Couric move part of changes in evening news

"You can't just do the broadcast alone," Capus said. "You have to be on every platform you can."

Similarly, CBS has moved aggressively to try to make its news Web site akin to a cable-news network online. On the Internet it will often feature more extensive versions of evening-news stories, said Rome Hartman, "CBS Evening News" executive producer.

"I'm thrilled that more people are watching the broadcast at 6:30 on their television sets," Hartman said, "but I will also be thrilled if people see things like Steve Hartman's story (on an autistic basketball player) on the Internet."

CBS took the rare step of repeating that inspirational story from last month on a subsequent evening newscast.

While the NBC and ABC newscasts don't look significantly different from when Brokaw and the late Jennings were on the air, there have been real changes at CBS. Schieffer has drawn praise for showcasing network correspondents by "debriefing" them on-air with plainspoken questions.

"We've made significant changes, not so much in the format but in the approach and in the style of the evening news, and I feel like we're just in the beginning of the process," Hartman said.

Expect a new set and new graphics when Couric takes over, along with a format that plays to her strengths as an interviewer.

For about three weeks earlier this year it looked as if ABC's "World News Tonight" had made the most revolutionary changes.

The network installed the anchor team of Vargas and Bob Woodruff and set them on a schedule where one would almost always be on location at a story. It instituted an afternoon Webcast that previewed the evening's broadcast, and committed to doing separate versions of "World News Tonight" for Western time zones.

Tragedy struck when Woodruff was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Jan. 29. He's still recovering, and Vargas is going it alone. That has cut out the travel, which ABC had hoped would make its newscast distinctive. To keep Vargas from burning out, ABC doesn't always do separate West Coast versions. The Webcast continues, and last week was the top-downloaded news podcast on iTunes, the network said.

With Woodruff out indefinitely and Vargas pregnant, ABC is expected to soon introduce another anchor to the mix — most likely Charles Gibson.

"This is a time of amazing change for all of the evening newscasts," said CBS' Rome Hartman. "The last one has been a year unlike any we've seen across the industry in 20 years."

Hartman believes a news event like Hurricane Katrina underscored the format's importance. While the story received continuous coverage on the cable networks, rarely did they stand back and put the day's events in perspective like ABC, CBS and NBC did each evening, he said.

With Couric aboard, the competition will undoubtedly heighten.

"I look forward to having a good fight," Capus said.

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