Moving past `Today'

Katie Couric was talking about what's been Topic A in media circles this spring: Can she make the transition from the mostly frothy melange that is morning television to the buttoned-down world of network evening news?

The longtime "Today" co-anchor made no pains to hide her exasperation with such thinking.

"Blah, blah, blah," she said. "John Chancellor" -- the NBC morning show host who went on to anchor the nightly news for 12 years -- "drove a go-cart on the 'Today' show. Get over yourselves, really. I think it's sort of a lemming-like reaction and not very informed, because I think if anybody watches the show, they'll know we do plenty of serious things."

But she wasn't done: "To suggest you can't have fun and you can't talk about fashion and enjoy it and then do a serious story on welfare reform is just limited in your thinking."

Couric, who wraps up her 15-year run on "Today" Wednesday, was careful to keep her thinking to herself for the last year as pundits debated the merits of her making the jump to the "CBS Evening News." But with the decision behind her, the 49-year-old broadcaster is feeling a lot freer to speak her mind.

During a wide-ranging conversation on a recent afternoon, she demonstrated the frank self-assuredness that lies beneath her lighthearted on-air demeanor. Perched on a couch in her publicist's office, she fielded questions with remarkable candor, unhesitatingly addressing her frustrations with the media, her feelings about her public profile and that whole question of "gravitas."

"The notion that you can't wear mascara and a pretty pair of earrings and ask really intelligent, insightful questions at the same time is just so passe," she said firmly.

Couric is the first to admit that making the decision to walk away from "Today" -- her home for the bulk of her professional career -- to take over the third-place evening newscast at another network was not an easy one. But as she prepared to leave NBC, the broadcaster seemed relaxed, even liberated.

"I do have mixed emotions because I'm going miss everyone I work with so much," she said. "But no matter what happens, I feel really confident that I've made the right decision."

Those close to her say that Couric mulled over her choice for several months in long phone conversations with a "kitchen cabinet" of friends, carefully considering what she wanted at this point in her career.