Katie Couric: I'm not leaving 'CBS Evening News'
TCA --
Katie Couric was repeated asked by critics at press tour about reports that she will soon exit her position as anchor of "CBS Evening News."
“We have no plans to part company anytime soon," Couric says. "There were a lot of speculative pieces that I think got, quite frankly, spun out of control. We always assess how the show is doing and what direction we want to go in. And so, clearly, when you work for an organization, you have ongoing discussions. But I'm very committed to the people here and very committed to the product, and so I can say that's not true."
"I think [the rumors are] dying down considerable," she added. "I can’t control what media writers write. Sometimes we live in a bit of an echo chamber. I think people in your room and obviously the people here are more fascinated by these things than people in real world. So it's befuddling to me, the amount of attention I have received. I spend every day focused on doing the best job I can. What I’m focused on and how I can serve 5 million viewers.”
CBS News president Sean McManus concurred: "We don't have time, we haven't had time to think about anything else other than putting on the best news broadcast that we can, and I think we're doing that. So it's not a discussion at CBS, either corporately or at CBS News. We're focused on doing our jobs right now."
Evening News ratings have been low since Couric took over the anchor desk a couple years ago. Most rumors have centered around Couric leaving after the November presidential election. Her "anytime soon" qualifier could be read as a hedge. Either way, the team was pretty clear: no changes ... for now.