Posted on 04/19/2008 11:23:15 AM PDT by abb
CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves gave his embattled anchor and her news division a vote of confidence yesterday, telling a staff meeting that Katie Couric "is my anchor today, tomorrow and in the future."
But the public display does not change the reality that Couric is likely to relinquish the anchor chair after the election, according to two top network executives who declined to be named discussing a private meeting.
Moonves asked to address the Friday staff meeting, held at the CBS News offices in New York and broadcast to network bureaus around the world, out of concern that Couric is being portrayed as a lame duck and that his support for the news division is the subject of media speculation. He said he was "proud" of Couric and that CBS was lucky to have her. Moonves said he cared about the ratings of the third-place "CBS Evening News" "as much as I care about 'CSI's' ratings."
CBS News President Sean McManus followed with a spirited pep talk, saying the news division has been bringing in new talent and he was tired of reading that he has a shortage of talent compared with the other networks. McManus also dismissed as ridiculous a recent report in the New York Times that CBS is considering outsourcing some of its newsgathering to CNN.
The sources said Moonves and McManus were attempting to shore up morale in the news division during a period of unfavorable publicity related to Couric's loss of viewers since leaving NBC to take the anchor job in September 2006. They said she should not be written off, because no final decision has been made on replacing her early next year, although that remains the likely outcome.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/04/couric-is-your.html
Couric is ‘your anchor,’ Moonves tells ‘CBS Evening News’ staff
11:40 AM PT, Apr 18 2008
Katie Couric isn’t going anywhere.
That’s what CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told the staff of the “CBS Evening News” during a surprise visit to the newscast’s regular noon meeting today, according to several network sources.
Accompanied by CBS President Sean McManus, Moonves expressed his pride in and support for Couric, who has been dogged by reports that she is contemplating an early exit from her post.
The network chief told the 100 or so assembled staff that Couric is “your anchor” in the coming weeks and far beyond. He also showered praise on the newscast, saying he was proud of the work being done.
McManus said that Moonves had asked to come down to address the “Evening News” staff. The news president said CBS has a “solid bench” of talent and dismissed the recent media coverage suggesting Couric was on her way out.
For her part, the anchor thanked Moonves for the show of support and called the news division “very much a family.”
The meeting concluded with cake to celebrate the birthday of executive producer Rick Kaplan.
While the upbeat talk from top executives raised some spirits inside the beleaguered news division, others staffers regarded the session as merely a cheerleading session.
“The intentions are good, but there are always more questions than answers,” said one news division employee.
—Matea Gold
ping
Couric is a Les expensive boat anchor, all right....
She’s an anchor alright. /s
IT,S CBS, STUPID!!!!!!!
Who cares who the anchor is.
An albatross ...
i think that keeping her on is a wonderful idea!
(i’ll have to watch CBS news at some point.)
Hah! Good cartoon. Freepers should dust off their Sharpie pens and scanners and get creative like this.
TRANSLATION: She has a job today, she will have that job tomorrow and next Monday is in "the future". As far as Tuesday and beyond go, all bets are off.
The phrase Katy bar the door! (also as Katy bar the gate!; sometimes written as Katie) is a very American exclamation, more common in the South than elsewhere, meaning that disaster impends — “watch out”, “get ready for trouble” or “a desperate situation is at hand.
welcome to FR! :)
Its simple math that stupid libs don't understand. Country split 50/50 Dems/Reps. 6 Liberal news organizations vying for only 50% of the audience, while ignoring the other half. Give it up CBS! Unless you fire everyone and steer to the right, your network is toast.
Aerobics queen Richard Simmons would probably fare better as anchor for mind-boggling less money...or a chimpanzee would guarantee CBS their current rating for nothing.
Couric is a huge gambling loss and predicament for CBS. She and Moonves should resign pronto.
They won’t fire her till after the Nov election because they want her to be cheerleading for the dems 24/7 this year.
I am appalled when I am on web sites that hosts "News" of the bits of cr@p they throw in with the news. Comcast, my email provider had a lead this week on their home page,that Martha Stewart's dog died!. That news was also prominently posted on the ABC news website.
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