But all the defense and denial don't answer a couple of valid queries about what role Katie Couric plays in the news business right now. Blyth questioned why Couric, who called Jayson Blair's ethical transgressions "repugnant," declined to comment about "Spin Sisters" to either the New York Times or Newsweek but instead responded on "Larry King Live," where her former roommate and best friend Wendy Whitworth is an executive producer. She wasn't committing journalistic fraud, but Couric's choice was perhaps a bit comfy for a journalist concerned with objectivity. "It was a very controlled environment," said Blyth, who noted that King only asked Couric about the trainer, not about her liberal bias. "Today's" Kapp responded, "That's a ridiculous point. We decided upon learning about this book that it wasn't worth any comment but when asked point-blank in a TV interview it was a different situation. When King raised the trainer issue it was more in conversation than an interview."

But what of the complaints that Couric lodges on her own behalf? Anyone who watches "Today" has heard her strafe charmingly against her role as monkey on an NBC chain in segments like the annual "Today Throws a Wedding," or the de rigueur day-after floggings for NBC reality shows like "The Apprentice" or "Average Joe." In a January interview with actor Ashton Kutcher, Couric actually said, "So I have to ask you about Demi Moore. How's that going? What's going on with that? Any plans to get married -- blah blah blah?" She recently confessed to CNN that if she had her druthers she'd be talking to more world leaders than movie stars. "But the climate is such that there's so much emphasis on ratings, that that's hard to do," she said. "When there is so much emphasis on ratings, it's hard for true journalism to survive."

Except that this true journalist is the most powerful person in her field. Her former researcher Jeff Zucker shot through the ranks, becoming "Today" executive producer and now NBC boss: It's not a stretch to say that she has the man on speed dial. If she'd really like to throw fastballs at deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide instead of lobbing sycophantic air balls at "Jersey Girl" star Ben Affleck, she could probably work something out. But she doesn't. She sits, as she did on Friday night, a prisoner of her own power, who, rather than lose the Affleck interview to Diane Sawyer, literally rolled her eyes on camera before asking the actor to complete phrases that began "Celebrity is ..." And "My ideal woman is ..."

"She could have gone the Oprah route if she'd wanted to," said Tyndall, referring to the 2001 negotiations in which Couric was approached about doing a syndicated talk show. "One of the reasons she didn't is because then there would have been no way that she'd get to interview world leaders. 'Today' still has hard news in its first half hour, and she's doing a lot of politics at the moment." Additionally, he added, "She always has the chance to give all that money back to NBC. She can have her agent say that she would really prefer to be Tim Russert's backup. My heart doesn't bleed for her."

"Today" spokeswoman Kapp said that she sees no conflict between Couric's fluffier responsibilities and her hard-nosed journalism: "Katie is known for her interviews with everyone from Crown Prince Abdullah to the Central Park jogger to Ben Affleck. Katie is so respected because she can sit down with a world leader or a pop icon and give them both a hard-hitting news-making interview."

The Queen of Mean rumors are going to keep getting printed, as are the stories about Couric being rude to a friend's doorman, calling in sick to work when she was really partying with her boyfriend (see 2001, post-contract negotiation), or getting plastic surgery and expensive haircuts. And it's not just because she's a broad. The John Kerry Botox story has taught us that if anyone actually cared enough about Dan Rather's forehead to hunt down his plastic surgeon, it would surely make it into the paper.

But the fact is, no one does care that much about Rather. That's just the problem. He and his brethren surrendered long ago to their role as culture dinosaurs: They read the news straight; they are men who are supposed to inform us, but never really blend in with us. Couric is another story; a successful and wildly wealthy woman who is still a cultural anomaly, her job is to be one of us -- it's how she's been sold. Of course she's tough and ambitious -- you don't just bubble your sweet little way up through the ranks of a national news organization. But the perk makes her palatable, disguises her as unthreatening. The more she can frost her steely insides with a spun-sugar exterior, the more she can convince us that she is one of us, the more successful she becomes, the more she becomes an anomaly. And like the best traps, the more she struggles, the more entwined she will become: lose her looks, lose her audience; get the brow lift, get bad press. Mourn quietly, she's chilly; mourn publicly, she's courting sympathy and ratings.

Tyndall theorized that this rough patch for Couric could just be growing pains as she finally eases into her privilege and power and becomes something new -- something more like Rather and less like the gals at Wal-Mart. "It could be that we're seeing her preparing not to be the bubbly, effervescent next-door neighbor, but a serious power player who goes out with ladies who lunch and throws her weight around," said Tyndall.

We make successes of women and then punish them for having pleased us too well. In the end, who cares about Katie Couric -- she's a morning show host who will interpret our world for us for a few more years and then host prime-time specials about Princess Diana's secret tapes (see Jane Pauley, last week). How much does it really matter whether she's got John "Presidential Candidate" Kerry or Frankie "Agent Cody Banks" Muniz in the hot seat? It doesn't, really, until we realize that we're confused about whether Martha Stewart is guilty, because we can't see her legal situation clearly for the hail of arrows labeled "bitch" clouding our view. So until we have a woman in the White House to interview, perhaps there is only one solution: a moratorium on women in television. We're not grown up enough to watch responsibly.

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