Katie Couric says the #MeToo movement hasn't brought enough change
When asked if the #MeToo movement has brought enough change, Katie Couric answered with a resounding, "No." The former "CBS Evening News" and "Today" anchor told "CBS This Morning" people on television need to look like America.
"I think there have been some changes. Congratulations, Norah," Couric said to co-host Norah O'Donnell, who has been named incoming anchor of the "CBS Evening News."
"Representation is so critically important. Women, people of color — people on television need to look like America," Couric continued. "And they need to be in leadership positions."
Couric said it was ridiculous that 63 percent of prime-time TV news broadcasts feature male anchors and correspondents, while just 30 percent are women, according to a recent study. She emphasized that only diversity in leadership positions would lead to meaningful change.
"Until they get in decision-making positions, the top tier of leadership in these organizations, we're not gonna have enough parity or representation of all different kinds of people."
Couric also talked about the program she's partnering with, "With Love, Me", which asks people whose lives have been affected by cancer what they wish they had known when they first heard their diagnosis. Couric's husband, Jay, and sister, Emily, both died after bouts with cancer.
"People who are going through a cancer experience, whether they're patients or caregivers, really need the support of other patients who have been there," Couric said. "Unless you're going through it, you really don't understand what it's like. And I remember Jay telling me, 'Having cancer is the loneliest experience in the world.' Which made me so sad because I couldn't help him, he felt so alone."
Couric delved into some of the regrets from her husband's nine-month battle with stage 4 colon cancer. He was just 42 when he died of the disease in 1998.
"I was so afraid that he would think I was giving up hope or that I was surrendering to this disease, we never actually had a conversation about the possibility that he might die," Couric said. "And I'm still haunted by this."
"I wish that I had had the courage to talk to Jay about what his hopes and dreams were for our daughters," Couric said.