No Breaking News Here: Katie Couric Likely to Leave CBS

It looks like January 2009 will bring regime change at CBS Evening News as well as in Washington.

While it won't come as a shock to anyone who's been paying attention, The Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Dana has by far the most definitive report yet that Katie Couric's tenure as anchor will end well before her contract expires, probably just after the inauguration of the next president.

Citing sources at CBS (CBS) and in Couric's camp, Dana says Couric would probably leave the network altogether -- and not hang on as a full-time 60 Minutes correspondent, a scenario that's been bruited previously. Although her contract runs through 2011, the network would be all too happy to strike her $15 million-a-year contract from the budget. One hedge: "It's possible that Ms. Couric could survive if a major news event lifted the newscast's ratings or some other shift occurred at CBS."

Where might Couric land? Very likely, says Dana, at CNN, where 74-year-old Larry King has a contract that expires next year.

Comments

[Jack K]

Couric strikes me as one of the many left leaning socialists in the media that rail against corporate excesses. But she, of course is well worth the
$15 million she receives. She of course earns it.

[Malkiel]

It would be a bright future for America if we could have multiple left-leaning socialists in the media, but--alas!--there aren't any to be found today. Couric is about as apolitical as it gets, her problem is that her strange disconnected persona is the opposite of the authoritative gravitas that viewers expect from a news anchor.

[Pent updemand]

Katie's problem is that she started believing her own press image. She's an intellectual featherweight who's supposed to project authority. She'll be great on "Katie Couric Live" though. She can do softball interviews with all the lefty actors (you know, the "smart" ones), and can give a platform to whichever dictator-du-jour that the American left wants to stroke.