Have you seen Katie from Kansas on your local CBS TV station’s website? You probably shouldn’t.
This post started when I was looking for a story from Miami, but that took me straight across the country.
I checked the CBS-owned TV station in the Magic City, and ended up with a story about how Macy’s will be closing many of its stores, including two in the area.
It’s not my fault the video played immediately. Her pronunciation of the names of a mall and a city were totally off. Unheard of off, until now.
I couldn’t believe anyone would put this online, so I posted it to Facebook.

CBS doesn’t have its own video of a Macy’s – any Macy’s – after the chain bought up so many other cities’ original department stores?! And what about the photos down below?
But then the real story happened.
I noticed a weird outcue.
And it got weirder when I found a Miami station bio saying she lives in Fort Worth!

So I wondered how many CBS-owned stations let Kansan-turned-Texan Katie Johnston report local news on their websites, no matter how badly.
I say report as reporting to viewers, rather than going out and gathering facts.
Here, she’s listed among the reporters at CBS’ Dallas station, which is actually in Fort Worth. I wonder if she actually goes out and reports on local news there, maybe even doing a live shot?

Katie’s Twitter feed led me to Detroit!

where she’s “the anchor” more than a decade after CBS canceled newscasts on both of its stations there. (Good thing I didn’t accept the 11pm producer position, way back in 2001!)

And here, Katie is in Pittsburgh!

Baltimore!

and as promised, across the country from Miami in Sacramento!

Look at those last three pictures, plus Miami’s video, and it’s apparent to me she’s in a studio in Texas and may have never been to the cities she’s pretending to know so well.
Of course, this wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t an organized plan by higher-ups with control over the stations, or at least their websites.
Some may say there’s nothing dishonest since she appears on a few station bio pages, but having a local station logo by her name and reporting local news is too much for me.
I wonder if she even asks how to pronounce local names in between slamming out videos. It would only take a phone call.
- How long until local news people figure out local locations?, April 5, 2018
Save local news stories that nobody anywhere else should care about to the real locals. They could use the jobs, anyway.
This isn’t just “phoning it in,” at least to me. I think it’s more phony and deceptive.
And certainly not as “perky” as that other Katie (who really did report on TV in Miami, but as Katherine)!

- Have you noticed Comcast’s Christmas gift to itself?, Dec. 27, 2019
- Nothing against my friends at CBS, but…, July 20, 2019
- Control of the media after the mosque attacks in New Zealand, March 16, 2019
- Big merger, big problem, big surprise!, July 25, 2018
- The Big Bang Theory’s wedding episode succeeded where Publix failed, May 23, 2018
- My urge: Follow your conscience, despite the cost, April 4, 2018
Canāt argue with this: Local CBS anchors stepped in (via satellite) to help WCBS while Broadcast Center was closed https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/local-cbs-anchors-step-in-to-help-wcbs-while-cbs-broadcast-studio-remains-closed/219827/
But perhaps they did it for too long⦠https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/16/wcbs-farms-out-shows
Similar situation (clueless): https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/18/when-the-anchor-doesnt-have-a-clue
WCBS leaving Big Apple viewers uninformed, big time! https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/17/completely-checked-out
WCBS moves some operations to sports-deprived YES Network in Conn. https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wcbs-moves-some-operations-to-yes-network-in-connecticut/220146/
Coming up: The CBS Weekend News produced at KTVT in Dallas/Fort Worth, and anchored by a former DJ at Y-100 radio in Miami. https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/cbs-owned-stations-pitch-in-with-national-newscasts
WCBS-NYās noon news, weather and Denver master control: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/25/you-would-expect-better
Seems WBBM-Chicago “doesnāt want to get caught off guard like big sister WCBS.”
https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/3/26/news-from-the-street
Can a station terminate the contract of one of its highest profile (and probably highest paid) news anchors three months early when she told the boss she’d be leaving for a national position – not a direct competitor – when it expires? https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/celebrities/article242697671.html
Fair critique. A quick search would yield the proper pronunciation. Hopefully does her homework if sheās unfamiliar with Worcester, MA.