“Candidly, Katie going to CNN is meaningless. At CNN, she would have no more impact than Connie Chung, Paula Zahn, Aaron Brown or any of that network’s past saviors. The big-picture question is whether the traditional early-evening network newscast is a dinosaur that needs to be put out of its misery.”

— Steve Beverly, professor of broadcasting, Union University, Jackson, Tenn.

“A move to CNN by Katie Couric would be a good thing for all parties involved if, and only if, she were placed in a show that let Katie be Katie. Ms. Couric is a gifted broadcaster with an extraordinary set of skills. Hiring her to anchor the evening news—or to take over from Larry King, for that matter—is like hiring Walt Whitman to write toothpaste jingles: a competent performance would be expected, but what a waste of talent.”

— Robert Thompson, professor and director, Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture, Syracuse University