Yo, Katie, Back off the Cristal!

Katie Couric, apparently still buzzed from her 3-hour "Katie=Sainthood" Today show fest, had this to say:

Couric hopes 'pretentious' news era over
Audience doesn't 'want a mechanical Ted Baxter,' she says

Friday, June 2, 2006; Posted: 10:31 a.m. EDT (14:31 GMT)

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (Hollywood Reporter) -- Katie Couric hopes to bring a "humanistic, more accessible" approach to her job when she takes over as anchor and managing editor at "CBS Evening News" in September, she said Thursday.

Addressing the annual convention of CBS affiliates, Couric predicted that the "pretentious era" of the evening-news anchor is going to be a thing of the past.

"The audience is more sophisticated than we give them credit for -- they don't want a mechanical Ted Baxter," said Couric, whose last day as co-anchor of NBC's "Today" was Wednesday. "I'm a serious, caring, compassionate person. I hope that comes out. ... People want a multidimensional (news anchor) and not someone they can put in a box."

(snip)

"Anyone who watches 'Today' knows that I've done more hard-hitting interviews than any evening news anchor," she said. (The TrekMedic snickers)

Asked by Stahl why many viewers may have lost their trust in the media, Couric said she thinks that the media are "held captive by spin," choosing to repeat "two separate spins" rather than search for the facts in a story.