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May 26, 2013

The six best news anchors

by Bob Sassone, posted Mar 18th 2008 10:06AM

Katie CouricWay back in August, I listed my choices for the three worst anchors on television. I said in that post that "later this week" I was going to name the best news anchors on television. Apparently, "later this week" meant seven months later. Sorry about that!

Here are my choices for the six best news anchors currently on television. Feel free to disagree and argue with me in the comments section (as if you need any suggestion from me for that).

1. Katie Couric (CBS), Charles Gibson (ABC), and Brian Williams (NBC): You don't get to be the anchor on the evening network news broadcasts without being the cream of the crop, and these three people are the best. Williams is an old pro who deserved to take Tom Brokaw's seat when he retired, and Gibson is a solid veteran. As for Couric, a lot of people point to her bad ratings as proof she can't do hard news, and I say that's ridiculous. Her show has been number three for quite some time, even before she took over, for reasons way beyond her control. She's quite good. In fact, when I watch the network news at 6:30pm, she's the one I turn to first.

2. Kyra Phillips (CNN): You know that feeling you get when a favorite TV personality is on vacation or is in repeats (for me it's David Letterman)? You get truly bummed out when you see the show is in repeats or that a substitute host is in their place. That's how I feel when I turn on CNN in the afternoon and Kyra Phillips isn't in the anchor seat. Like right now. She's been in Iraq for the past couple of weeks doing special reports, and the people they have filling in for her just can't do her mix of hard news, great questions, and light news stories. Kyra, please come back.

3. Russ Mitchell (CBS): If CBS hadn't gone with Couric, Mitchell would have been a great choice. He's the news anchor of The Early Show too and fills in for Couric (as does Harry Smith).

4. Jim Lehrer (PBS): Just straight-forward, no nonsense news. Probably the closest we have to a Walter Cronkite type anchor every night. It's refreshing to just turn on the news and get the news.

Who would you add to this list, and is there anyone I mentioned above who shouldn't be there?

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phil

Kevin Newman, Global News, Canada

If you get the chance, check it out. THE Best.

April 05 2008 at 11:55 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bsgfan2003

Thanks Franklin.

March 18 2008 at 6:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Franklin

I never said Bob's articles were offensive. My statement was to convey that it's easy to tell Bob's political leanings from his articles, should you read a number of them. He tries very hard to appear unbiased, but it's easy to see what he is.

There are subtle hints in these articles which I only include because you've been a level-headed commenter, unlike myself and those whose cages it is my joy to rattle.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/02/01/olbermann-takes-on-oreilly/

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/02/25/comic-insults-fox-news-while-on-fox-news/

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/02/19/do-we-still-need-pbs/

March 18 2008 at 5:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cowabunga44

Dude, you can't have a 3 way tie! That's cheating! Those are the 3 everyone clicked to see ranked!

March 18 2008 at 4:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dawn50

How is it that a column by Bob outlining his favorite newscasters gets turned into a conservative vs. liberal argument?

Simply because no one from FOX is listed is enough reason to get the right wing panties in a wad yet again. I find that everywhere Franklin posts, clad in his conservative cape and tights, a trivial left/right snoozefest follows.

Maybe Bob didn't list anyone from FOX because he doesn't like them. Can your oversensitive sensibilities handle that? He didn't list anyone from MSNBC for tree-huggers like me either, but guess what? Who cares?

Grow a skin already.

March 18 2008 at 3:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Dawn50's comment
Franklin

ROFLMAO...

Cage Rattled

Mission Accomplished

March 18 2008 at 5:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kevjohn

I'd get rid of Couric (both from this list and from the evening anchor spot) and replace her with the person she replaced at CBS, Bob Schieffer. He only lost the job because he's older than John McCain's granddaddy, and Couric is reasonably cute and personable.

Fox News... that's an oxymoron ain't it?

March 18 2008 at 3:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bsgfan2003

Franklin, can you please point out the articles that Bob has written that are so offensive?

March 18 2008 at 2:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dave

It is a little communist to group the top three together like that. I haven't seen Couric since she started out, but she definitely was subpar back then.

how bout a list of Top Fox Business Channel Blonds?

March 18 2008 at 2:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Oreo

I wouldn't list anyone from CNN or Fox.

And Charles Gibson is number one, Brian Williams two, and Katie Couric 1,968.

March 18 2008 at 2:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Oreo's comment
jeremy Wilson

It baffles me why, after 18 months on the air, there are still those who find Katie Couric "too soft," "too perky," "lacking gravitas." To all those who are inclined to remark negatively to Couric, I'd ask where does your bias lie? Are you a member of the Religious Right, one of Ann Coulter or Laura Ingraham's drones? Are you a grandfather from the bible belt, who feels uncomfortable and down right unwilling to get your news from anyone who doesn't come equipped with the same package as you? Or are you just one of the countless Americans who thinks they know everything about anything, meanwhile they haven't tuned into the show since it first began. No one is denying Couric started off rocky, but it was an experiment. CBS tried to appeal to the younger generations because, well, that's who'll be watching in the years to come. But as it turned out, they were tuning out, and the only audience left was the grandfathers mentioned above. They tried it, it failed, they fixed it. Since then, it's just a "hard news" as anything Brian or Charlie put on air, if not more so. The point is, you can't let the past dictate sometimes for the present and the future. No one has the right to comment on someone's job performance if they've been tuning it out for months on end, and are only going by what the self-appointed critics of TV land tell them. THINK FOR YOURSELVES! IT'S NOT ILLEGAL YET!

March 18 2008 at 11:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dkcincos

My favorite is Robin Meade from the CNN morning news.

March 18 2008 at 12:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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