When the newscaster is part of the story

I didn't see the entire Katie Couric interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards, but the clips I saw weren't as brutal as I'd expected from the buzz. Still, she asked hard questions about what cancer means to their family and the campaign. Katie did sound judgmental when asking about young Emma Claire and Jack, wondering if each parents' place isn't with their children at a time like this.

Woe, Nelly! Ms. Couric, weren't you still showing up for work on The Today Show every morning at 4:00, leaving your tiny daughters all day while your husband was battling colon cancer?

The Edwards' need to be available to answer tough questions. That's what a run for the Presidency is about. If Katie asked him if he would be able to govern if his wife's health took a turn for the worse while he inhabited the Oval Office, I wouldn't have batted an eyelash. (BTW, did she ask that? I would love to know his answer.) I'm not even sure the question did ask was out of line. The problem was, it was asked by Katie Couric.

When Larry King was out ill, Maria Shriver pinch hit for him, interviewing addicts and family members of addicts about treatment. Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Shapiro and Susan Ford were on the panel. With her cousins Patrick and David Kennedy and Christopher Lawford all admitted addicts, shouldn't Maria have been participating as well as moderating? How could this thought not cross my mind? Don't we all know as much about the Kennedys as we do about our own families?

I'm a news junkie. I watch and read as much as I can. And I just hate it when the reporter distracts me from the story. Maybe this just comes with the territory when we live in a celebrity culture.