Katie Couric

CBS News shot down a report Wednesday that implied that anchor Katie Couric was preparing to leave the network and her post on its flagship evening newscast as soon as next January, saying no such decision had been made. "We are very proud of the 'CBS Evening News,' particularly our political coverage, and we have no plans for any changes regarding Katie or the broadcast," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Every weekday evening, Katie Couric is the picture of sobriety on the "CBS Evening News": buttoned-down and earnest. Viewers who miss the impish humor the anchor exhibited on "Today" probably don't know that it's still possible to catch glimpses of Couric, unplugged -- and in a medium that's light-years away from the staid environs of broadcast news. Since February, Couric has been quietly uploading videos to her own channel on YouTube.

Tailored suit, tasteful hair, good posture, all business, only rare hints of perkiness. I've been checking out Katie Couric, really putting the evil eye on her. You know, Couric, the former NBC "Today" superstar and subsequent $15-million-a-year Jeanne d'Arc who fell hard from her CBS high horse when delivering no miracles to lift that network's evening newscast from third in the ratings. Media wonks are now wondering who will leave office first, George W. Bush or Couric.

It was a strange, stuttering year for television. It's no knock against collective bargaining to point out the writers strike made a constitutionally skittish medium even more erratic than usual. On the broadcast networks, shows came and went and came and went confusingly through the winter, spring and summer; fall, when it arrived, was underwhelming. (Premium and basic cable were somewhat inured to those shocks, but it was a slow year there, too.

Close watchers of the "CBS Evening News" may have noticed a subtle change in recent weeks. Instead of opening with a breezy "Hi, everyone," anchor Katie Couric has modified her welcome to the slightly more subdued "Hello, everyone." "Now it's a little formal," she told Stephen Colbert on Thursday during an appearance on his late-night Comedy Central show.

MEMO to Katie Couric: You should send flowers to Don Imus. No, not so the shock jock might spill his guts to her in the inevitable comeback-trail interview. Instead, Couric should be grateful that last week's Imus uproar took the heat off "CBS Evening News" for its own embarrassing ethical lapse, this one involving plagiarism and other brands of deception. America, luckily for the former "Today" show co-host, has room for only one media scandal at a time.

"CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric isn't going anywhere, despite her difficulty in building a bigger audience for the show eight months into her tenure, former CBS News President Andrew Heyward said. CBS took a big but necessary gamble by bringing on Couric to replace Bob Schieffer in the chair previously held by Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite, Heyward said at a media conference in Manhattan on Wednesday.

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves shot back at former CBS news anchor Dan Rather on Tuesday, saying his characterization of the network "tarting" up its newscast with anchor Katie Couric was "sexist." Rather, speaking by phone on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program with Joe Scarborough 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.

NEW YORK--Katie Couric, who will mark her one-year anniversary as anchor of "CBS Evening News" next week, is embarking tonight on a 10-day trip to Iraq and Syria, the first network evening news anchor to visit the war zone in six months. It will be Couric's first visit to both countries, and the network plans to devote substantial air time to her coverage, with 16 stories by the anchor and chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan slated to run over four days.

NEW YORK -- From the beginning, Katie Couric's philosophy about her new post was clear. "I didn't come here to do a traditional newscast, and I don't think CBS hired me to do a traditional newscast," she told Reader's Digest in February.