Katie Couric Magically Loses Weight in Photo Distributed to Media

The new face of "CBS Evening News" was evidently not the face CBS wanted to advertise in its September edition of Watch!, a magazine produced and edited by the CBS press department. Thanks to Photoshop and some clever digital manipulation, Couric, 49, became svelte and sophisticated almost overnight.

In May, a photograph was taken of Couric attending the CBS "Upfront" presentation of Carnegie Hall, and she was wearing a frumpy light gray suit. The picture was widely distributed to numerous media outlets as an official photograph of CBS’s new $15 million-a-year anchorwoman. But that same photo was published in the September issue of Watch!, only now Couric looks much, much thinner and her suit is a few shades darker.

Watch! is distributed to news media outlets, network affiliates, network employees, gift shops, American Airlines flights, and theme parks owned by Paramount, the parent company of CBS. According to network officials, the magazine’s circulation is around 400,000. Couric appears on the cover of the September issue wearing a striped business suit, and the retouched photo is inside.

Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., told reporters that the digital alteration of the photograph was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous." Schwartz said that the photo department "services tens of thousands of photographs every year" for all parts of the company and that it "does a fantastic job. "But CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."

McManus did his best to draw attention away from the fracas by saying, "I’ve asked that three inches in height be added to my official CBS photo." But most media experts say that whenever a photo is altered in any way, the public should be told about it, even though the problem is worse in national magazines rather than company-specific publications. However, almost all magazines tinker with photos in some way, despite the fact that some top photographers and photo editors have been fired in recent times for doing that.

A CBS spokesman told reporters, "The picture was retouched without the knowledge of Ms. Couric or CBS News management." Couric herself said that she hadn’t known about her digital transformation until she saw the photograph in Watch! The former host of NBC’s "Today" show told the Daily News, "I liked the first picture better, because there’s more of me to love."

Couric’s debut on the "CBS Evening News" will be September 5, and CBS has spent millions of dollars preparing the American public for her arrival in the anchor’s chair. Perhaps they should have spent those millions on a total makeover for Couric, instead of sprucing her up virtually.