Couric, Who Ignored Hyde's Passing, Highlights Death of Evel Knievel

Change font size:  A |  A

A night after the CBS Evening News failed to consider newsworthy -- unlike the ABC and NBC evening newscasts -- the passing of conservative icon Henry Hyde, Katie Couric found time to report the passing of daredevil Evel Knievel:

His name is synonymous with daredevil. Evel Knievel died today. He was an icon of the 1970s, known for his star spangled suit, his heart-stopping motorcycle jumps and spectacular crashes. His obituary was nearly written in 1974, but he survived a failed attempt to jump Idaho's Snake River canyon on a rocket-powered sky cycle. But his injuries eventually took their toll and he had been in failing health for years. Evel Knievel was 69.

My November 29 NewsBusters posting, “ABC and NBC, But Not CBS, Note Passing of Conservative Icon Hyde,” recounted:

Long-time conservative Republican Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, a hero to conservatives for his ideological consistency and efforts to limit abortions, passed away Thursday morning at a Chicago hospital. While ABC and NBC noted his death, at age 83, on their Thursday evening newscasts, and even managed to avoid any pejorative ideological labeling, the CBS Evening News ignored Hyde. But Katie Couric made time to highlight how, in a Time magazine interview, Barack Obama said if he wins he'd give Al Gore a job “in a minute” and a position to Bill Clinton “in a second.” Couric added on Clinton: “Obama said 'there are few more talented people out there.'”...