When TV host Katie Couric had a live, on-air colonoscopy on the Today Show in 2000, and campaigned for colon cancer screening after the death of her husband two years before that, there was a pronounced increase in colonoscopies among Americans termed the “Katie Couric effect.”The term was first used in 2002, but was resurrected in June in the Washington Post and last year in the New York Times.
Now, Canadian Word Spy Paul McFedries, who tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language, has added “Kate Couric effect” (also simply “Couric effect”) on his Word Spy website.~TM
Murray's Review of Medical Journalism 