Why Katie Couric Had A Reputation On The Today Show

Having been the co-anchor of "TODAY" for 15 years after joining NBC News in 1989, legendary host Katie Couric knows what it feels like to be in the spotlight — and the power that comes with that fame. Recently, Couric revealed new details about her decades-long career in the national media and her varied interactions with celebrities in her new memoir "Going There," released in October 2021, recounting her sometimes star-crossed life and career.

Television "made my dreams come true," the broadcaster wrote in the book's prologue (via Vanity Fair). "But it is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. The book is." While Couric recounts the sexist culture of network TV, she also confronts her own role in a culture that allowed alleged abusers, like her former co-anchor Matt Lauer, to thrive.

But, from her supposed decades-long rivalry with Diane Sawyer, who hosted rival morning show "Good Morning America" from 1999 to 2009, to arguing on Twitter with Piers Morgan, one of Britain's biggest — and most opinionated — TV personalities, Couric did not land herself in the Television Academy Hall of Fame without also developing a diva-esque reputation along the way.

Longtime journalist Katie Couric is known to have a reputation on-set. When she joined "TODAY" in 1991, Couric was not the biggest fan of who she was replacing. Diving into her past in her "Going There" memoir, Couric wrote about how she thought former host Deborah Norville had a "major relatability problem" for people who were getting ready while watching the show, per Daily Mail, claiming she was "too perfect" for morning news and one co-worker said Norville made "people feel like they need to get dressed before they turn on the TV" (via Yahoo!). Norville, who anchored "TODAY" for a little more than a year before Couric replaced her, was shocked at by books words, telling the New York Post she was "really too stunned and, frankly, hurt to comment."

In 2005, a New Yorker profile writer noted in a blistering article that some of Couric's co-workers had anonymously complained she tried to hog "the best interviews" and was self-absorbed. The article also claimed her primetime "TODAY" position had "turned Couric's popularity into a Marxist-style cult of personality." Couric defended her reputation, adding directly in the same article, "I feel like a human piñata. The disappointing thing is no candy is going to spill out! — This may not be a lot of fun, but it goes with the territory, unfortunately, of being successful and female, probably."

Katie Couric and former "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer competed relentlessly for "gets" both when they hosted rival morning shows and when they each moved on to host competing nightly news broadcasts. While at NBC's "TODAY," Couric and Sawyer were known to use radically different approaches, per The Daily Beast, which reprinted some allegations from journalist Sheila Weller's book "The News Sorority" back in August 2014. It argues the two often went at each other head-to-head over booking guests. Weller writes that when Sawyer landed an interview with a 57-year-old new mom of twins, Couric was not shy to say, "I wonder who she b*** this time to get it." 

In her memoir "Going There" (via Fox News), Couric addressed the former rivalry between the two primetime anchors, admitting that, at one point, she said, "That woman must be stopped" in reference to Sawyer. Couric explained how their competition for the top star in morning TV news got out of control and emphasized she "loved" getting under the former "GMA" anchor's skin. And, as NPR reported in October 2021, Couric has no interest in being liked anymore. "My goal in life isn't to please people anymore," she told the outlet. "[H]onestly, I think if you're just likable, you're not very interesting."