As Katie Couric's one-year anniversary as anchor of "CBS Evening News" is marked by visits to Iraq and Syria, questions linger about her newscast's rotten ratings. A stint that began with the promise
of a new approach to the evening news has "turned into a $15 million-a-year disappointment so far for CBS, which has found itself in third place even with the former morning star in the anchor chair.
But CBS isn't giving up yet, bringing in veteran producer Rick Kaplan earlier this year. He has given the show a harder edge and made it more newsy. "I look at us right now being in
the top of the second inning at the latest," says CBS News president Sean McManus. "This is a long, long process, and I'm extremely pleased at the quality of our show. I put our show up against any
national newscast. I'm very proud of it."
For network news analyst Andrew Tyndall, the entry of Couric -- along with the move of "Good Morning America" co-anchor Charles Gibson's move
to ABC's evening news -- shook up what had been a stagnant race among the networks. "The idea that presumably CBS had was that by giving (Couric's arrival) some buzz and excitement, the beneficiary of
that shake-up would be her," he says. "They got the buzz and excitement, but they didn't get the benefit."
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at The Hollywood Reporter »