News reports say it’s going to happen: NBC’s Today Show host Katie Couric is poised to jump ship to take the CBS Evening News anchor job, an assignment that would make television news history, with Couric being the first sole woman anchor on a daily network newscast.
The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz reports:
NBC executives expect Katie Couric to leave the “Today” show and accept an offer from CBS to become the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast on her own, with an announcement of her departure likely as early as this week, according to well-placed sources at both networks and others familiar with the negotiations.
The tentative plan is for a two-step process in which Couric first announces her departure from NBC, which would like to give her a warm send-off after a decade in which she helped make “Today” the top-rated morning program. Meredith Vieira, co-host of ABC’s “The View” and host of the syndicated “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” has been offered the job of replacing Couric and is seriously considering it, some of these sources say.
An announcement that Couric will succeed Bob Schieffer as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” will come later, in part because the final contractual details — which will include a regular spot on “60 Minutes” — have not been worked out, the sources say. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract talks have not been completed.
Kurtz notes that other prominent women journalists who had network anchor jobs during the daily weekly newscasts anchored alongside of men. In fact, you go back and look at the histories, the men were not always happy about it and showed it. Times HAVE changed.
USA Today declares the move “all but certain”:
Couric and CBS have tentatively reached a deal that could be announced any day now, but probably by the end of the week, two sources close to the negotiations said Monday.
The deal calls for Couric — arguably the biggest star in network news — to anchor the third-place Evening News, contribute to newsmagazine 60 Minutes and have some yet-to-be-announced prime-time role, possibly producing specials, the sources said.
Neither NBC nor CBS would comment Monday. Couric makes about $15 million a year at NBC, making her the highest paid anchor in television. CBS’ offer is expected to top that.
Meredith Vieira, a former 60 Minutes correspondent who currently hosts ABC’s The View and the daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Couric and join co-anchor Matt Lauer on Today. The show is the strongest morning franchise (averaging more than 6 million viewers) and the most profitable network news operation.
Indeed, NBC will be scrambling to protect its franchise now by plugging in someone in Couric’s slot who can have widespread appeal.
Meanwhile, one of the least publicized stories in journalism is the success of the man Couric will replace. USA Today again:
Couric, 49, would officially replace Dan Rather on the Evening News, but in fact she would replace Bob Schieffer, 69, who has served as interim anchor on the broadcast for the past 13 months. Schieffer has said publicly that he would love to see Couric join CBS.
During Schieffer’s tenure, producers have promoted new, younger correspondents on the broadcast, which has gained some 700,000 viewers in the past year while No. 1-rated NBC Nightly News and ABC’s World News Tonight have both lost viewers.
Two things about that:
(1) Schieffer’s response to Couric’s likely new job is so typical of the kind of class he has constantly displayed during his long and honorable career with CBS. He not only has brought honor to his network but honor to television broadcasting.
(2) The only bittersweet note in this whole affair is that it’s clear Schieffer, who was never taken for granted by his network, should have had a much higher profile job during the years. He fit the Edward R. Murrow/Walter Cronkite mode perfectly. We suspect some of the CBS Evening News‘ ratings increase is due to the fact that Schieffer is so classy, professional and oozes credibility. Hopefully CBS will give him as high a profile as possible once Couric takes the spot.
Some have criticized Couric, since she’ll be coming from the Today Show. But so did NBC’s Tom Brokaw…not to mention another prominent journalist, Barbara Walters who was tensly teamed with the late Harry Reasoner on ABC World News Tonight. And criticism of Couric seems unjustified: she has lots of experience on live television and often asks very pointed questions and shows excellent skills in one vital aspect of broadcast journalism: the persistent and hard-hitting follow-up questions.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.