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Despite recent publicity about a ratings disaster for Katie Couric and the "CBS Evening News," the viewership of Brian Williams and the "NBC Nightly News" is plunging much faster than at CBS. According to Nielsen Media Research, in Couric's first 39 weeks at CBS, she lost 287,000 viewers from the 2006 average, a drop of 4 percent from predecessor Bob Schieffer's audience. During the same period, "Nightly News" lost 533,000 viewers, or 5 percent of its audience. "If I was at NBC, I'd really be quite nervous about the hundreds of thousands of people that have left my audience," Andrew...

On her blog, CBS anchor Katie Couric is once again offering her love and kisses to Jimmy Carter. In a "Katie Couric's Notebook" video (which airs on some CBS affiliates as an Evening News promo), Couric used the occasion of Carter being awarded an honorary doctorate of civil law from Oxford to demand of viewers that "you have to respect him for sticking to his principles." Tell that to President Bush. She began by citing another Carter cheerleader:

The Return of Inspector Dan RatherThey say dames are like a flowers. Maybe they’re right. Nice to look at, fun to smell, covered in complicated reproductive do-dads. But brother, get too close and you’ll also find out that they have thorns. And bees. And enough pollen to flood your sinus with a hot painful load of mucus that’ll take a jumbo economy size box of Claritin and a six pack of hankies to forget.It’s a hard lesson you learn every day in my line of work.My name is Rather. And I’m a dick.It was 5:15 and I had just finished...

NEW YORK -- When it comes to finding a permanent replacement for Don Imus, only one thing appears certain: David Lee Roth is not a candidate. Two months after Imus' ignominious firing from his syndicated radio show at WFAN-AM, a variety of fill-ins have rolled through the revolving door at the station: tennis great John McEnroe, NBC White House correspondent David Gregory, Chicago morning man Mike North. Comedian Dennis Miller and radio host Mancow Muller were broached as possible successors, while others improbably suggested that CBS Radio bring Imus back. But the station's parent company is offering no details about...

In another blow to HD DVD, the giant Blockbuster video rental chain has thrown its weight behind Blu-ray in the fight to see which format is the high definition successor to the humble DVD. After renting Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year, Blockbuster has decide to stock only Blu-ray in its other 1250 US stores. Customers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time, reports Associated Press via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The release of Sony's Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 games console was also a factor in the decision, said Blockbuster senior...

Dear Dan Rather: You're making a fool of yourself by publicly lashing out at CBS News, Leslie Moonves and Katie Couric. As someone who admired your anchor work, I urge you to move on and stop spewing nonsense about how CBS is "tarting up" the evening news. That's irresponsible and arguably sexist. Give Couric a break. She didn't do anything to you, regardless of how you feel about Moonves, the CBS Corp. (CBS, Trade ) chief executive. If you keep this up, you'll be immortalized as a cranky old goofball, not a venerable journalist. Let me put it in the...

NEW YORK (AP) - Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather escalated a feud with his former employer Tuesday, saying CBS Corp. (CBS) (CBS) Chief Executive Leslie Moonves "doesn't know about news." Moonves had said earlier Rather's remarks that the network was "tarting" up its newscast with Katie Couric, Rather's successor, were "sexist." The spat started Monday when Rather, speaking by phone on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program with Joe Scarborough, said CBS had made the mistake of taking the evening news broadcast and "dumbing it down, tarting it up," and playing up topics such as celebrities over war coverage. While referring...

RATHER BASHES KATIE Post staff writer June 12, 2007 -- DAN Rather has joined the growing contingent who is not watching the woman who replaced him, Katie Couric. Rather characterized the changes in his old show as "dumbing it down, tarting it up," during an appearance on MSNBC yesterday morning. "I want to make clear that I have nothing against Katie Couric at all," he told the cable network. "She's a very nice person, and I have a lot of friends at CBS News.

CBS chief calls Rather comments `sexist' By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer 5 minutes ago CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves shot back at former CBS news anchor Dan Rather on Tuesday, saying remarks Rather made about his successor, Katie Couric, were "sexist." Rather, speaking on MSNBC by phone on Monday, said CBS had made the mistake of taking the evening news broadcast and "dumbing it down, tarting it up," and playing up topics such as celebrities over war coverage. The comments appeared in blogs and in a story published Tuesday in the New York Daily News. While referring to...

Tony Snow Reprimands CBS's Harry Smith: 'You Can't Have Your Own Facts' Posted by Justin McCarthy on June 12, 2007 - 11:00. On the June 12 "Early Show," anchor Harry Smith again pounded Tony Snow, and Tony Snow again responded with a reprimand. Smith, who recently offered a puffy interview of Al Gore, continued his harsh interrogation of the White House press secretary. When discussing the G-8 summit, Snow asserted that Bush has "taken the lead" on initiatives such as climate change. Smith interrupted Snow like wise. SMITH: I think that's following on climate change. He's following on climate change....

ABC and CBS Lead with 'Strong Rebuke' of Bush on Terror Suspect; Ignore Clinton Role Posted by Brent Baker on June 11, 2007 - 21:39. ABC and CBS on Monday night led by celebrating a 2-to-1 federal appeals court ruling against the Bush administration's policy of holding a sleeper cell suspect at a military brig without redress in civilian courts, but in eagerly quoting from the ruling neither bothered to mention that the two judges in the majority were Clinton appointees. “Tonight,” Charles Gibson teased at the top of World News, “a stinging rejection for the President.” Gibson set up...

How low can Katie Couric go? That was the question two weeks ago when CBS Evening News With Katie Couric suffered its worst audience totals in 20 years (5.5 million viewers). And that was 464,000 viewers fewer than the prior week’s all-time low. Season-to-date, the show is off 6% from a year ago, when anchor Bob Schieffer was improving the newscast’s ratings. “It just takes time,” says Executive Producer Rick Kaplan. CBS stands steadfastly behind its star and is working the angles. Kaplan hopes to get all of CBS’ 200-plus affiliates to go “seamless” between local news and Couric’s broadcast....

Some might say KYTX president and general manager Phil Hurley has decided to pull his station's news ratings out of the toilet by stepping into the gutter. The Tyler, Texas, CBS affiliate will premier its latest news anchor next week – Lauren Jones, an actress, bikini model and former World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler with no journalism training or experience. While Hurley admits his decision to hire Jones will attract criticism, he sees it as a smart business move. "We think this will accelerate our growth and that people will see this as entrepreneurial," he told the Longview, Texas, News-Journal....

LOS ANGELES — "Jericho" fans who slammed CBS with protests over the drama's cancellation have won the battle: It will return next season, the network said Wednesday. It was an unusual display of viewer might since networks usually put ratings ahead of even the most passionate, well-organized fan base. But CBS said the show deserved another chance, while cautioning that it must prove it has wider appeal. "Wow! Over the past few weeks you have put forth an impressive and probably unprecedented display of passion in support of a prime time television series," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said in...

Another New Low For CBS Evening News: 5.5 Million Viewers Last Week Another week, another new low for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Last week, the Evening News fell to 5,495,000 average total viewers -- a decline of 464,000 viewers from the week before, and the broadcast's lowest delivery in at least 20 years. The rating is based on a four-day average because Memorial Day is excluded. And an e-mailer notes that Couric "was only on two days last week (those 2 days being Tuesday and Friday)..."

First on TVNewser: Maybe Katie Couric should have stayed on The Today Show. On Friday, Today outrated the CBS Evening News by 200,000 viewers and a full rating point in the demo. According to fast affiliate data, Today on NBC had 5,100,000 viewers, while the Evening News on CBS had 4,900,000. In the demo, Today had a 2.2 and EN had a 1.2. "It happens in the metered markets all the time. But this is the first time I've seen it in the national numbers," a competitor says. "I wonder if this will become a regular occurrence?"

June 3, 2007 -- As you can see from the chart above, Katie Couric’s first nine months at CBS aren’t exactly going as planned - in fact, she’s costing CBS an arm and a leg and a whole lot more for each viewer she hangs onto in her shrinking audience. And last week the $15 million- a-year anchor got even more expensive....."

Redstone, Moonves talk merger at meeting By MICHAEL LEARMONTHCBS chairman Sumner Redstone and CEO Leslie Moonves reignited the prospect of a merger between CBS News and CNN at CBS' annual meeting -- and this time they're talking about a full-blown acquisition of the cable news net. Serious talks on such a merger ended years ago. But at the meeting, Redstone told shareholders, "CNN would be a lot better off if CBS owned it." Moonves reiterated that he'd be "very interested" if Time Warner were willing to sell. Not a chance, says Time Warner spokesman Ed Adler. "CNN is not for...

CBS Havana Producer: Cuban Regime Likes CNN Posted by Ken Shepherd on May 31, 2007 - 13:30. Castro's censors like CNN in Spanish. That's one of the nuggets that makes today's "Public Eye" interview with Havana-based CBS producer Portia Siegelbaum a worthwhile read. It's particularly timely in light of dictator Fidel Castro's comrades in ideology running roughshod over the free press in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia.[Update/related MRC study: Rich Noyes reminded me of his 2002 study of CNN's favorable coverage of the Cuban regime.]My only complaint with Siegelbaum is her describing the Cuban state media as an "information service,"...

An e-mailer asks: "Is this the first time the number of total viewers for the CBS Evening News has fallen below 6 million?" Yes. For the week of May 21, Katie Couric averaged 5,960,000 viewers. Couric's previous low, 6,050,000, came at the start of the May sweep. It was, at the time, the smallest audience for the Evening News in decades. Last week is the new record low. For the week, CBS is down 15 percent compared to the same week in 2006...