• TV Week, Wednesday, December 14, 2005 11:04 AM

Under the temporary leadership of anchorman Bob Schieffer, who replaced Dan Rather, the "CBS Evening News" has demonstrated surprising audience growth, according to Nielsen Media Research for the week of Dec. 5-9. While the flagship newscasts of both NBC and ABC have remained steady in recent weeks, CBS seems to be improving its position. It is currently within 1.15 million viewers of "ABC's World News Tonight," which has lost some viewers from the year-ago period, when the late Peter Jennings sat in the anchor chair. Schieffer, citing the more chatty nature of his network's on-air correspondents as a reason for the ratings improvement, also took time yesterday to praise NBC's Katie Couric, who it is believed is being heavily courted by CBS to take over for Schieffer. "I hope we can get her," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "She's a great interviewer, people know who she is, and she has enormous credibility."

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