It's Katie

For a story couched in "mays" and "coulds," there is almost nothing ambiguous in Bill Carter's story today:

Link: A CBS Deal With Katie Couric May Be Near - New York Times.

She's going.  Bob Schieffer will have a nice relaxing summer in D.C.

Yesterday, Paul Harris and I talked about it.

Comments

[renton]

Should Katie leave does that mean it's OK to fire Jeff Zucker?

Please?

[Soonerthought]

Sad. Think of all the reporters they could hire for her salary. CBS could revolutionize TV news. Talk about missed opportunities. What a sad commentary on newsd and our society. We sure have our priorities screwed up...

[Louis]

To me, there's one big one drawback about Couric that I haven't heard much about in this story: her voice. It's gotten very raspy and throaty, especially in the last couple of years, and these days I find her fairly unpleasant to listen to. Maybe she's just not getting enough sleep due to her morning show, but if this is a permanent condition I don't see her being extremely successful as an anchorwoman.

[Mark Jeffries]

Since when is increasing reporting staff "revolutionizing" news? And with the exception of "60 Minutes," when does "serious journalism" get ratings or profits? (Yeah, yeah, news should be a public trust and not a profit center, but let's be realistic about this.)

The thing that makes Couric's switch to CBS is questionable is not because of whether she can handle it (she had a solid reputation in the biz before "Today" and she can eventually overcome any stigma placed on her), but whether *anyone* could do what CBS wants her to do. The dinnertime newscast is a lumbering dinosaur made extinct by the Internet, "All Things Considered" and lifestyle changes and I'm not sure it's worth saving. If Les Moonves wanted to be really revolutionary, he would turn 8/7c (or better, 10/9c, since Fox and mini-net local news already airs in that time slot in many cities) to the news department for an hour of "The CBS Evening News" every night--but that's not going to happen, either.