When Anchors Get Punk'd, Who's to Blame?

Jossip has an interesting item, trying to figure out who gave prankster extraordinaire Harry Shearer a clip of CBS anchor Katie Couric fussing over her hair before a live shot, asking whether anyone in their audience might care that Rudy Giuliani pal Bernard Kerik was indicted for federal crimes.

The blog's item quotes an unnamed source saying it had to be an inside job, a notion which I find tough to swallow, given the unauthorized access so many people have to satellite signals. Indeed, Shearer himself has a long history of posting such items on his own Web site and airing them within his NPR program Le Show, so anchors should already be on notice.

Shearer had already posted a similar clip of Dan Rather obsessing for 20 minutes over whether to wear a trenchcoat during a shot or not. Judge for yourself whether journalism is being practiced here.   

Here's the Dan Rather clip as well:

Comments

[former tampanian]

I'm confused by your statement about practicing journalism. Are you referring to Shearer or Couric and Rather?

[Tom]

What do you expect from a celebrity journalist? They should never have given Couric that job - she should be relegated back to the morning fluff show.

[mecq]

As my journalism professor would have concurred. A lot of what you guys report is "Yellow Journalisn". May I ask what is newsworthy about Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Ashley Whomever being incarcerated, detained..etc! Our county is in a state of disarray.On many levels. There are viable issues that the public at large needs to be aware of. We have become a society enamoured with celebrities. I find it offensive and very ignorant to waste precious time on trivial matters and people. This intrusiveness applies to both print and broadcast mediums. The way the press follows these people around is ridiculous. Not to mention the way it's shoved down our throats.
Please be responsible...!!!!