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CBS News boss:
Dan still the man

By STEPHEN BATTAGLIO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Struggling: Dan Rather's evening news remains in third place.

CBS News president Andrew Heyward said the division went overboard in pursuing an interview with injured Pvt. Jessica Lynch.

HOLLYWOOD - CBS News President Andrew Heyward admitted yesterday that he had no answers to why the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" continues to struggle in the ratings.
But he stood by Rather, who has been at the helm of the newscast since 1981.

The newscast runs a poor third among the networks and a few weeks ago logged its lowest ratings in at least a decade, if not ever.

"I'm frankly a little bit puzzled by it," Heyward told members of the Television Critics Association yesterday.

"The program journalistically, in my view, is excellent. Dan has had a fantastic year. The program was nominated for six Emmy Awards, significantly more than either competitor. The journalism and storytelling is terrific."

Yet, he said the program could do a better job showcasing what makes the show "distinctive" from its competitors, ABC's "World News Tonight" and NBC's "Nightly News."

"We probably don't get as much credit from the audience for the things we do that are distinctive and original," Heyward said. "We can do a better job at promoting that."

Meanwhile, Heyward conceded that CBS News went overboard in pursuing an interview with Pvt. Jessica Lynch.

Earlier, news division executives defended a letter they sent that tried to secure an exclusive sitdown with the former prisoner of war in Iraq.

Along with the interview request, the letter mentioned how Lynch could turn her story into a TV movie and book within other units of CBS' parent corporation, Viacom. It also suggested she could be the host of her own special on MTV, which could stage a concert in her hometown.

Heyward said yesterday that the letter wasn't clear enough in separating news and entertainment offers for Lynch.

"We have a well-defined policy, which is that there is no link between our interviews or requests for interviews with any other entity at Viacom or anywhere else," Heyward said.

"We thought we made that clear in the letter, but obviously we didn't do a good job of that."

His comments yesterday followed similar ones made by CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves over the weekend, who said that the letter's mention of a TV movie, "Maybe [it] went over the line" and hadn't respected "the sanctity of CBS News."

When reports of the letter to Lynch surfaced, CBS News was criticized for dangling entertainment opportunities to land a serious news interview.

CBS News executives stressed then that the letter made no direct link between the interview request and the other offers from within the parent company.

Originally published on July 21, 2003