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President George W. Bush paid tribute Monday to America's troops — "a new generation of fallen leaders" — in a solemn Memorial Day visit to the national burial ground for war heroes. Speaking under overcast skies after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and meeting privately at the White House with the families of some fallen servicemen and women, Mr. Bush called the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a part of the nation's destiny. He said they follow a rich tradition of similar American sacrifices throughout this country's history.

Most people think the Nielson ratings only apply to primetime programming; however, this is a complete fallacy. Network news plays a frequently forgotten but always important roll itself. A few days ago the final May Sweep totals were announced, and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty for ‘CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.’ According to Variety, the perky anchorwoman managed an average of just 6.1 million viewers. That’s the lowest Tiffany network total since they began tracking the news in 1991! ABC’s ‘World News With Charlie Gibson’ led the way with 7.95 Million, while NBC’s ‘Nightly News With Brian Williams’...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2007 – “The Early Show” on CBS took advantage of the New York’s 20th annual Fleet Week to share its support and appreciation for the thousands of sailors and Marines enjoying the city, as well as for military members serving around the world. John Bolaris of CBS’s "The Early Show" talks with Roxie Merritt about the America Supports You program May 24, 2007 in New York during Fleet Week. Merritt, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department program and a retired Navy captain, shared how America Supports You offers Americans a venue to support servicemembers. Courtesy photo  (Click...

In a hit piece on the U.S. Coast Guard, CBS 60 Minute's Steve Kroft made the following statement: "This is a story the Coast Guard didn’t want 60 Minutes to tell. It refused to make Commandant Thad Allen or any other officer available for an interview." At the very end of the hit piece, when most viewers were in the bathroom, or in the kitchen making a sandwitch or getting another beer, Kroft made this statement: Late last week, after our story had been completed, the coast guard finally offered to make Commandant Thad Allen available, but only for a...

Michael Ramirez takes on deadweight anchor Katie Couric and all she's doing to CBS here.

CBS is banking on vampires, suburban '70s swingers and a glitzy musical-thriller to spice up its television lineup next season, a departure from its popular, long-running crime dramas. CBS, set to finish the current season as the most-watched network overall for a fifth year, unveiled a 2007-08 broadcast schedule on Wednesday with four new dramas and one comedy. Several new shows are notably different from its crime mysteries like "CSI" that have long been a prime-time staple. "Those of you who accuse CBS of being too conservative will feel differently when you see the shows we've lined up," CBS Corp....

If television news were covered the same way the media covered Iraq, Katie Couric would surely be out of a job by now. I can imagine the New York Times lede: The news just keeps getting worse for the administration. After spending millions of dollars and manpower to sell a leadership transition, the situation continues to deteriorate. External critics are stepping up their attacks and cracks within the administration's iron-clad discipline are beginning to show as dissenters leak secrets, express discontent and demand an exit strategy to an eager press. That, of course is not a lede you'll ever see...

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The numbers are stark. Eight months into Katie Couric’s job as the first woman to anchor a network newscast on her own, her “CBS Evening News” has not only settled back into its long-held position of last among the evening news broadcasts, but also regularly falls short of the newscast that Ms. Couric replaced. In the latest week’s ratings, “CBS Evening News” had its worst performance since the Nielsen company installed its “people meter” ratings system 20 years ago. Ms. Couric professed to be unfazed. “Honestly, I think we’re going to see ebbs and flows,” she said in a telephone...

A point of pride in my family is that my great-aunt, mother of my late Uncle Harvey Goodman, was once named Mother of the Year in New Hampshire. She was the mother of 13 children, and despite the family's very limited financial resources, 12 of them made it to college and went on to raise families and be good, productive members of society. That's the kind of story that, in the good old days, the CBS Evening News might have featured on Mothers Day. But times have changed. A lot. So to whom did the Evening News send its...

One month after the firing of radio host Don Imus, a pair of suspended New York shock jocks have been permanently pulled from the air by CBS Radio for a prank phone call rife with Asian stereotypes. “The Dog House with JV and Elvis,” featuring Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, “will no longer be broadcast,” CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo said yesterday. CBS Radio dismissed Mr. Imus in April for a comment he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. He plans a $120 million breach of contract lawsuit. The cancellation of the other show yesterday, nearly three weeks after...

The CBSNews.com blog "Public Eye" reported today that a retired general who has appeared in anti-Bush TV ads has been dismissed as a CBS News military analyst due to his political activism. Yet the CBS executive who defended the move seemed to almost blame CBS's at-home audience for the personnel decision. Maj. Gen. John Batiste (US Army, Retired) may still be quoted on CBS's newscasts, he just won't get paid for it. "We might still go to the general to ask about things, but not as a consultant to CBS News," CBS News Senior Vice President for Standards Linda Mason...

It's Thursday, and that means it's time for the Public Eye Chat. This week's subject is CBS News Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason. You can read excerpts and listen to the full interview below. -snip- Brian Montopoli: Recently, as you know of course, a producer was fired for writing a Notebook that was in part lifted from a Wall Street Journal piece. What actions, other than firing the producer involved, has CBS News taken in response to that? Linda Mason: That's something that happened a month ago, and I'd just as soon pass. We've taken –...

It's Thursday, and that means it's time for the Public Eye Chat. This week's subject is CBS News Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason. You can read excerpts and listen to the full interview below.

NEW YORK -- The newly appointed senior vp of CBS News says it's frustrating that "CBS Evening News" isn't doing better, but he believes the program is finally on the right track. Network news veteran Paul Friedman officially was upped from vp to senior vp on Wednesday, effectively serving as CBS News/Sports President Sean McManus' No. 2 and working alongside senior vp Linda Mason. On the short list of things to improve at CBS News is the standing of "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric," which started with a lot of fanfare in September but has faltered. Last week's viewership...

The Katie Couric as “CBS Evening News” anchor experiment appears to be failing, and failing miserably. As TV Week reported Tuesday (h/t TVNewser): “The news is not good for third-place ‘CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,’ which in the week of April 30 hit its lowest total viewership since at least 1987.” According to TVNewser’s Brian Steltzer, the “at least 1987” qualifier refers to Nielsen ratings not going back any further. The news wasn’t any better for one of Couric’s competitors either: [S]econd-place "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams," which hit its lowest performance among 25- to 54-year-old viewers since...

NEW YORK - It surely wasn't what CBS dreamed about when Katie Couric was hired: the "CBS Evening News" last week recorded its smallest audience since 1987, and probably many years before that. It also didn't help that the average of 6.05 million viewers came at the beginning of the important May ratings "sweeps." Meanwhile, ABC's "World News" recorded its widest advantage in viewership over NBC's "Nightly News" since the week Peter Jennings died in August 2005. The victory, ABC's ninth in 13 weeks over NBC, adds to the sense that Charles Gibson is eclipsing Brian Williams as the nation's...

Last week's CBS Evening News viewership was the lowest it has been since at least 1987, which is as far back as Nielsen records date. It's accurate to call it the smallest audience for the Evening News in decades. Last week's average total viewership was 6,050,000. Katie Couric's previous low of 6,157,000 came in March.

When The Stiletto spotted this headline in The Billings (MT) Gazette, "Anchor Failure Blamed For Deaths," she thought, "Wow. Katie Couric’s dismal ratings must have finally pushed some executives at CBS News to hurl themselves off the roof of Black Rock.Yes, it really is that bad – and worse: A Gallup Poll finds that 29 percent of Americans "just don’t like" Couric. Negative ratings for NBC’s Brian Williams and ABC’s Charles Gibson were significantly smaller (18 percent and 16 percent, respectively). Couric’s positive ratings (51 percent) also lag, as compared to Williams (59 percent) and Gibson (62 percent). The Associated...

The Newsroom at CBS 13 in Sacramento, CA is monitoring the Rush Limbaugh show today. They may be somewhat concerned. CBS, as you recall, is the network that promoted phony National Guard documents to try to influence a presidential election. I just spoke to the newsdesk in Sacramento. They are aware that Limbaugh has been talking about them today and giving warnings that they had better remove a video about "Barack the Magic Negro" that someone put on YouTube. Limbaugh had nothing to do with the production. CBS 13 has a poll underway asking if Limbaugh's parody is racist. They...