Katie Couric Gives Alessandra Stanley Page From Her Notebook, Tongue Lashing
Katie Couric may be a little late to the "Alessandra Stanley screwed up Walter Cronkite's obit" party but she is officially its celebrity guest. Couric used her entire "notebook" column to school Stanley, and, boy, is it a doozy.
Couric, being a classy lady, doesn't mention the error-prone Times scribe by name, but we all know who she's talking about.
I had to smile albeit, a tad ruefully, and I think he would too when I saw The New York Times correcting a piece that had appeared following his death. The article contained not one, not two, but seven errors about his life and career.
She then goes on to recount a number of the errors. It's almost as if she's a woman scorned. Oh wait, didn't Stanley once say of Couric "at the first sound of her peremptory voice and clickety stiletto heels, people dart behind doors and douse the lights?" Oh yeah, she did! (PS—that article has a correction attached to it.)
Payback is a bitch, but Katie Couric is not, so she never makes it personal—especially considering, if this were a knife fight, Stanley would be lying on the ground bloody and defenseless. However, our Katie-poo does get in a few good zings.
So as we say goodbye to the Dean of TV news, let's all remember as journalists when we say "that's the way it is" - it really is.
In Stanley's case, we hope Couric is using the term "journalist" loosely.
