curtain on act two of the continuing saga of the news sitcoms (as we call them). A few weeks ago Katie Couric signed a multi-year contract worth nearly $100 Million. That's a lot of money to read the print on a teleprompter in front of you. This should clear any doubt about the news being a form of entertainment, as Ms. Couric makes money only imagined by the biggest stars of the silver screen. In today's world it is necessary to not only have a face inside the box, but a face that you can identify with, a face you can trust. NBC is betting that Ms. Couric is that face. Is NBC signing this massive contract because she has excellent insight on the news, is she well versed in the complex economic questions she repeats to guests as the producers relay them into the bud in her ear? We don't think so. For that kind of money you stick to the agenda you are given, however boxed and packaged.
The news is big business. As we said yesterday, the news sitcoms are intended for one purpose- to sell commercials. Americans have shown time and time again that we are looking for "Oprah and Rosie Factor" when we watch the happenings of the day. It is our prediction that this new contract with Ms. Couric will start a race where the networks have to continually increase the salaries of their lead people. To pay the increased salaries, the news sitcoms will become ever more entertaining, more pleasing to the eye and heart. We have already seen that excitement and visual stimulation attracts viewers to a network's news production, accuracy and truth are peripheral issues, with news truth (an oxymoron in many cases) as it existed thirty years ago, now a relic of the past. We do not mind, we even welcome, a kinder gentler evening news, but somehow we feel that the new swing will not be in a Christ-centered direction.
©Copyright 2001, Stephen A. McDonald, www.bigtreenews.com
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