Katie Couric disappointed by CBS replacing O'Donnell with 'two men,' accuses network of being 'out of touch'

Katie Couric accused her former employer of being "out of touch" on Sunday after "CBS Evening News" announced it would be replacing host Norah O'Donnell with two male anchors, which she argued was "odd."

"It was more than a little disappointing to read that Ms. O’Donnell would be replaced by two men, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois," Couric wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, noting that she respected both Dickerson and DuBois. "The two people who will be greeting Americans watching evening newscasts will be men."

O'Donnell announced in July that she would be stepping down from her position as lead anchor on "CBS Evening News" to move to a different role at CBS. Couric also previously held the lead anchor position at "CBS Evening News," and left the network in 2011.

"It’s odd and more than a little out of touch that even while CBS has announced a restructuring that introduces an additional layer of women executives, the leading editorial decision makers will mostly be men," Couric continued. 

COURIC CLASHES WITH PELOSI ABOUT DEMOCRATS' TRANSPARENCY ON BIDEN'S HEALTH: 'DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION'

She argued that Vice President Harris' presidential campaign demanded a diverse group of reporters. 

"We’re also in the midst of a campaign that could result in the election of the first woman president, and first woman of color as president. It’s a potentially historic story — one that needs a diverse group of journalists covering it," Couric wrote. 

CBS News announced that "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan would also be providing regular reporting for the program from Washington, D.C. 

Couric argued it was even more disappointing that the people behind the scenes at "CBS Evening News" are "three White men: Bill Owens, Guy Campanile and Jerry Cipriano."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

She praised Cipriano, who she said was her "right-hand writer," while she worked at the network, but lamented "male writers occasionally have blind spots." 

"While I was at CBS, I read copy written by one of my male colleagues describing Hillary Clinton in a way that struck me as subtly sexist. I asked my team, ‘Would you describe a male candidate this way?’ We rewrote it," Couric said.

"'CBS Evening News' has been in third place for decades. While I couldn’t move the needle during my time as anchor, I had hoped to open minds," Couric concluded. "Traditional broadcast news may be waning, but more than half of the viewing population should still demand more from the industry. Until then, once again, nightly network newscasts are the purview of a few good men."

CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Secret Service apologizes after breaking into Massachusetts salon to use bathroom before Harris fundraiser

The U.S. Secret Service was forced to apologize to a Massachusetts salon owner after using her building's bathroom without permission ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris last week.

The salon owner, Alicia Powers, says Secret Service agents put duct tape over her security cameras and broke into her building by picking the lock. They then allowed various people to use the salon's bathroom over a two-hour period.

Powers told Business Insider that she was aware she had to close her salon but was not informed about the Secret Service's other plans.

"They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again – totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation," Powers told Business Insider. "And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday."

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT PUTS SECRET SERVICE FUNDING IN QUESTION: AMERICANS 'DESERVE ANSWERS'

Footage from the salon's front-door Ring security camera shows a Secret Service agent approaching the door with a roll of tape and observing the locked door and the camera. The agent then grabbed a nearby chair and stood on it to tape over the security camera.

"There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half – just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission," Powers told BI.

FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT WARNS AGENCY ‘STRETCHED THIN’ WITH NEW RESPONSIBILITIES, LACK OF MANPOWER

"And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera," she added.

Powers told the outlet that an EMS worker later told her the Secret Service agent in charge of security that day "was telling people to come in and use the bathroom." The Secret Service told BI that its agents "would not" have used the building without permission, but they acknowledged that an agent had taped over the camera.

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

"Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would've opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them," Powers told BI. "But they didn't even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves."

The building's landlord, Brian Smith, says no one gave the Secret Service officers permission to use the building or even enter it.

"Me and my dad own the building, and I have a crazy eccentric guy that lives upstairs," Smith told BI. "And he didn't tell the Secret Service they could use it, and I didn't tell them, and my father didn't tell them, and they had no permission to go in there whatsoever."

Powers says a representative for the Secret Service's Boston field office called her to apologize after BI contacted the agency about the incident.

"He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong," Powers told the outlet. "They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission."