It took reporters at the Television Critics Association all of two seconds to ask Katie Couric about the rumors of her imminent departure from “The CBS Evening News.”
While today’s TCA session is supposed to be about the election, Ms. Couric’s presence on the panel—taking place via satellite from New York—guaranteed reporters would query her on her future. No surprise, then, that the first question of the panel was about the rumors.
“Glad you got right to that,” Ms. Couric joked.
She then said the buzz about her leaving has “died down considerably. I can’t control what media writers write. We live in a bit of an echo chamber…It’s befuddling to me the amount of attention I have received.”
A few minutes later, another reporter pressed for clarity: Are the rumors about Ms. Couric leaving true?
“It’s not true,” said CBS News and Sports chief Sean McManus.
Ms. Couric concurred.
“We have no plans to part company any time soon,” she said, with some observers no doubt likely to focus on the “any time soon” part of that sentence.
“There were a lot of speculative pieces that got spun out of control,” Ms. Couric added. “When you work for an organization, there are always ongoing discussions. (But) I am committed to the people and committed to the product.”
Ms. Couric also got a vote of confidence from Washington chief Bob Schieffer.
“This is a very good news broadcast,” he said of the “Evening News.”
(Editor: Baumann)