On this morning's Today Katie Couric devoted a large part of the 8:00am half hour to her interview with CBS News' Mike Wallace. During the segment NBC's graphic bragged: "Role Reversal, Answering The Tough Questions." However Couric never asked Mike Wallace about his most recent visit to a Brady Center fundraiser for gun control as blogged by Tim Graham.
Couric did ask Wallace to comment on CBS spiking his story with tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and on Dan Rather's National Guard story fiasco (He said Rather should've resigned) but for the most part the "tough questions," were of the following variety:
Couric, introducing the segment: "The guy with nerves of steel who dared to ask the toughest questions no matter how famous or infamous his subject. Turns out Mike Wallace doesn't flinch when answering tough questions either as I found out when I interviewed him at his home on Martha's Vineyard. It's been 37 years since Mike Wallace first took the chair at 60 Minutes and as long as his health obliges the 87-year-old news man sees no reason to stop the clock. Do you feel terrific?"
Couric: "Damn good. Anything bother you? Do you have any kind of medical stuff that you have to deal with or?"
Couric: "The reason you keep going and keep working so hard. Does it have anything to do with the fact that you're fiercely competitive and it would really bug you to no end to say Putin, say, being interviewed by moi or someone else?"
But never once did Couric bring up the conflict of interest question of whether someone who reports on gun control issues should have gone to a fundraiser of the most anti-gun rights organization out there.
