Here's a mold breaker for Jeff Fager to consider:

Ms. Couric is paid around $2.75 per viewer. The three hosts of NPR's All Things Considered - whose listenership outstrips the CBS Evening News by almost 3 to 1 - earn considerably less. Indeed, the budget for Morning Edition and ATC is less than Couric's salary, according to the Columbia Journalism Review.

So: why doesn't Fager act on what two decades of declining evening news viewership and rapid rise in public radio listenership urge him to do: make an evening news in the NPR style - and at NPR salaries. That would free up budget to rebuild the CBS foreign desk ... and make the news division profitable. Ratings would go up - ad rates could go up - and there would be enough money for CBS news to have a rolling news service available on hand held devices.

And if he wants to go retro he can find a Walter Cronkite out there - I know a man with a roundish face, who wears spectacles, and has a voice of substantial authority gained covering conflict and conflict resolution in a two decade long, honor-laden career. He is currently unemployed. If Mr. Fager or one of his staff wishes to get in touch with him I authorize the New York Times to send along my e-mail.

Times have changed greatly and Ms. Couric/no one could resurrect the 6 pm newscast. Few of us happen to be dining at that time or even home then. If arriving home with children to deal with, who sits down and watches the news? While eating my evening meal do I want to hear all the terrible happenings on the earth? No. CNN/Fox has this covered very well 24/7. That said, Katie Couric can do no wrong in my book.

What I find amazing is that she is labeled a somewhat failure but paid 15 million a year. where do I sign up?

It hardly matters who delivers the news. My 47 year old daughter, who just disconnected from the cable/satellite world, observes that few youthful viewers will ever again sit still for minutes of ads for the latest luxury gas guzzler, and products that produce erections on demand.

With a median viewer age of 60 being the youngest of the three nightly news hour, it's about time all networks realize that the day of Huntley & Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, etc. is long past. The prime news sources during the hey-day of nightly news were morning newspapers, nightly newspaper and the nightly news hour. Now you have multiple news sources, 24-7.

Also, the 9-5 work day is a thing of the past and with commuting time people are lucky to get home at 7 or 8.

Also, the newscasts are definitely "news lite". Given the time allowed them, how can they not be.

I am amazed the three networks have been pouring money down a rat hole with these hideously expensive "news" programs, as long as they have.

I think pairing Katie and Matt Lauer together again is a fabulous idea! They have obvious chemistry, and in a talk show format, they will both be able to shine.

The overwhelming consensus in the comments is obvious and I am glad I am not alone. Just like major league sports, journalism talent is diluted and the quality of the game has been "dumbed-down". Pretty faces, lots of mindless observations and obvious political prejudices that should be reserved for commentary. The quality of network news as presented by Huntley/Brinkley, Chancellor, Cronkite/Severeid and, of course, the standards set by Morrow, is long gone and America is far worse for it.

Katie Couric has her detractors. For example, Trudy in # 34 thinks that Couric is an idiot and Uffdaron in #36 notes that "she is one of the worst news readers I have ever seen."


The fact remains, however, that she, along with Charlie Gibson, was one of the few interviewers to expose Sarah Palin as a less than ideal candidate for Vice-President, when she asked Palin what newspapers she read and Palin was unable to answer. With such a huge revelation, at a critical time in the nation's history, Couric can stand front and center among those in the highest echelons of news broadcasting.


I wish her well in her future endeavors.

Face it. Few people have the patience to watch Ms. Couric poorly read a teleprompter (our evening lectures of doom, gloom!) from a glossy set in midtown for the privilege of watching ads for luxury cards, erectile dysfunction aids, and feminine hygiene products. What is truly ridiculous in all of this is that I know far more young people who listen to the podcasts of All Things Considered and This American Life than would suffer (and I do mean TRULY suffer) though the monotony of watching her every night.

American news media isn't dead. It's just dying on the big networks and thriving on others. Wake up CBS.

I'm surprised Les Moonves still has his job. It's clear to me that all the calculation and planning surrounding Ms. Couric's recruitment to CBS Evening News has failed and it's not like Katie Couric didn't bring all her talent with her. How can any company leader think he can get away with laying off 10 percent of his employees while at the same time sign Couric to a $15 million-a-year contract? Couric should feel very lucky if she made one friend at CBS. The deal sounded like a cause for resentment the minute speculation began over Couric's pay.

Somebody placed a lot of faith in Couric's star power, believing she could draw millions of new viewers to a 6:30 PM, 30-minute newscast (with commercials), a concept and time-slot that's about as dead as a record player sold with a landline phone.

There was a time when I was addicted to the chemistry of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. Then Jeff Zucker took "Today" curbside and brought in the screaming tourists. The last thing I wanted to do was start my morning with bus loads of screaming tourists. Zucker ruined my favorite way to start my day. I went back to reading the news, except this time I went online (which I really enjoy).

Couric and Lauer do possess magic, like siblings with a love bond that few share. Maybe Zucker can do something with that but, after turning "Today" into a circus, my faith is gone. Bringing Couric and Lauer together will never be considered a new idea. Been there, done that. But, in the right hands, with the right approach, their chemistry could win back viewers.

"I think she was really resurrected by the interview with Palin. It was a game changer in the campaign."

Rubbish. Couric asked a simple question about what Palin read. Palin could not come up with a single example of a publication to which she subscribed. This was not the result of any hard hitting journalistic prowess on Couric's part. It is simply a fact that Palin is not a reader, nor is she intellectually curious. Couric was never a journalist. She is an "infotainer" who reads the news. Her expensive hair styles and bifocals do not make her a journalist. She will not be missed in the world of serious news gathering and reporting.

I don't care what the ratings say, Katie Couric is hands down the best evening newscaster on the air. Her questions are concise and relevant, and I will miss her framing the newscast. Brian Williams, on the other hand, wastes broadcast time with too many meaningless words, and his political biases are evident. Katie has done a terrific job...bravo!

#114.Chuck - What's wrong with an aging "fan base?" What's wrong with watching the news seated on a sofa, in front of a nice-size tv screen? Do I necessarily need a smartphone or an iphone or a laptop to read the news (which I do, btw, but my eyes don't like small fonts and tire) ... and anyway, there should be media for every fan base. I would dislike to be so easily dismissed, or discard, after acquiring a life-long knowledge and wisdom, only because I like to listen to a CD in my stereo or watch tv, or curl in my chair, enjoying a hardbound book. There should be room for all generations under the same sun. Peace to you.

I was slow to warm to Ms. Couric as the anchor. But since the Palin interview, I watch her regularly. Rough start definitely, but I think she's finally got her groove.

At the same time, I could definitely see her in a "Charlie Rose" type show. Solo. She & Lauer definitely have chemistry (& I'd love to see him get back to more serious journalism). But she could go it solo if she wanted. Let her get back to real journalism. Questioning, researching... she's got a knack, her own style.... Get rid of the cutesy stuff, and she gets good stuff.

I missed the "grand, bold experiment." Did I blink? I like Katie and we watch her often, but truth be told all network news looks the same, even down to the time they have the same stories on. That half-hour package, which is probably down to 22 minutes now, is really visual entertainment. It's Katie, Brian and Diane reporting the news--not the news. All of the big three are afraid to really change what they're doing. It's all entertainment.

If ever there was evidence for the truism that women have to work twice as hard to be thought half as good as men, it's here in the nasty comments about Katie Couric. She has "been around the world" as a reporter, both at NBC and at CBS. She is very well-educated, and has demonstrated her intelligence and news savvy again and again over the years. The CBS anchor post is a demotion for such a person. It's merely a symbolic prop for ratings games. Big deal. Scott Pelley should turn it down, he's good on 60 Minutes. And it's 60 Minutes loss that they didn't make better use of Couric. I hope she does investigative reporting, and eventually replaces those mossy old guys at 60 Minutes.