Couric move part of changes in evening news

updated 4:45 p.m. ET April 11, 2006

NEW YORK - Stack a quarter for every obituary written about the network evening newscasts and soon there would be enough to pay Katie Couric's salary at CBS.

Couric's move to the "CBS Evening News" promises a jolt of energy for a television institution that is too often written off, even while in the midst of its most significant transition in a generation, both on and off-screen.

"I think it's terrific that somebody of Katie Couric's caliber and talent is going into that genre, because that says to me that there is real importance in that evening-news format and there's going to continue to be real investment in it," said Steve Capus, whose work at NBC's "Nightly News" led to his elevation to network news president.

(MSNBC is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC)

Morning news is considered the growth area in television, and Couric was its cover girl. The evening news has been slowly and steadily waning in influence and audience, the victim of cultural changes that make fewer people available to watch a half-hour news summary at the dinner hour.

All three networks have different anchors than just 16 months ago, with changes expected again at both ABC and CBS before summer's end.

Somewhat remarkably, the on-air changes have resulted in no changes in the network pecking order. NBC's "Nightly News," which executed a neat transition between Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, still leads in the ratings, with ABC second and CBS third.

Yet an Associated Press-TV Guide poll taken last week illustrated how audience loyalty is still up for grabs and that the American public hasn't fully made the transition from the Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather era.

Asked to name their favorite network-TV news personality, only a total of 10 percent named any of the three people anchoring the evening newscasts now: Williams, CBS' Bob Schieffer or ABC's Elizabeth Vargas. The rest either named someone else or, nearly half the time, no one at all.

Couric, who will start at CBS in September, gives that network a very recognizable personality. Behind the amiable Schieffer, the "CBS Evening News" is the only nightly newscast to gain viewers in the past year. But CBS executives hope Couric can attract more people, particularly young people, who had liked her in the morning.

"This is a very good move for CBS, for Katie and, frankly, for broadcast news more generally," said Frank Sesno, a journalism professor at George Mason University and CNN special correspondent. "I think the evening news has become formulaic."

Actually, each network has aggressively tried to change the institution, often in ways not noticeable on-screen at the dinner hour.

NBC has fostered connections with viewers by enlisting Williams and correspondents like David Gregory as bloggers. The network also makes "Nightly News" available on the Web, although not until after it is aired on television in each time zone.

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