• Reuters, Tuesday, February 7, 2006 11 AM

Is Katie Couric nighttime anchor material? That's the question Reuters' Sue Zeidler asks in her story about the longtime "Today" co-host, who as everyone knows is being wooed away from her NBC job by CBS. The network has yet to permanently fill the anchor chair of "CBS Evening News," left vacant by Dan Rather's departure. Couric appears to be the frontrunner for the position, although her NBC contract doesn't expire until May, and she has said again and again that she has not made up her mind about what to do. Zeidler assesses Couric's strengths (she's funny, she's famous, she has reported hard-news stories with distinction when called upon) and her perceived weaknesses (she's maybe too funny, she lacks gravitas, she'll quickly become bored with a 22-minute evening broadcast). In the end, the writer draws no conclusions about Couric's fitness for the role. Instead, she notes that the networks' flagship newscasts have neither the audience nor the stature they once did, and that for Couric a switch from "Today" to the "CBS Evening News," at least in the eyes of some observers, might be seen as a step down.

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