Internet TV | Main / KatieCouricsNotebook

Madoka Higuchi

Show: Katie Couric’s Notebook
Date: Oct. 31, 2006
Title of the episode: Surf’s up

1. Basic information

Katie Couric’s Notebook is a video weblog of a news anchor, Katie Couric. She is the anchor of a daily news program, CBS Evening News, and this page is located in the television company’s site. It seems that the aim of this video blog is to promote the news program. Consequently, this blog targets existing CBS viewers and hopes to attract future viewers. This is also for those people who only access news through the Internet.
On the webpage, one episode – usually about the current event -- is posted daily. Each video is very simple. It is one-minute long, and it only shows Couric talking to the camera in the studio of CBS Evening News without editing; no image is used besides her talking to the camera. The video is exclusive for the webpage; it cannot be seen on TV.
This episode, “Surf’s up”, was posted on Oct. 31of 2006. It is about the coming midterm election of the U.S. In the video Couric says:
“Hi, everyone. One week from today American votes in the midterm election and by almost every major. This will be what political experts call a wave election, where public dissatisfaction changes the political environment, and incumbent politicians who normally get reelected instead get washed away. The last wave election happened the last time Democrat's controlled congress in 1994, while there is a big difference between this election and that one. We were not at war back then. And the similarity is striking. Both elections featured unpopular Presidents. According to our CBS News polls, 48% disapproved President Clinton's job on Oct. of 1994, and 60% disapproved President Bush's job today. Both happened when the strong majority on a wide variety of issues felt the country was on the wrong track. And while people tend to equate the reform with change, it won't be long before this year's winning party gets drowned by the next wave of election. That's a page from my notebook. I'm Katie Couric, CBS News. “

2. Quality of webpage

The quality of this blog is very high in terms of web design and video recording. First, the website is well designed matching the concept of this web show: serious and easily understandable. The base color is white, and the short abstract of each episode and users’ comments in text format are written with black letters. Other than that, not many colors are used besides blue, the image color of CBS News. The size of the video screen is appropriate, too. This site, at 4 inches square, is bigger than other video blogs. Visitors can make it the full screen by clicking a button for it.
Second, the quality of recording is excellent; a professional cameraman must have videotaped her with a professional lighting technician. The quality of audio is good for a website. Couric’s speech is very clear and her language si respectable since she is a professional news anchor. High quality design and recording helps to enhance the credibility of the blog.

3. Interesting?

Since the video only shows Couric talking about the midterm election to the camera, what she has to say should be the most interesting component of the video. However, the story of the video is very flat, and she said almost nothing unique. What she said was a very common, general and expected idea.

4. Taking advantage of the website?

The advantages of TV companies’ websites are that visitors can see the different aspects of TV programs – for example, backstage --, and that visitors can interact with the ones on TV. On the other hand, this episode of Katie Couric’s Notebook does not take advantage of the website. First, it does not show any new aspect of CBS Evening News; it is just like the regular program. The story of the video is innocuous. Almost nothing is new. She can say this on TV, which is very influential and where anchors often avoid to express strong opinions. Also, the style of her talking was just like the news program. In the video, Couric sat up, and talked like a news anchor. Her voice production was just like the one when she was on TV. Therefore, visitors of this blog site cannot see the new aspects of Couric in her story and in her behavior. Second, visitors of this blog cannot interact with Couric or other staffs of this news program. Although there is a comment box attached to each episode, in which visitors can post comments on her video, the site shows them no reaction from Couric or other staffs to visitors’ comments. In this way, this episode does not take advantage of the medium.

5. Suggestions

These are the two suggestions to this video blog, Katie Couric’s Notebook. First, it should post videos that show viewers different aspects of Couric. Couric can express her unique opinion only for this blog. If she cannot do it from the standpoint of fairness of the TV news program, she still can choose the topic that she does not cover on TV. For instance, topics can be her personal interest in her daily life. Couric also can change the way she talks on the blog. In the video, she can be relaxed and talk like when she spends time with her family. In addition, she can be videotaped in different way from the news show. They might use the TV studio because of the limit of the budget, but they still can do something different with low cost. They can use a regular digital video camera available for anybody and videotape her with it like home videos.
Second, Couric should react to the viewers’ comments on the site. If she is very busy, her reply does not have to be in text format. For instance, in the beginning of an episode she can say, “Thank you for your comments. It is enjoyable to read them during my coffee break. I was often encouraged by your comments.”
As mentioned above, this blog site targets existing CBS viewers, future viewers and others who only access news through the Internet. If they can see the different aspects of Couric and interact with her, they probably will visit this site more often and may become loyal to the program and the blog.
Katie Couric is a big name, and must have responsibilities as a news anchor, but she still can make her blog attractive with little ingenuity.