Katie Couric's Audience Falls, Sending CBS Evening News Ratings to a 20-Year Low

[Purveyor]

May 31 (Bloomberg) -- CBS's nightly newscast drew its smallest audience in 20 years last week, extending the drop in viewership for anchor Katie Couric that began almost from her first days on the job.

The ``Evening News With Katie Couric'' averaged 5.96 million viewers last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. ABC's ``World News With Charles Gibson,'' which has overtaken NBC's ``Nightly News With Brian Williams'' as the leading newscast, finished first with 7.78 million viewers, followed by NBC with 7.19 million.

CBS has been unable to halt the decline in viewers since Couric, 50, took over from Bob Schieffer, fueling speculation she may not last. In March, CBS named a new executive producer, tapping former MSNBC President Rick Kaplan to replace Rome Hartman, and the format was altered to focus more on hard news. A month later, CBS apologized for an essay on Couric's blog that was taken ``almost verbatim'' from a Wall Street Journal story.

``At some point, they are going to have to cut the bleeding,'' said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media, a New York advertising agency. ``I don't know if there is some magic ratings number, but maybe after she's been on the job for a year, they'll have to do something.''

CBS's nightly news audience hasn't been so small since 1987, spokeswoman Leigh Farris confirmed. She declined to say whether the ranking was of concern to executives of New York- based CBS Corp. or if it portended any changes in personnel or format.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=azRJxfF3sSe4&refer=us

[originalpckelly]

1. HAHA!

[youngdem]

4. ditto your nelson.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. duh. a news program trying REAL NEWS for a change?

what an idea.

[Straight Shooter]

3. Oh my. Apparently the witch is melting. n/t

[mvd]

5. Sorry CBS, but..

Katie's better in the morning. There are plenty of women capable of heading CBS Evening News, but I wouldn't have picked Katie.

[DearAbby]

10. I agree, Katie would be a total hit

if she did actual news, I dont care what the person looks like who reads the news...Real news, hard hitting truth for once. She would be an absolute hit.

They screwed up big time thinking that the big name Curic would carry the weight, reading fluff on air. What ever happened to the News organization that used to employ the likes of Edward R Murrow?

It is truly sad to see the demise of CBS News.

[Mutineer]

13. Exactly.

I'm not saying that a woman isn't capable of anchoring a network news show. The problem is that CBS chose the wrong woman for the job.

[Warpy]

6. First, change the format from AM coffee show

to a news program with a desk. Second, stop giving her all that right wing, sanitized pap to read. Let her do NEWS, even if it pisses Viacom off.

I don't think she's the problem. The bigwigs at Viacom thought when they got rid of Rather they could soften the news and shift it far to the right and that everybody would tune in for a half hour of comforting mush instead of to the alternatives, where a little real news slips in once in a blue moon.

They were wrong, but they'll probably crow that a woman can't possibly do the hard job of being a serious evening news anchor.

[cwydro]

7. Sadly,

I agree with you.

[AX10]

8. Haha!

Couric is a disaster. She is no reporter, she's a telepromter reader!

:nopity:

[stillcool]

9. I wish all of the corporate televised..

'news' programs would hurry up and go the way of the dinosaur. Replacing one talking head with another will just prolong their painful descent into nothingness.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. spending all those millions on a loss leader. Love it.

can you imagine how many hungry talented fearless reporters and investigative j-students they could hire for 15 mill?

[BlooInBloo]

12. Fire Katie. Hire Keith.

[Kahuna]

14. tsk tsk tsk..

:evilgrin:

[dbt]

15. Some big ol' balls there, Les Moonves!!!!

How close kin are you to the pinhead who had the brilliant New Coke idea? Be a REAL CORPORATE MALE and don't listen to all them Liberal Whiners who want you to believe what a STONE FUCKUP you are!

STAY THE COURSE, CBS!!!!!! Never MIND the ratings! EMBRACE THE PPM!

:rofl:

[NastyRiffraff]

16. Is anyone suprised?

I thought this would happen after she was hired. And it makes me mad...of all the competent women they could have found for the anchor job, they picked the bimbo.

[RestoreGore]

17. Bring back Walter Cronkite!

We need REAL journalists who tell truth!

[qdemn7]

18. She's just

Too damn PERKY!!! :bounce: