Couric and Cooper in Haiti; amid pain and destruction, we need ratings; more Radnich/KNBR foolishness

QUESTION: What in the hell are Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper doing in Haiti? Is CNN that desperate for ratings? The answer is yes. And for that matter, so is CBS too with Couric doing her part time Mother Theresa act there amid the destruction in Port-au-Prince.

I'm not questioning Cooper's nor Couric's credibility, but seeing them report from the immense tragedy called the Haitian earthquake serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. They aren't adding anything we haven't seen in pictures and images on TV, the Internet, and people's own cell phones. I mean, yes, looks straight like hell there and we could almost imagine how awful it must be on the streets there.

Couric and Cooper aren't the only network anchors in the city; Brian Williams of NBC and Dianne Sawyer are all ensconced in Port-au-Prince. Again, why?

Reminds me of the day after Loma Prietta, seeing then-CBS news anchor, Dan Rather arriving at the Cypress freeway in Oakland. Rather got to the scene via a CBS limo and looked utterly ridiculous. It might as well have been a scene out of the movie, "Network."

At CNN, the ratings for Cooper are so bad, they need any kind of lift, and cynically, Haiti couldn't have come at a better time. Harsh? Yes. Insensitive? You betcha. But its the truth. Not that any CNN exec would admit that the earthquake provided Cooper the chance to re-enact Katrina, but it can't hurt.

Pardon my crassness, but hell, that's why all of 'em are there! Tell me in a week what you remember about these millionaire schlums walking around the scene of destruction. They offer NOTHING. Nada. They're there only because their network bosses want them there in the hope they can spike the Nielsen meter. Plain and simple.

**Gary Radnich did his usual "kiss-the-tuchas" routine Thursday morning on his KNBR radio show. Radnich looked spectacularly foolish when he opened the show by proclaiming that he had secret word that the long-awaited meeting between Al Davis and Tom Cable would take place today, (Thursday.) His own sidekick, Dan Dibley had to remind him that was old news and that everybody around town had already known about the meeting.

Then Radnich managed to suck up to Ann Killion, late of the SJ Merc, who now appears on the lately, vanilla, "Chronicle Live." Killion, according to Radnich, is great...just great because she wasn't merely a "token woman" appearing on a local chat show. Yeah, great, an endorsement from the mail-it-in mutz who does the same BORING, routine every morning.

Radnich also took his obligatory shot at nighttime tonsil, Damon Bruce. Shades of Pete Liebengood from the old guy, but he hasn't utilized the "Tom Nettles" card as of yet.

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