Katie Couric Likely To Leave CBS, Says Report

[CatWoman]

From the Wall Street Journal:

After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Ms. Couric isn't even halfway through her five-year contract with CBS, which began in June 2006 and pays an annual salary of around $15 million. But CBS executives are under pressure to cut costs and improve ratings for the broadcast, which trails rival newscasts on ABC and NBC by wide margins.

Her departure would cap a difficult episode for CBS, which brought Ms. Couric to the network with considerable fanfare in a bid to catapult "Evening News" back into first place. Excluding several weeks of her tenure, Ms. Couric never bested the ratings of interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who was named to host the broadcast temporarily after "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather left the newscast in the wake of a discredited report on George W. Bush's National Guard service.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/09/katie-couric-likely-to-le_n_95943.html

[MADem]

1. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! They could hire TWEETY!!!! HA!!!!!! nt

[lpbk2713]

2. Oh? Was Couric a CBS News anchor?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


No. Couric was never even CLOSE to being a news anchor.

Maybe her next gig will be infomercials or super market grand openings.

[MindMatter]

37. Oh, was she on CBS NEWS?

I had no idea. I thought they had put Entertainment Tonight into that time slot.

Here's a clue. If you want people to watch the news, REPORT THE NEWS.

Why they think anybody should give up a half hour of their lives every day to hear the $15,000,000 readers read the Karl Rove press releases is beyond me.

[roguevalley]

47. they need to put Dan Rather back with a full apology. this asshat

should leave with les moonves, the architect of this 'coup'.

[spanone]

3. what will i do???!!!!

:sarcasm: maybe now they'll get a real journalist..kathie lee gifford?

[TomInTib]

18. Wake up early, watch The View.

The View is pretty much my sole source of information, all I really care or need to know.

[Warpy]

27. Or Elizabeth Hasselblecch

or whatever the hell her name is.

What they needed to do was change the CONTENT. Couric could have done a creditable job--she's not a bad reader or interviewer--if she hadn't been hamstrung by a stupid format change and a hard turn to the extremist right wing viewpoint. The combination turned off all Rather's audience very quickly and CBS failed to lure conservatives from ABC or the network channels because, as we all know, conservatives hate to change anything, even the channel.

In other words, they gambled that they could throw away a loyal viewing audience and win everybody else's viewers by hiring a known figure.

All they did was throw away their audience.

I seriously doubt any of the conservative executives who masterminded this fiasco will do anything but smirk all the way to an offshore bank.

[XOKCowboy]

4. I'm glad I check for duplicates before I post...

I just read it on Huffpo and rushed over here to post.

Ya know I used to be a fan of Katie when she was just the cute co-host on the Today show because that's all she is! When CBS tried to make her into Edwina R Murrow it never worked. She's not a journalist. She's not even that good of a new reader.

Please let this rumor be true!

[cbayer]

5. What a terrible loss.

:sarcasm:

[coriolis]

6. I never knew she got a 5 year contract. Yikes. Someone's head will roll over that.

Hopefully. ;-)

[gateley]

13. At $15 mil per. nt

[Supersedeas]

32. that's a lot of cutsie for 15mil -- ya get whatcha pay for.

[KansDem]

7. Man!, this is a real "buzzkill" (nt)

[TheWraith]

8. Woo! Let it be true.

Of course, there's always the risk that CBS will decide she didn't suceed because she wasn't vapid enough. We might end up with the Paris Hilton News Hour.

[Pastiche423]

9. Why can't she resign now?

I haven't watched the CBS evening news since September 2006 - the only time in my life that I haven't.

[SharonAnn]

17. I just had to change networks. I couldn't bear her "reporting" the news.

I usually support women in new and non-traditional roles because I understand that a lot of the backlash is just the entrenched establishment trying to maintain their advantage.

However, I just couldn't bear her. I just don't think she is capable or qualified to be an evening news anchor.

[greenbriar]

10. serves them right. I hope they tank forever...Rather was the MAN

and they were too stupid to know it

[lpbk2713]

20. They were going with the flow like all the MSM was.

BushCo had all the MSM hypnotized. BushCo wanted Rather canned ignominiously. CBS was only too happy to comply.

The only thing halfway decent about CBS is Letterman and he doesn't hesitate to tell the CBS brass to fug off when necessary.

[goclark]

31. Loved me some Rather and Katie can let the door tap her

on the way out. :lol:

[Olney Blue]

11. Part of me is very sad to see the first solo female anchor fail.

[SharonAnn]

19. Me too, but she just wasn't good enough. I hate that, but there it is.

[XOKCowboy]

21. They should have given Linda Ellerbee an anchor position 15 yrs ago

CBS just picked the wrong woman.

[Olney Blue]

24. You are right- Ellerbee was overlooked and underutilized.

[lpbk2713]

30. And so it goes.

Linda had a news mag gig on NBC with Stone Phillips several years ago.
I liked her then and would still like to see her return.

[eppur_se_muova]

38. I thought that honor should have been Susan Spencer's.

She certainly has more impressive journalistic credentials. And since she anchored the CBS Sunday news I thought CBS was grooming her to be Rather's successor.

[AteAlien]

12. That discredited report that got rid of Rather

had what I still believe to be truth in it from front to back. CBS wanted to go with an infotainment newscast, and it makes me very, very happy to read this. I haven't watched her once.

[PoiBoy]

14. CBS executives need to take a serious look at...

Rachel Maddow...!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3132963

[papau]

22. Rachel Maddow...!!! - now there is a good idea!

[elehhhhna]

15. She'll land as the News Director at Faux. Just watch.

[AlCzervik]

16. A nation weeps.

:D

[Jackpine Radical]

23. WHAT #$%@& discredited report?

If the shitheads in charge had any guts, they'd still have Rather, and their news programs might be worth watching.

[annabanana]

43. DINGDINGDINGDING!!!!

THAT'S the reponse I was looking for. They replaced a newsman with a twit and they're surprised it didn't work out.

[KamaAina]

25. Grandpa, where were you when you heard Katie Couric was leaving CBS?

:sarcasm:

[Jackpine Radical]

45. I dunno, but I remember right afterward

I was running around the neighborhood naked and blowing a New Years horn.

[KamaAina]

26. So we get Pres. Obama AND the CBS Evening News back at once?

the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

It'll be like Christmas in February!! :bounce:

[cloudbase]

28. Maybe she'll land on her feet

and work the six and ten anchor desk in Pampa, TX.

[justgamma]

29. A devoted CBS fan here.

Until Katie, that is. As soon as they announced that one of the her first guests was Rush Limbaugh, I knew I would never watch CBS news again.
We'll see if they can dig themselves out of this hole.

[dflprincess]

35. And don't forget, in one of her early broadcasts she referred to free speech as a privilege

A fine attitude for a "journalist" to have. That's when I gave up on CBS.

[greenbriar]

49. the day they got rid of Rather, I stopped watching them

I watch Bob Schiffer or nothing at all

[leftyclimber]

33. Maybe the poor little thing

can finally let all that Botox wear off and look like an actual person again.

Yikes.

[high density]

34. She was obviously a waste of money from the beginning

I don't watch the evening newscasts very often, and Couric (nor Williams or that total ass Gibson) do not give me any reason to change that.

[bluesmail]

36. Good Riddance, even though I only watched her 'premiere'

Good Riddance

[Canuckistanian]

39. I'm crying already

Oh, please. Don't go, Katie. (yawn)

[aikoaiko]

40. Our national nightmare is over......

[HughMoran]

41. Poor Kat Kat

life sucks

[BigDaddy44]

42. Geez, and she's got kids heading to college soon too

I hope they can get loans or something

[samsingh]

44. cbs brought this on themselves. rather looks good right now

from Cronkite to katie bimbo

[Stinky The Clown]

46. Rather was railroaded. "Discredited Report" my ass.

Fucking liars.

[Jim Sagle]

48. Katie who?

[avenger64]

50. She's as corporate as corporate gets ...

... and, like all other MSM shills, she's about working the nuances of what's acceptable to report in the first place. At least she can console herself with the thought that no one could be worse for America than Brian Williams.

[greenbriar]

51. like um navy seals rock

and she is a twit

[DemoTex]

52. Sorry guys. Katie is an old friend of mine. From the Gulf War-1 days.

Katie, Wolfie, and I were always on the front row during the Pentagon briefings of Gulf War-1 (sometimes by Cheney, the SECDEF, himself!). We were good pals .. then. Katie was covering for NBC Channel 4 (DC) then. Wolfie was CNN. I was accredited to a pool of aviation magazines. It was heady times.

BTW: Wolfie was an asshole. But Katie was a sweetheart. That was then .. as they say.

[hisownpetard]

53. I don't like watching anyone who's more gums than gumption.