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Katie Couric Fires Reporter, Hires Her Doctor
Katie Couric has been on the job at the "CBS Evening News” for little more than a week, but changes are already being made on her show – a doctor with ties to Couric has been hired as medical correspondent, replacing veteran Elizabeth Kaledin. The new face is Dr. Jonathan LaPook, a Manhattan gastroenterologist who helped arrange an on-camera colonoscopy for Couric on the "Today” show in 2000. [Editor's Note: Read more about the Katie Couric experience at CBS News and get this FREE Offer from NewsMax. Click Here Now!]
Kaledin had covered the network beat for CBS since 1996. "The thing I’d feel most comfortable saying, which is the truth, is that I am heartbroken by the loss of my job and have spent 20 years working to get to this point, only to be replaced by someone with no journalistic experience only because he’s a doctor,” she told Rebecca Dana of the New York Observer. "I have worked incredibly hard from the smallest markets in TV to get to this point . . . My reporting career is unblemished. I’m well liked. I work hard. I’ve been loyal to CBS.”
Story Continues Below But Dr. LaPook is close to Couric, whose husband Jay Monahan died of colon cancer and who founded the Jay Monahan Cancer Center. LaPook is a member of the faculty at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and the Monahan Center is affiliated with his department there.
"His insights and his ability to clearly explain and inform will resonate very well with our viewers and will help us set the standard for reporting on this important subject,” CBS News President Sean McManus said in announcing the decision to hire Dr. LaPook.
Rome Hartman, executive producer of the "CBS Evening News,” acknowledged to the Observer: "That’s not to say you can’t have a terrific medical reporter who’s not a doctor.”
As for the journalist he is replacing, he said, "I really don’t want to comment on that, other than to say that I’ve had nothing but really positive dealings with Elizabeth.” Dr. LaPook is the son-in-law of Norman Lear, creator of CBS hits "All in the Family” and "Maude,” and has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates.
[Editor's Note: Read more about the Katie Couric experience at CBS News and get this FREE Offer from NewsMax. Click Here Now!]
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