Is That Katie in Photo Number 1, or Photo Number 2?

We don't like Katie Couric here at Scott's Spot. We didn't watch the CBS Evening News before, and we're even less likely to do so now. Our view is that Couric will be unlikely to attract viewers interested in objective, hard news. On the other hand, CBS has as much as admitted that they don't give a fig about hard news when it comes to their new anchor.

We're referring, of course, to the revelation that a photo of Couric in the September issue of Watch! magazine, distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights, was airbrushed to make Couric look like she had lost 20 pounds.

Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., said that the photo alteration was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous." But he dismissed any notion of heads rolling over the matter. "I talked to my photo department, we had a discussion about it," Schwartz said. "I think photo understands this is not something we'd do in the future."

If it had been Dan Rather reporting on, oh, say, George W. Bush's military record, somebody's head would have rolled.

But remember, this isn't hard news. This is Katie Couric.

Goodbye CBS News (with apologies to Bernie Taupin)

So goodbye CBS News
Where you can't trust what they say or they print
I won't hear what you try to tell me
Through the mouth of your new glamour queen.

We don't know if she's fat or she's thin.
The truth is no longer a given.
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Somewhere else than CBS News.