CBS is facing scrutiny after a promotional magazine published a retouched photo of Katie Couric, significantly slimming her appearance. This incident follows a plagiarism controversy earlier in Couric's seven-month tenure as anchor of the "CBS Evening News."

Promotional Photo Sparks Controversy

A photo of Katie Couric, originally taken at CBS's upfront presentation in Carnegie Hall last May, was altered for publication in the network's Watch magazine. The altered image, which appeared in the magazine, substantially thinned Couric's waist and face compared to the original version. TVNewser highlighted the discrepancy, showing the magazine's version alongside the original.

A CBS spokesman stated that "the editorial staff of Watch magazine retouched the photo without the knowledge of Katie Couric or CBS news management." The spokesman did not elaborate further. However, the alteration is described as an "inside job." While an outside custom publisher handles much of the production and ad sales for the quarterly magazine, CBS's own communications department prepares all editorial content. The magazine's masthead lists Gil Schwartz, Executive VP, Communications, as editor in chief, and Jeremy Murphy, Director of Communications, as editor. Murphy, who is responsible for producing the magazine, declined to comment on Tuesday. In a previous interview with PR Week when the magazine was announced, Murphy described it as "a journalistic enterprise," aiming to create a "useful" magazine. Schwartz, speaking "tongue in cheek," stated that "nothing in Watch magazine has done anything."

This alteration comes as CBS is working to establish Couric, a former co-host of NBC's Today Show, as a news anchor capable of conveying serious news. Supporters of Couric argue that mentioning the Photoshopped picture contributes to media "piling on" regarding her ratings issues, especially since the incident was unrelated to the network's news division.

Previous Plagiarism Incident

The photo controversy follows a plagiarism incident earlier in Couric's tenure. Earlier this month, CBS posted an internet video commentary in which Couric discussed children's declining interest in libraries. It was later discovered that the content had been lifted from a Wall Street Journal piece by Jeffrey Zaslow. A low-level CBS producer was dismissed for the transgression. CBS identified the plagiarism incident promptly and took action. This "snafu" was later overshadowed by the "storm swirling around Don Imus," as noted by Scott Collins on the Los Angeles Times' Web site on April 16.

The network's decision to provide Couric with a web presence was questioned, particularly regarding the method of content creation in her name. The plagiarism incident was described as a "low point" in Couric's seven-month tenure, despite CBS lagging ABC and NBC in evening-news ratings during most of her time as anchor.

Historical Context of Photo Manipulation

The practice of doctoring photographs has a long history, dating back to the 1860s, only decades after Niepce created the first photograph in 1814. Early examples include the portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, which is a composite of Lincoln's head and the body of Southern politician John Calhoun. Around the 1910s, commercial photographic studios created composites to bring family members into a single picture when they were not together for the portrait session, cutting them from other photos and pasting them onto a new image before re-photographing.

In 1937, Joseph Goebbels was removed from an original photograph of Adolf Hitler. In 1942, Benito Mussolini had a horse handler removed from a photograph to create a more heroic self-portrait. In 1982, National Geographic magazine "squeezed" a horizontal picture of the Great Pyramids of Giza to fit its vertical cover format. Tom Kennedy, who later became the director of photography at National Geographic, stated that the magazine "no longer use that technology to manipulate elements in a photo simply to achieve a more compelling graphic effect," regarding it as a mistake they would not repeat. Eadweard Muybridge's 1860s landscape photographs of Yosemite and Guatemala were composites, combining two photographs—one of the landscape and one of the clouds—due to the chemical properties of wet-plate photography, which made skies appear pale and featureless if exposed for the land. Rebecca Solnit's River of Shadows disclosed this technique, noting that "retouching was almost a universal practice, and some of the more respected photographers made composite images" at the time.

Key Facts

  • A photo of Katie Couric was altered for CBS's Watch magazine, making her appear substantially thinner.
  • The altered photo was published without the knowledge of Katie Couric or CBS news management, according to a CBS spokesman.
  • The editorial content of Watch magazine is prepared by CBS's own communications department, with Gil Schwartz as editor in chief and Jeremy Murphy as editor.
  • This incident follows a plagiarism controversy involving a video commentary by Couric, which led to the dismissal of a low-level CBS producer.
  • Photo manipulation has been a practice since the 1860s, with historical examples including Abraham Lincoln's portrait and images of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.