(Katie) Couric – the first woman to anchor a network nightly newscast solo – may leave CBS Evening News, probably after the 2008 presidential elections, to assume another role at the network, CBS sources say.

“It’s a disaster. Everybody knows it’s not working. CBS may not cut her loose, but I guarantee you, somebody’s thinking about it. We’re all hunkered down, waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“From the moment she walked in here, she held herself above everybody else,” says a CBS staffer. “We had to live up to her standards. . . . CBS has never dealt in this realm of celebrity before.”

Read Gail Shister’s complete article.

Yes, I’m sure that must be it…

CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus says that gender bias may play a role in the disappointing ratings Katie Couric has been getting on “CBS Evening News.”

“I think it is a fact there are probably people, both men and women, who are perhaps uncomfortable having a woman anchor the news,” McManus told the media industry publication Broadcasting & Cable.

via NewsMax.com

Via Radar Magazine…

Katie Couric, thin-skinned? Maybe just a little. In the just-out January issue of Esquire, the first-ever female network anchor makes it clear that she reads her own press—and remembers it. “There are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive,” she tells interviewer Tom Junod. “You guys even take a shot at me. You have something in the November issue, something about how since I’ve become an anchor, you don’t know me anymore. You don’t know me anymore? Bite me.”

America’s sweetheart is no fan of bloggers, either. “My younger daughter read something on some AOL blog, and it really bothered her,” she says. “I said, ‘When people say something like that, they’re not talking about me as a person, they’re talking about me as a commodity.’”

Feisty, I like it! And maybe Katie (or at least her daughter) does catch The Trolley Dodgers Podcast…the world may never know.

On her blog, Katie Couric questions Vlady…

Investigators from around the world are now involved in trying to crack one of the biggest spy scandals in recent memory: the death–by poisoning–of a former KGB agent, living in London, who was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alexander Litvinenko was killed by what one expert called a “tiny nuclear bomb” in the form of the rare radioactive substance Polonium 210…and, on his deathbed, he said Putin did it.

And then last week, more bombshells: the former Russian prime minister was also poisoned. An Italian security expert, who told Litvinenko that they were targets, tested positive for radiation poisoning…and so did Litvinenko’s wife.

While Russia denies that Putin is behind it, all these coincidences raise serious questions about an important American ally.

President Bush once said he looked into Putin’s soul and saw a good man.

But maybe it’s time for a second look.

…I have to say that I actually like this stance from Katie. More please…

Check out NewsBusters “Weekend Captionfest II” featuring Katie Couric and Michael Richards (photo circa March 25, 1998). Funny stuff.

Nice work from Katie and the rest of the evening news world…

Keeping her charm in check, Katie Couric made her first foray overseas yesterday as anchor of the CBS Evening News, hosting the show from Amman, Jordan.

President Bush was to have held a summit there with Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, but the meeting was unexpectedly postponed for a day, leaving Couric and her competitors at NBC and ABC scrambling to fill their broadcasts and Bush cooling his heels. The CBS anchor was plainly primed to deflate criticism that her performance has been overly chatty since she assumed the anchor position at CBS on Sept. 5.

With a backdrop of Amman minarets that was almost identical to those of NBC’s Brian Williams and ABC’s Charles Gibson, Couric whipped through several earnest interviews with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and three of the network’s correspondents. During her interview with Khalilzad, she awkwardly jabbed her notebook, her head tilted to one side as she asked a question.

All three evening news shows covered the same story as the main feature — the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled the violence in their homeland and have settled, at least temporarily, in neighboring Jordan.

Read the rest of the article in The Baltimore Sun.

You have got to be kidding me…

In a recent interview with an Iraqi leader, CBS News Anchor Katie Couric asked an Iraqi woman if she missed Saddam Hussein.

In all seriousness, at the end of her two minute interview with Executive Director of the American Islamic Congress Zainab Al-Suwaij Couric asked Zainab, “Do you ever long for the days of Saddam Hussein?”

Zainab immediately said “No.”

Couric paused, waiting for Zainab to explain. After taking a breath Zainab emphasized “no” again and “we hope for a better Iraq.”

The other two questions in the brief spot Couric asked were “As an Iraqi woman, do you feel hopeful or hopeless?” and “from your experience do they [Iraqis] want US troops to leave that country?”

Zainab said she was hopeful that Iraq would have a better future and said Iraqis do want to Americans leave the region, but not anytime soon. She said if U.S. troops were to leave Iraq today, it would be “disaster”

[via Human Events]

OK, this is killing me. Katie Couric has made I Want Media Inc.’s “2006 Media Person of the Year” list of ten media personalities to vote for.

My question is, why is Katie Couric on the list representing the evening news genre, but not Brian Williams or Charles Gibson (since both have higher ratings)? While there has been a lot of “media buzz” about Katie, there is clearly nothing that justifies a nod for 2006 (even with the blogging). Maybe in 2007, but definitely not in 2006.

If Katie *has* to be on a “media” list for 2006, why not put her up against Rachael Ray (not that we have anything against Rachael) in a perky/peppy category, thus clearing out two spots on the list?

It’s only three months in and Katie Couric & Co. and switching gears yet again on the CBS Evening News in an attempt to boost ratings. The biggest change being the reduction of their “Free Speech” segments, which from what I’ve heard wasn’t all that “free”. If I were an executive at CBS I would sit down and outline a long-term vision instead of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. But hey, that is too logical, right?

Anyway, enjoy the latest gems from Katie…

“I think the most frustrating part . . . has been trying to come up with something that’s new and different without alienating your core audience. It’s been such a delicate balance, and I think we’ve probably erred on the side of caution a little bit.

“I think some people expect us to change everything right away. And I know it’s hard for me to be patient, but that’s what I’ve had to be.”

…

Some changes have fared better than others. “Free Speech,” a once-daily commentary segment, is airing less frequently after a mixed reception.

[Quotes via The Tennessean]

On Monday in an effort to see how many people are actually watching Katie Couric (not) deliver the evening news, CBS decided to air 87 seconds of Katie standing in front of her desk and then ended the show a few minutes early. CBS says it was a technical glitch, but we have to wonder if it wasn’t a marketing ploy to get people to watch future episodes in hopes of catching a similar mishap.

For a brief time the video was up on YouTube before being yanked, but we’re sure that it will surface again somewhere. (If you know where we can view this, please contact us — but no links in comments please as we’re not fond of corporate harassment.)

[from TV Squad via Gawker]