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Couric to CBS; Fats Goes Home

Aired April 05, 2006 - 13:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Katie, as she's popularly known, is shifting gears, getting ready for the nightshift. She's leaving the "Today" show to anchor the "CBS Evening News." The movement's creating lots of buzz and lots of questions.
Deborah Norville knows what it's like to be in the TV hotseat. She was Couric's predecessor on the "Today" show, and she is now anchor of "Inside Edition."

Good to see you, Deborah.

DEBORAH NORVILLE, ANCHOR, "INSIDE EDITION": Hey, Fredricka. How are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing good. Before I talk to you about the transition and perhaps what Katie might be up against and what she's feeling about now, let's talk about your reaction about her leaving team "Today" and flying solo instead at CBS?

NORVILLE: I think it's a gutsy move on Katie's part. And I think there's something illustrative for everybody to take from that. Here's a woman who's looking at her 50th birthday. It would have been very easy for her to stay at NBC and continue doing the great job they've been doing over there on the morning show. Instead she's taking on a challenge. CBS News has had a lot of very public bumps in the last couple of years, and the confidence that CBS is showing in Kate in asking her to come over and helm their flagship newscast, that's a great challenge. And I salute her for taking it on, because it does have risk, and I think that's probably what's going on make it fun for her.

WHITFIELD: It does have risk, but do you think in this day and age that perhaps the rewards far outweigh the risks?

NORVILLE: Well, I think if you want to talk about monetary awards, if the press reports were to be believed, the monetary rewards for were probably greater if she'd stayed at NBC. I don't think this is about money. I mean, frankly, the dollars you're talking about here are so astronomical that very few people in America can really relate to what they're talking about.

I think the challenge is one of bringing credibility. The challenge is one of steering this great ship called "CBS Evening News" and the CBS news division in a new direction.

I think it's interesting, everybody is making a lot about the fact that this is the first woman to solo anchor of the "Evening News." This is also the first bonified celebrity to be asked to helm any of the evening newscasts, and I think that says something about where we are in this information age. The old-line journalism may be blurring a little bit, and celebrity is every bit as important nowadays in gathering eyeballs, which is so critical to the advertiser dollar as it's ever been.

WHITFIELD: Except in this case, while she, yes, has a celebrity, I think so many people in the industry respect her as having a great balance of celebrity and great journalism credibility. So she brings both of those.

NORVILLE: Oh, absolutely. Having one doesn't take away from the other, but certainly you never saw this kind of reportage, even when ABC made its switch after the sad passing of Peter Jennings, and Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas was brought in. You certainly didn't see this when Dan, or Peter or Tom took over the evening newscast 20 years ago.

WHITFIELD: Well, you know, you mentioned the fact that much is being made of her being the first woman, but you know, perhaps one of the rewards that she's looking at is she is certainly being considered the trailblazer by being the woman who takes the helm there at the "CBS Evening News."

However...

NORVILLE: You know what, I would argue that with you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Really?

NORVILLE: Yes, I think Barbara Walters is the trailblazer. You and I and every other woman who gets to work on television news really owes a huge debt of gratitude to Barbara.

Katie probably couldn't be there had Barbara not sat in the evening news chair over at ABC way back when.

WHITFIELD: But you know what's interesting here, you mentioned when Barbara, when she shared the hotseat, you know, with Harry Reasoner, it wasn't widely expected. So perhaps now we're at least in the day and age as we are embracing Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff sharing the spotlight their at ABC News, that perhaps people have gotten over the whole, I only want to see a man in the hot seat leading the newscast.

NORVILLE: Let me throw this out. I remember when Gerry Ferraro was tapped to be the runningmate of Walter Mondale during the 1994 presidential campaign. And there was a big hue and cry about that, the first woman running for office on a national ticket. And Sydney Blumenthal said something at that time that might be illustrative to right now. He said the fact that a man and woman can sit as co-equals on the local evening news, co-anchors together, made it possible for Mr. Mondale to go to Congresswoman Ferraro and bring her on to the ticket.

You could argue the same now. Will it be possible now that Katie Couric will be the evening news anchor solo that a woman can helm the ticket solo on the national front? Interesting little parlay to play.

WHITFIELD: It really is. It really is.

Let's talk about the what the transition might be like for her professionally and personally. You know what it's like to fill big shoes, you know, after Jane Pauley left the "Today" show, and you were leaving the "Today" show, and now Katie Couric is following the big footsteps of both Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer. Bob Schieffer who's been applauded as doing a great job in the interim.

NORVILLE: Yes, Bob's done a fabulous job and really righted the shop that was a little bit rocky publicly.

I mean, internally, at CBS News, they have such a fantastic team of producers, and correspondents and writers and so on working. I think what the challenge is going to be for Katie and for the people who work around her is making sure that that curiosity factor that will be very high at the beginning when she takes over on the "Evening News" continues to bring viewers, not just because they're curious, but because they're got a darn good product. I mean, that's what it's all about. People tune in to see who's on there, they stick around because of what you're telling them.

If they've got good, solid journalism. If they give people a sense that we've told you everything that you need to know, we've told you what's important for you to know, to be a well-informed citizen, and if maybe for 30 or 40 seconds at the end of it, we give you something to smile about, they've gone done a good job as a newscast.

WHITFIELD: But clearly her personality has been a major draw for at least 15 years now by being in the NBC family. And so now you have to wonder, just reading the tea leaves, is CBS going to try and showcase that by perhaps throwing away the whole desk format.

NORVILLE: Are you taking about Mary Hart and having a light on the legs or something like that? I don't think Katie would want to go there.

WHITFIELD: Not quite like that, no. No, no, I don't think so.

All right. Well, Deborah Norville, thanks so much, of "Inside Edition" and formerly of NBC. Good to talk to you.

NORVILLE: You too, Fredricka. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Well, he's not walking, but yes, indeed, he is talking. A New Orleans legend is ready to go back to his home in the Lower Ninth Ward. We'll catch up with musician Fats Domino when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Another sad chapter in the story of a fallen sports hero. Dwight Gooden will spend the rest of this year in prison. The former Major League pitching star was sentenced today to a year and a day for violating probation by using cocaine. He'll receive credit for time already served, so his remaining sentence is expected to run about seven and a half months. Gooden has a long history of cocaine problems and was on three years' probation stemming from a traffic- related arrest when he failed a drug test.

And country singer Hank Williams, Jr., is due in court today, accused of assaulting a 19-year-old waitress. The waitress told police that Williams accosted her in the restaurant of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. She claims the singer made a sexual advance, cursed at her and choked her. Williams' publicist accused the woman, and her lawyer, of trying to settle the case for an outlandish amount of money. Williams has been in Memphis since his daughters were hospitalized there after a car crash three weeks ago.

A U.S. attorney is considering whether to press charges against Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. His office, says, however, not to expect an announcement today. McKinney, as you know, had an altercation last week with the Capitol Hill police officer who failed to recognize her when she entered a Capitol building.

On CNN's AMERICAN MORNING, the Capitol police chief defended his officer. McKinney, however, refused to answer our Soledad O'Brien's questions about how the incident happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: Let me say that this has become much ado about a hairdo. And the real...

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I hear you, but let me -- I'm going stop you there...

MCKINNEY: The real issue -- you can't stop me, Soledad -- the real issue...

O'BRIEN: Well, I want to get to what happened first, and then we'll get into the real issue, because...

MCKINNEY: The real issue...

O'BRIEN: ... we need to establish what happened.

MCKINNEY: The real issue is face recognition and security around the Capitol complex. And I have an e-mail here from a former page saying that 16-year-old pages are required to know, by name and by face, the -- all of the members of Congress. Shouldn't Capitol Hill police officers be required to do the same?

CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: The bottom line for us is we do pride ourselves in security. It wasn't racial profiling. Any time an officer doesn't know who someone is coming in the building, I direct them to stop that person. And even if you're stopped, you're not supposed to hit a police officer. It's very simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The two top Democrats in the House said yesterday that the Capitol Hill Police deserve the support of Congress. Two House Republicans introduced a measure praising the police force for its professionalism.

In Texas, several Republicans already are expressing interest in the congressional seat held for more than two decades by Tom DeLay. The former majority leader announced yesterday he's resigning from Congress. DeLay has been indicted on money laundering charges involving the use of campaign funds.

On CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM," DeLay said he's stepping down for the good of the party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: I think I could win, but the damage that would be done not only to me personally in my career, but the damage to the district that would be done, isn't good for the district. My constituents deserve better. They deserve a Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: DeLay said he will leave office by mid-June. A committee of local Texas party officials will choose his replacement on the November ballot.

There's a new normal in New Orleans, people facing the huge job of rebuilding their homes and lives after Hurricane Katrina, all while holding on to the character that makes the city what it is.

Singer Fats Domino is a big part of that. His house is in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. And as Bill Capo of CNN affiliate WWL reports, Fats has gone home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL CAPO, WWL REPORTER (voice-over): Fats Domino was home, sitting on porch of his flood-damaged Lower Ninth Ward house in the neighborhood where he grew up, surrounded by friends, smiling and feeling optimistic.

(on camera): You think this neighborhood will come back?

ANTOINE "FATS" DOMINO, SINGER: Well, I hope so. I'll never forget this neighborhood. All my life.

CAPO: So as you drove through here today, what did you think?

DOMINO: Well, I got tired of walking, so...

CAPO (voice-over): Passing tourists were surprised to spot a music legend enjoying the pleasant weather, and he became the friendly host, thanking them for supporting his career.

RON LEON, TOURIST: I'm stunned is not the word, man. I'm shocked!

CAPO (on camera): So what about your house? When you walk through your house, what do you think?

DOMINO: I think it needs some work done on it. I think it will be all right, I guess, come (INAUDIBLE) or whatever we got to do, I'm going to do it, you know. I would like to keep the house.

CAPO (voice-over): Work is underway to restore the two-structure complex that had 27,000 square feet dividing it into 28 rooms. And leading the work crew is his friend of 30 years, trumpeter, handyman and carpenter Mark "Big Red" Frazier.

MARK FRAZIER, CARPENTER: Very extensive, but it will be rebuilt as was.

CAPO: Some of the fantastic furnishings collected over a lifetime are still there, waiting to be refurbished as Red works out a timetable to rebuild the house.

FRAZIER: According to the material availability and little bit of time, probably 90 days.

CAPO (on camera): Ninety days? To do all of this?

FRAZIER: I'll have him cooking in this kitchen.

CAPO: Of course, they all still talk about the day it flooded, how fast the water came up. When that happened, Fats Domino was here, and his good friend and drummer Ernest Fontenot -- everybody knows him as "Box" -- came in, got him, took him out through the backdoor to another house on the compound that was two stories.

ERNEST FONTENOT, FRIEND/DRUMMER: I told him to get on my back and I got him through the window to Charles Grimmis (ph), his son-in- law.

CAPO (voice-over): The question, will the man who now calls the West Bank home move back to where it started in the Lower Nine?

DOMINO: I wouldn't mind. I guess we never can tell. Never can tell, you know?

CAPO (on camera): You like home on the West Bank?

DOMINO: Yes. I like anywhere, as long as I'm alive and kickin'.

(MUSIC)

CAPO (voice-over): That's the title of his newest album, released through the Tipitina's Foundation, with some of the proceeds going to help local musicians.

As he sat on his porch, he thought about what might happen to the city he loves so much.

DOMINO: Never tell. I think it's going to be all right.

CAPO (on camera): Think it's going come back?

DOMINO: Yes. All we do is pray, thank the Lord, everything will be all right.

CAPO (voice-over): With photographer Kevin Breen (ph), I'm Bill Capo, Channel 4 Eyewitness News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Fats Domino, to be one of the headlining talents at Jazz Fest, which begins just three weeks or so from now.

When we come back, gone, but not forgotten. The man who didn't survive the Jill Carroll kidnapping. The news keeps coming, and we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It was his job to help her communicate, but their professional relationship went far beyond words. American journalist Jill Carroll is back home after nearly three months as a hostage in Iraq, but still fresh in her mind, the price her translator and, consequently, his family paid trying to tell stories out of Iraq.

Our Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAYROUZ ENWIYA, TRANSLATOR'S WIFE: Hello? Hi, Jill. How are you? Yes.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Amman, Jordan, an emotional reunion by phone.

F. ENWIYA: I can't! I can't!

ROBERTSON: For the first time since her release, Jill Carroll calls the wife of her translator. He was shot dead when Carroll was kidnapped.

F. ENWIYA: What did he say? What did he say?

ROBERTSON: Desperate for any detail of how her husband, Alan Enwiya, died, she asked again in Arabic, what did he say? What were his last words?

F. ENWIYA: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC).

ROBERTSON: And through the tears, the words Jill Carroll must have been dying to hear.

F. ENWIYA: I'm so happy for you, Jill.

ROBERTSON: From Alan Enwiya's father, too, forgiveness. RAYMOND ENWIYA, TRANSLATOR'S FATHER: She said I'm sorry, I was the cause. I said, no, it's not your fault.

ROBERTSON: The pair were out on assignment when the kidnappers snatched Jill. Alan's body was found left in the road, brutally murdered in cold blood, shot twice in the head at close range. Until now, they've had no idea about Alan's last moments alive.

Jill Carroll and Alan Enwiya had become an inseparable double act, teaming up as translator and reporter almost three years ago, when thugs forced Enwiya to close his music store.

Together, ducking the dangers of Baghdad, doing journalism under the radar with no real security, relying on their wits. Carroll had become a regular visitor at the Enwiya home. She was the reporter with whom he chose to work.

R. ENWIYA: And Jill didn't go with anybody but Alan.

ROBERTSON (on camera): She liked him a lot?

R. ENWIYA: She loved him, not like.

ROBERTSON: Really? Why was that?

R. ENWIYA: They were just like brother and sister.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): His wife too new Jill Carroll was important to her husband.

F. ENWIYA (through translator): He used to tell his friends, the day that anything happened to Jill, like what happened to her, naturally he would never allow himself to leave her.

ROBERTSON: On the morning he was murdered, Enwiya helped get his 5-year-old daughter, Maryanne (ph), ready for school, said goodbye to his wife of 1-year-old son, Martin, before meeting Jill.

Two hours later, his wife learned of his death on Al-Jazeera.

F. ENWIYA (through translator): So I went to the neighbor, and they took me to the Al Hariya (ph) police station. And from afar, a found a pickup with Alan sprawled in the pickup. So I ran to it. I realized that he was -- I need to see him off. I kissed him around the eye, and I told him, bye-bye, Alan.

ROBERTSON: She learned nothing more until Jill Carroll filled in the gaps.

R. ENWIYA: When they stopped the car Alan, and the driver opened the door. After that she heard two shots behind her. And she knew after that Alan was shot.

ROBERTSON (on camera): And Alan could have run away, but he didn't? He tried to save Jill?

R. ENWIYA: He didn't, of course. Of course, he didn't leave her. He stayed with her. That's what caused his death.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For Alan Enwiya's family, the details from Jill Carroll confirmed what, in their hearts, what they already knew. The son, husband and father died a hero.

R. ENWIYA: I thought that. I thought that you are -- instead of Alan, you are my daughter now. She said, I am your daughter.

ROBERTSON: You are my daughter. No greater forgiveness can be given, no higher price paid.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And the next hour of LIVE FROM begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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