By Stone Martindale Sep 11, 2007, 19:55 GMT
The CBS field trip for Katie Couric didn't pan out so well. The Iraq and Syria trip was not a boon for ratings, despite the efforts.
03/05/2007 - Katie Couric - © Wild1 / Photorazzi
The "CBS Evening News" tied a record low with just under 5.5 million viewers last week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday.
Last week and Memorial Day week are the two least-watched CBS evening newscasts since at least 1987, and probably far earlier.
CBS said these figures were "artificially deflated" because of U.S. Open coverage.
CBS News President Sean McManus defended the decision.
"We never expected it to do well in the ratings and it didn't," McManus said. "We knew that this was a long-term commitment to Katie and the show and we really felt it was important to establish our reporting there."
Couric visited a Baghdad marketplace and a dangerous stretch of roadway, contrasting earlier footage and scenarios.
Marvin Kalb, a CBS News reporter for 24 years and the Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, described Couric's broadcasts as a combination of the best of Walter Cronkite and "Nightline."
"She's done excellent work," Kalb said. "She deserves an honest reappraisal. Whether that will be given to her, who knows. But it's deserved."
"The whole effort seems to be unnecessary," wrote dissenting critic Adam Buckman of the New York Post, in a story titled, "The bore war."
CBS' McManus said the trip accomplished everything he wanted journalistically.
"I'm pleased that people took notice of the job she did over there, but it didn't surprise anyone at CBS News," he said. "We all thought she would go over there and do a good job and she did."
Your Talkback on this Story