Entertainment, TV, Television - Navy Times

Couric: I went to CBS with eyes ‘wide open’

Despite the lowest ratings in 20 years at “The CBS Evening News,” anchor Katie Couric says she doesn’t have second thoughts about becoming the nation’s first female solo anchor. She says the last-place newscast is improving and, as viewers get used to her, they’ll tune in more.

“I had my eyes wide open going in,” Couric told USA Today Wednesday. “I knew this was going to be a big challenge. To get out of your comfort zone is not always comfortable.”

Eight months after she replaced interim anchor Bob Schieffer — and days before CBS unveils its fall schedule to advertisers — Couric and “ Evening News “are slipping deeper into third place. But she says she’s determined to make it work.

“Even when we were No. 1 at “Today” I was really focused on the quality of the program, and that’s what I’m focused on here,” she says. “These things don’t turn around overnight. We’re trying to do a smart, compelling, engaging broadcast. If you live and die by the ratings, it’s really distracting and can turn you away from your mission, which is hopefully doing the best show you possibly can.”

Last week, the first week of the crucial May ratings sweeps period, “Evening “News” drew just 6 million viewers, its lowest ratings since 1987. By comparison, surging “ABC World News,” anchored by Charles Gibson, scored 8 million viewers — the ninth time in 13 weeks that it has beaten “NBC Nightly News,” anchored by Brian Williams, which drew 7.5 million. That was NBC’s fourth-lowest number in 20 years.

CBS News president Sean McManus says there is no panic about “Evening News” or Couric, and there has “never been any discussion” about changing anchors. “I’m not going to sugar coat it and say we like being down. I continue to be very optimistic.”

Network and cable news veteran Rick Kaplan, who was tapped six weeks ago as “Evening News” executive producer, says he and Couric have returned to a more traditional, hard-news broadcast. He says CBS erred in trying to change its tone and style when Couric arrived. In addition to “all the things viewers had to get used to, the fact that what they were seeing wasn’t anything like a traditional broadcast was too jarring.”

Says Couric: “Evening-news viewers are very traditional and set in their ways, and I think it can be unsettling to have a new person there. I think it just requires some time.”

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather says Couric can still succeed but has faced a “tremendous challenge” from the minute she signed with CBS. “Not only was she trying a different kind of broadcast, but she was anchoring at a different time of day with different audience expectations and moving from a different network.”