By Andy Goldberg Sep 6, 2006, 3:28 GMT
Los Angeles - America's one-time sweetheart Katie Couric became the first female solo anchor of a major US nightly news show Tuesday, opening the CBS Evening News with the words: 'Hi everyone. I'm very happy to be with you tonight.'
Television footage shows Katie Couric debuting as 'CBS Evening News' anchor in New York, September 5, 2006.
The debut of the blonde, perenially perky 49-year-old represents the latest attempt of the embattled US networks to reinvigorate the nightly news shows that were once a staple of US society and culture.
Now, in the age of the internet and a TV landscape with hundreds of channels, the news shows seem to be charging toward obsolescence as fast as a gas guzzling sport-utility vehicle. They attract 25 million to 30 million viewers a night - less than half of what they used to.
Couric cuts an unlikely figure as the prime-time news heroine. She became famous as a morning ratings-queen, hosting the venerable Today Show for 15 years on NBC, where she made an art of mixing news stories with fluffy features for an audience dominated by stay-at- home moms.
She often seemed to flaunt her famous legs as prominently as her smile, but those who worked with her say that beneath the jaunty exterior, her keen mind and courageous personality are her greatest assets.
CBS is paying Couric some 15 million dollars a year in hopes that she can lift the broadcast from its lowly third place in the network news rankings.
But CBS has even greater ambitions. Network executives' master plan is for Couric to lead the news division from a TV-based medium onto the web, where viewers will be able to access the show at their convenience for quick updates on happenings in the world.
'American lifestyles have changed, and most people don't find it convenient any more to sit down and watch the news at 6:30 every night,' explains Robert Thompson, a professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University in upstate New York.
The transition to the internet 'as the primary delivery system for news in the next decade could really signal a resurgence for network news,' says Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. 'CBS is really poised to leapfrog ahead with their newscast on the web if they want to.'
In five months of unprecedented hype leading to Couric's first broadcast, CBS plastered her photo on every New York bus. But those who expected the hype to lead to a dramatically new format were in for a disappointment.
There was new theme music from James Horner, whose previous work included the movie score for Titanic, and a segment called Free Speech that will give celebs and simple folk the opportunity to mouth off to the nation.
But otherwise the format was strictly conventional, complete with one fluffy scoop - the first pictures of Suri Cruise, the superstar baby of Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
Couric's hard-news coverage led with the worsening situation in Afghanistan, including a report from correspondent Lara Logan, who wrapped herself in a burka to gain exclusive access to resurgent Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
It was a symbolic retort to those who doubted that a woman could fill the shoes of CBS News icons Ed Murrow, Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather, but Couric herself addressed the same issue in the slew of interviews that preceded her debut.
'I think there is some residual sexism, and I think women are sort of judged by different standards,' Couric said. 'But I try not to get too preoccupied by that. I think that I feel very confident in who I am as a person and as a professional.'
That assertion will be put to the test in the coming weeks, especially with her interview Wednesday with US President George W Bush, with whom she will be expected to show that she can grill the world's leaders like a veteran news hound.
Until then, viewers will stay with the image of Couric signing off with a competition for viewers to log on to CBSNews.com to suggest a new tagline for her show. Then, as her microphone was turned off, she leaned back on the desk, crossed her legs and joked with her crew.
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