NEW YORK -- Katie Couric was listening to Declan McCullagh, CNET's chief political correspondent, explain Barack Obama's and John McCain's stances on Net neutrality.
"Well, whatever that meant," the anchor said after his wonky account of copyright issues. "No, Declan, that was fascinating," she added with a laugh, not very convincingly.
Couric's cheeky remark would have likely raised eyebrows if she had made it on the "CBS Evening News." But the anchor wasn't on the air. She was hosting a live webcast on CBSNews.com, which aired nightly during the national political conventions after network airtime ran out.
The irreverent webcast, with its radically different tone from a network broadcast, offered a clue about Couric's current interests.
After two often-trying years at CBS that have seen her evening newscast lag in third place, it's unclear whether the anchor wants to remain in her post through her contract in 2011. Earlier this year, she met with CBS executives to discuss the prospect of leaving early, perhaps even after the November elections.
For now, those discussions have been tabled. Couric insists she plans to stick around and appears tired of queries about her future. When a reporter mentioned her possible departure during a phone interview Thursday, the anchor cut her off: "I'm not even going to entertain that question. I've been through it a million times."
Actually, the reporter continued, I just wanted to ask you how you're enjoying the job right now.
"Oh!" Couric replied. "I'm having a blast."
Colleagues say she appears especially invigorated by a new project -- developing a presence online. Couric has her own freewheeling YouTube channel and used Digg.com to solicit questions from viewers during the conventions. She came up with the idea of doing a live Web show after each night of the political confabs.
"The Web has a different vibe and kind of a more relaxed sensibility, which I think plays to my strengths, which is sort of extemporaneous, more spontaneous, off-the-cuff broadcasting," she said.
It's an environment Couric admits she misses from her "Today" show days. The network initially experimented with a looser tone when Couric took over the "CBS Evening News" but jettisoned those features when viewership fell.
Online, the anchor casts aside all the reserve that she exhibits on the air. She ribbed her colleagues -- "Byron, dude, it's a webcast, it's not a miniseries!" she teased national correspondent Byron Pitts after a particularly long interview -- and shouted out questions to startled delegates nearby.
