I came across an article from the LA Times regarding Katie Couric's YouTube channel that was recycled today for the Chicago Tribune. NewTeeVee's new blog The Station covered it a couple weeks ago originally, so I'm surprised it hasn't garnered more attention or recieved very much traction in the blogosphere. If you have a few minutes, even if you aren't a fan of Couric or CBS's news coverage, it's still worth checking out.
Watching her interact with her friends on the channel is surprisingly reminiscent of a few times I've seen Robert Scoble on camera talking to someone about FriendFeed or Twitter. One video in particular where she's chatting with Charlie Gibson in the hallway about YouTube gives a frank an unstaged peek at her truly geek-like excitement about the service, allowing her to connect to folks in a way that simply isn't possible from behind the news desk.
As was noted by researchers in New Zealand, her usage falls squarely into the cultural category, but with professional overtones. Dr. Burgess works with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, and was interviewed Australia's Science Alert.
"There are two ways of understanding YouTube - as a low-cost distribution channel for commercial media content and as a platform for amateur cultural production," Dr. Burgess told Science Alert. "Both YouTube uses are alive and well, but each has some unexpected patterns."