Welcome to the nightly news, Katie. Here's Cal Thomas:

Emulating the "listening tour" of Hillary Clinton when she first ran for the Senate, the newly minted anchorwoman of the "CBS Evening News," Katie Couric, will soon embark on a listening tour of her own. Executive Producer Rome Hartman says, "It's an attempt to hear from regular folks on a whole broad range of things that help us make decisions on how we can better serve our viewers."

The general manager of the CBS affiliate in Denver, Walt DeHaven, said in a news release that when Couric visits his city, "She intends to meet a diverse cross section (of people) so that she can really get to the heart of the community." In order to be in the presence of the first female permanent anchor of a broadcast evening news program, one must fill out an application. From those applications, "100 people from all cross sections of the community will be contacted and given the opportunity to participate" in the July 13 forum.

I suppose this is good public relations, though Couric is already one of the most recognizable faces in the country. What I don't get is DeHaven's comment that Couric's visit will help her "understand what Coloradans feel is important, what issues our community faces and how she can help bring significant news stories to television viewers, not only in Denver, but nationwide."

By the time one ascends to the anchor chair at a broadcast network, shouldn't it be assumed that the person already knows what news looks like and what the public needs to know? Does a surgeon ask a patient for advice before operating? If our children say they want cereal for dinner, instead of a balanced meal, do we agree to their tastes, or tell them to eat their vegetables?...

I'm all for anchors visiting "fly-over country," but given their privileged lives, large salaries and the similar worldview held by their friends and professional associates, don't look for Couric's listening tour to be much more than hype for the new "CBS Evening News."

Thomas uses the rest of the column to rip Katie's left-leaning viewpoints, but -- frankly -- CBS has given him a fat target here. Couric's "listening tour" is an example of a public relations initative with little raison d'etre, for the reasons Thomas explains.