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Dan Rather: Katie Couric 'Tarting Up' CBS News

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Former CBS anchor Dan Rather has opened fire on Katie Couric and "CBS Evening News,” describing the changes to his old show as "dumbing it down, tarting it up.”

Talking to Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe,” Rather said: "I want to make clear that I have nothing against Katie Couric at all. She’s a very nice person, and I have a lot of friends at CBS News.

"However, it was clear at the time and I think it has become even clearer that the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up, in hopes of attracting a younger audience.”

He said the news telecast continues to lean toward too much celebrity coverage.

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  From a high of 13 million viewers in her first weeks on the air, Couric is now drawing less than 6 million and the "CBS Evening News” is in last place in the nightly news race, according to the New York Post.

CBS reportedly plans an aggressive promotional campaign this summer in an attempt to boost ratings.

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