Katie Couric said on Tuesday it was 'brave' of her to admit how she iced out female TV rivals and co-workers and insist was actual...
Katie Couric said on Tuesday it was 'brave' of her to admit how she iced out female TV rivals and co-workers and insist was actually 'incredibly generous' to her co-workers as she tried to limit the fallout from her catty memoir and insist all her nasty comments have been taken 'out of context'.
Couric's new book Going There won't be released until October 26 but it has already offended a swathe of her former co-workers after portions of the book were revealed .
She described in the book how she froze out female colleagues at NBC to 'protect' her 'turf' at the top. She also told how she loved getting under Diane Sawyer's 'skin' when Sawyer was at Good Morning America.
Since then, former co-workers like Ashleigh Banfield have told how Couric picked on them and made their working life a misery.
Couric claims that she said 'so many nice' things about people in her book and that the any nasty quotes - like her saying her predecessor Deborah Norville had a 'major relatability problem' and was 'relentlessly perfect - were taken out of context.
She also said she thought it would be brave admitting that she felt threatened by other women.
'I thought it was brave for me to say that sometimes I felt protective [of my job],' Couric told Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, her third interview on Tuesday on Today.
Couric on Tuesday went on the Today show, where she used to work, to defend herself from the criticism she has recently received
'I was incredibly generous with my colleagues...I think that if you read it in total, I said so many nice things,' she protested.
Norville said she was hurt by some of the comments Couric made about her in the book.
On Tuesday, Couric said she wanted to send her a copy of it so she could read the remarks 'in context'.
'Deborah Norville is one of the kindest most graceful people. She handled this incredible situation which as I say, was no fault of her own, being portrayed as a homewrecker, at the time I went back and read articles... some viewers were very protective of Jane.'
She was referring to Jane being replaced by Deborah in 1989, in a situation that many viewed as Deborah tearing up Jane's on-camera partnership with Bryant Gumbel.
Ashleigh Banfield said Couric made it difficult for her to work at the network because she was treated so frostily
'It was no criticism of Deborah, it was about what the situation was at the time.
'I'm going to send her a book and say I am so happy for you to read the whole book and put my observations into context. A lot of it is about clickbait,' she said.
Another female coworker whose feelings she hurt is Ashleigh Banfield, who staffers said was humiliated by Couric at the 2000 Olympics and treated like a child.
Couric admits in her book that she gave Banfield the cold shoulder because helping her would have been 'self-sabotage'.
She then however denied to People magazine that she'd been nasty.
Banfield told DailyMail.com earlier this month that Couric made her work life more difficult than it needed to be.
Couric's searingly honest commentary has shocked industry insiders who say it lifts a lid on the cattiness and cruelty she always had a reputation for.
But on Tuesday, Couric tried to correct that image by saying she has been 'wildly misrepresented' during a series of interviews on NBC's Today show.
She still managed to take swipes at the 'tabloids' and her old employer CBS, and defended some of her most controversial decisions.
'So much of it has been taken out of context.... Yes I am honest about some things. It's not my little pony and sunshine and lollipops. It's a true account of my journey from my perspective.
'A lot of it was completely taken out of context - to get clicks probably,' she said.
She was first interviewed by Savannah Guthrie at 7.30am then again in the show's third hour with Al Roker.
Couric and Norville are pictured in 1990. Couric replaced Norville the following year. In her memoir, Couric said Norville had a 'major relatability problem' and was 'relentlessly perfect'. In an interview on Tuesday, she said the remarks were taken out of context and that she thinks Norville is 'gracious'. She said she planned to send her a copy of her book to prove it
In the second interview, she said she wanted her grandkids to call her 'Gigi' or 'Katie' instead of grandma, and claims she left CBS in 2011 because the 'country wasn't ready for a female news anchor' and there was 'internal' sexism at the network.
Couric said it was an 'editorial decision' to censor RBG, that morning shows do it 'all the time' and that she feels she did include the most important part of their interview.
She went on to trash Lauer, calling him 'reckless, abusive, callous, and disgusting', and said that while she never deliberately sabotaged a female colleague, she wishes she had 'extended herself a bit more' to mentor them.
Couric was slammed for editing the RBG interview to get rid of a newsworthy, controversial comment at at time when the debate over taking the knee was dividing the country.
RBG had said people who take the knee 'show contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.'
She was talking about Colin Kaepernick, the NFL star who kicked off the take-a-knee movement. RBG called him 'dumb and disrespectful'.
Couric writes in her memoir that she thought the justice, who was 83 at the time, was 'elderly and probably didn't fully understand the question.'
On Tuesday, she said: 'I think what people don't realize is we make editorial decisions like that all the time.
'I chose to talk about this and put it in the book for a discussion. I wrote that it was a conundrum that I asked about Colin Kaepernick.
'I did include that she said it was dumb and disrespectful and stupid and arrogant. There was another line that I thought... "I wasn't sure what she meant."
'I thought it was subject to interpretation. I wish I had asked a follow up and let her clarify or just run it, and let her clarify later.
'The most pertinent and direct response, I did include. Maybe I should have run the other sentence as well.'
She also trashed Matt Lauer, her former co-host who she at first sought to protect when the first allegations of sexual misconduct against him were made public.
'It took me a long time to process.
'The side of Matt that I knew was the side you all knew. Kind, generous, considerate, a good colleague... as I got more information, it was really upsetting and disturbing.
'I did some of my own reporting. I tried to really excavate what had been going in... it was really devastating, but also disgusting...
'I tried to understand why he behaved the way he did, why he was so reckless and callous and honestly abusive of the women.
In 2016, Couric interviewed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg said that anyone who takes the knee was showing a 'contempt for government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.' Couric edited that portion out, saying she wanted to 'protect' the then 83-year-old. She said on Tuesday it was an editorial decision
Couric claimed in her memoir that she wasn't sure Ginsburg had understood the question. She said on Tuesday that she didn't understand what the Justice 'meant' and that she should have asked a follow up
'There's always gossip in TV news, there always gossip in TV news, there was gossip here and there about certain people,' she said.
She then said she did nothing about the alleged sexual misconduct because 'no one came to talk to me about it' and says the pair have 'no relationship now'.
Couric said she included texts between the pair in her book in an effort to show how their relationship 'deteriorated'.
'We have no relationship. I used those messages because I thought they were illustrative of how it revolved and ultimately deteriorated.
'It was a way to let the reader into my thought process,' she said.
Couric also defended her comments about not helping or mentoring female colleagues, saying it's 'hard to be generous when everyone is vying for your job' and that everyone in TV is the same, she is just being 'honest'.
'I have mentored women, many of whom still work on the show. I think that when there are very few jobs for women and men are making decisions not based on the right criteria, sometimes you do get insecure and territorial.
'It's human nature. Anyone in a high position, a coveted spot, even outside of the TV industry... I am just more honest about it.'
'Disgusting, callous and reckless': Couric says it took her time to 'reconcile' the 'two sides' of Matt Lauer, shown above with his daughter Romy earlier this month. Lauer once boasted about sleeping with Couric and Ann Curry at a 2008 comedy roast
Couric said in her book that she loved getting under 'Diane Sawyer's skin' when they were at rival networks. Insiders say she also picked on Ashleigh Banfield (right), her NBC rival
After leaving NBC in 2006, Couric went to CBS. She anchored the evening news for five years before leaving in 2011 amid floundering ratings. On Tuesday, she said it was down to 'sexism' and that the country wasn't ready for a female news anchor
She said she had never deliberately sabotaged a female colleague, but wishes she had done more to help and mentor some.
'I wish I had extended myself a bit more but when people are outwardly vying for your job it is hard to be generous,' she said.
Couric also claimed she has been 'misrepresented by the tabloids' in previews of the book and that she is an 'imperfect person'.
'I think it has been wildly misrepresented. I don't think the tone and the spirit and the content of the book is like the tabloid headlines are portraying.
'It is honest, but it's very complimentary about many people. I want it to be honest and I wanted to talk about my experiences.
'I couldn't imagine writing something that wasn't honest.
'I didn't want to do like a victory lap of my greatest hits... I've had an extraordinary life, incredibly opportunities, huge successes and some pretty public failures too.
Throughout the interview, Couric compared herself to Savannah Guthrie often, saying 'well you know, Savannah' when talking about the industry
'I've embarrassed myself, been proud of myself... you can relate to this Savannah, people have always been like, "I feel like I know you."
'It puts you in a box... I wanted to share the messy parts. What life is really like. You see all sides of me and my truth.
'It's such a fun ride. It's an emotional roller coaster,' she said.
In her last few remarks, she took a swipe at CBS - which pulled an interview she gave to Gayle King promoting the book after reading it and all the unkind things she had to say about the network.
Couric's book, Going There, will be published on October 26
Couric went to CBS in 2006, leaving morning TV to become the anchor of CBS's primetime evening news show.
But her ratings struggled over the next five years and in 2011, she left the network.
She claimed on Tuesday morning that part of the reason was America 'wasn't ready' for a female news anchor, and that there was 'internal and external' sexism at CBS.
'I thought we were much further along when it came to sexism. We were just not as far along as I naively thought. Internally and externally.
'I'm not sure if the country was ready for a female anchor. I really went there to say a woman can do this job with confidence. I was doing great here. That's what motivated my decision [to go to CBS]' she said.
She was paid $15million at the time, but never fit in with the unfussy culture at CBS. Among her mistakes was spending money on a dressing room makeover.
Couric was due to appear on CBS Mornings to promote the book but her interview was pulled after staffers read what she had to say about them in the memoir,
Elsewhere in the book, Couric rips into former boyfriends, friends, co-workers and bosses.
Ashleigh Banfield, who previously worked with her, said she must 'remember things differently' to how she does.
In one example, she made Banfield wait outside while she interviewed an athlete at the 2000 Olympics.
'Katie Couric caused that problem in Sydney and she used it to trash Ashleigh Banfield within the network. It was disgraceful,' an NBC insider told DailyMail.com.
She also told how she 'loved getting under Diane Sawyer's skin' when the pair were at rival networks.
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