Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/newsrooms-grapple-with-appropriate-level-of-personality Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Prominent news anchors are sometimes treated as celebrities by their viewers and the media. A media columnist examines what level of personality and opinion is appropriate in news reporting. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. KATIE COURIC, CBS News: Tonight, it was the first… JEFFREY BROWN: On CBS last night, it's safe to say the news was not the star of the evening. Instead, it was the star who was the news. After months of anticipation and relentless promotion, Katie Couric took over the anchor chair on "The CBS Evening News."With a nod to the past, the program opened with the voice of Walter Cronkite, introducing Couric. WALTER CRONKITE, Former CBS Anchor: This is "The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." KATIE COURIC: Hi, everyone. I'm very happy to be with you tonight. For many Americans… JEFFREY BROWN: The newscast ran the gamut from hard news… KATIE COURIC: But in the war on terror… JEFFREY BROWN: … a lead report on a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan… LARA LOGAN, CBS News: Our tense journey into Taliban terribly… JEFFREY BROWN: … by foreign correspondent Lara Logan, to an interview with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, to softer fare, a commentary segment called "Free Speech." MORGAN SPURLOCK, Director: It seems like, every time I turn on the TV, some reputable news source is telling me how we're a nation divided. JEFFREY BROWN: And later, a first look at the heretofore unseen baby born to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.Couric's debut easily won the ratings war last night among the three network evening newscasts, and CBS is counting on the appeal of her personality to continue to win viewers, the principal reason, after all, the network is paying her a reported $15 million a year. KATIE COURIC: I'm Katie Couric. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope to see you tomorrow night.