X-Ray Reading (Couric)

1. (First two full paragraphs) But for the past three months, Mr. Horner has been working on what he says is one of the biggest challenges of his career: Writing a 10-second clip of music that will introduce Katie Couric each weeknight on the “CBS Evening News.”
2. To me, this seems like a feature lead. It isn’t really introducing or bridging to a series of facts. Instead, it is setting the foundation for a story about the many different opinions and elements that the composer had to deal with in making the score for Katie Couric.
3. Yes, I do agree. I felt that it did a good job of introducing the background of James Horner (Titanic, 100 movies, etc.), and I also felt that it did a good job of outlining the difficulty he faced with the expectations of CBS. Basically, it was light enough, yet compelling enough, to make me want to read the entire article.
5. For this feature lead, I felt the phrase “The process has been strenuous, in large part because Ms. Couric and CBS brass wanted him to pour an ocean of imagery into a musical teacup.” This analogy made me, the reader, interested in the struggle and curious as to the composer’s ability to succeed with this challenge.
6. - Introducing the composer and his resume
- Explaining his task (making the 10 second sound clip)
- Outlining the various expectations from everyone involved in project.
- Adding to difficulty by explaining Horner’s unfamiliarity with tv.
- Explaining that song needed to be flexible.
- Horner’s acceptance of job and the way he approached completing piece.
- The verdict from CBS and Couric in regard to his work.
- Final explanation of subtle changes and brush-up to the song.
- Horner’s reaction to his completed work.
7. CBS liked the finished product so much that it asked Mr. Beckerman to weave it into news programming across the network. “I’m just thankful that CBS really meant it when they said they wanted me to break the mold.” Mr. Horner says. “Most often when people say that, they hear it and then say, “Um, we didn’t mean that broken.”
8. I feel the ending both closes the story and adds some humor to the closing. In a way, it ends, in a way, with saying that you can’t please everyone. Which, I feel, is a good way to finish up this piece.
9. “Just be blunt, I’m used to great abuse.” - Horner
10. I thought Horner’s initial comments about not watching TV much and not being familiar with Couric could have been shortened.
11. I thought the most visual detail was the account of all the CBS news executives standing in a huddle around a cheap CD player on the desk.
12. I learned that there is a tremendous amount of money, thought and importance going into every aspect of Katie Couric’s debut.