Who cares? She was a completely inappropriate choice to do the news and no one takes her seriously anyway.

Let the Twinkie keep her Munchkins.

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I don't understand why America cares about this. It's marketing. It happens every day, every hour, every second. And it's donuts for Heaven's sake. It's not like she said she thinks Harvard is the best school and now her kids have been accepted without applying. If Duncan wishes to send ME free donuts, they may contact me through the website listed here. Oh, and I take my coffee black, thank you very much.

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As a journalist, you may not accept any freebies (news outlets/papers have their varying policies on this). Although unsolicited, she shouldn't have accepted, and hopefully she shared with the rest of the newsroom.

Not that I accept Katie Couric as a real journalist, she's more like a celebrity.

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Thank you, Kevin for being the voice of reason this morning -- and a funny one, at that.

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Did anyone ever complain when Rosie O'Donnell would say, "wow, i really like krispy kreme donuts" and suddenly she'd be deluged in them?

No jokes intended - I used to watch her show (gasp!) and that sort of thing happened all the time. it turned into, "hey, I'll say I like stuff and see if we can get companies to send a ton of it for all you audience members!" *grimace* *grimace* *pushes button that plays a line from The Who's 'Tommy'*

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While it's certainly an easy marketing opportunity for Dunkin' Donuts, let's face it.. it's just doughnuts! Amateur Gourmet gets a free white truffle dinner from Alain Ducasse, the writer/artist of PvP webcomic gets free software from developers after he says he bought a Mac. It happens and people need to get over it. I'm sure if my blog gained some popularity I might be getting offers for free stuff.

I doubt she was shilling for free doughnuts, but if someone at Dunkin' Donuts made a shrewd move and got a little free publicity, why should she be punished for it? Why is it that we pay more attention to this, but seem to ignore occasions when lobbyists take senators out for trips and vacations just so they'll think of them?

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Wait, people are worried about the ethics of a journalist accepting unsolicited donut holes?

Where is all this outrage over other unethical journalism behaviours like credulous repetition of state-sanctioned lies to the public, the fair-and-balanced big lies, etc?

Priorities, people.

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Good Lord, it's not like she begged for them! It was a gift because they knew she liked them, people. Get a grip!

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seriously? people are angry because a well-known person got something for free? it's not as if this never happens. ever heard of the oscar gift bags? no one complains about those, and they can be worth tens of thousands of dollars for people that weren't even nominated.

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As a general guideline, people wishing to avoid the appearance of unethical behavior, without being impolite, will generally accept gifts that have only nominal value. With respect to Couric's salary, and keeping in mind her possible capacity to eat munchkins, I doubt the gift could possibly be considered to have any monetary value.

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Hey you know she probably should have packed up the doughnuts or munchkins or whatever and sent them to Africa for all the kids that Madonna didn't adopt.

I can't believe people are up in arms over her hips getting bigger from free food. Don't they have better things to do, like complain about Sandra Lee or Rachel Ray on the Food Network.

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i can't understand why anyone cares. if a journalist hitches a ride from a press conference with a lobyist does that color their reportage.

and as for dunkin donuts... i have yet to find one anywhere that didn't taste stale, no matter the time of day. i am beginning to suspect that the majority of american who like donuts don't know what an honest, fresh donut tastes like. much the same way that folks who like colas are stunned by the flavor of a cola made from suger (they way they used to be made) instead of corn syrup.

bah!

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Hey, let's complain about Katie Couric blatantly pandering to the "plugger" component of the audience by claiming to like Dunkin' Donuts' most popular food product.

She's a skinny celebrity who lives and works in NY City. Do we seriously believe she's ever been in a Dunkin' Donuts?

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