Every holiday season, many news outlets put together inspirational and heartwarming stories to fit the season. They’re always a joy to watch and, as we watch so many here at Mediaite, it’s hard not to start picking favorites. Last year, the best may have been a delightful tale from The New York Times and it looks like we may have an early favorite for 2011. CBS wrapped up the evening news tonight by recounting the tale of a little girl from North Carolina who asked Santa to bring her father, a contractor in Iraq, home for the holidays.

Back in the day, Michael Rosenblum toiled as a producer at CBS News, before leaving the network and making a name for himself as a pioneer in transforming news operations. He helped launch Current TV and New York’s local NY1, and has trained journalists to shoot their own video at The New York Times, the BBC, and networks in Germany, Holland and elsewhere. But he wonders why the recently-revamped CBS Evening News still looks so, you know, unchanged. Comparing the newscast now anchored by Scott Pelley, which included a freshened up set and the return of a world map made famous as part of the set used by CBS legend Walter Cronkite, Rosenblum argues on his blog today that Pelley’s newscast looks nearly identical to the newscast put on by NBC’s John Cameron Swayze–in 1949. “Does it look pretty much the same after 62 years? Isn’t this astonishing? Isn’t this astonishing for a medium that supposedly is on the cutting edge of technology?”

In an exclusive interview set to air tonight on the CBS Evening News, President Obama tells Scott Pelley he “cannot guarantee” that $20 billion worth of Social Security checks will be sent out on August 3–the day after the government could be in default. “This is not a matter of Social Security checks, these are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability–their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out every month.” Except maybe not next month, Mr. Obama said.

Harry Smith, who was replaced in January as co-host of CBS’ Early Show in the struggling morning show’s most recent makeover, will leave the network and join NBC News, where he will be a part of the upcoming primetime news hour hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, set to debut this fall.

CBS News wants you to know that reporters at The New York Times, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly all got it wrong in comparing Scott Pelley‘s first week as anchor of The CBS Evening News to the final weeks of Katie Couric‘s time in the chair. As we put it yesterday, “it’s too early to fairly judge the CBS Evening News‘ transition from Katie Couric to Scott Pelley in terms of ratings, but in his first week on the job, Pelley largely held on to the viewers Couric had, but seems to have lost some of the viewers who tuned in for the post-Couric newscasts with interim anchor Harry Smith.”

It’s too early to fairly judge the CBS Evening News transition from Katie Couric to Scott Pelley in terms of ratings, but in his first week on the job, Pelley largely held on to the viewers Couric had, but seems to have lost some of the viewers who tuned in for the post-Couric newscasts with interim anchor Harry Smith.

Katie Couric delivered her final broadcast as the host of the CBS Evening News tonight, thanking her staff and those who hired her and emphasizing the “privilege and honor” of having been able to deliver the news there for the past five years. While it could have been a somewhat bittersweet affair (and, indeed, “Bittersweet Symphony” did play at one point in the background), Couric’s last treat– a retrospective of her favorite stories from her tenure– made it fascinating.

Mediaite has learned that Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the CBS Evening News, is leaving his post. Kaplan announced his departure in a meeting with staffers of the Katie Couric broadcast. “You have all made my life for the past almost five years fabulous,” Kaplan said, according to people close to Kaplan.

In a move you’d be forgiven for thinking had already been made, CBS officially named 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley the new anchor of the CBS Evening News, replacing Katie Couric. “Scott has it all. He has the experience, the credibility and he is among the very best reporters ever to work at CBS News,” said CBS News chairman Jeff Fager. “In more than two decades at CBS News, he has distinguished himself at every level, right up to his current role at ’60 Minutes,’ where his work has been incomparable. We like to think of CBS News as the ‘reporter’s network’ and I can’t think of anybody in this business better suited for the anchor chair than Scott.”

Last night on the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric asked Bob Schieffer whether he thinks the “Birther” movement is now officially over with the release of the President’s birth certificate. Schieffer predicted that it was, but was very worried about a new movement that he sees Donald Trump trying to start: one unfortunately based on the President’s race.

Sarah Palin and Katie Couric haven’t exactly been one another’s number one fans. You might recall that it was Couric who asked Palin – then John McCain‘s vice presidential running mate – what newspapers she read, prompting Palin’s now notorious and much-lampooned response: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

If the rampant but rather bland buzz is to be believed, CBS News will tap 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley as the next anchor of the CBS Evening News, replacing the soon-to-depart (and almost certainly daytime-bound) Katie Couric.

By all accounts, Pelley’s a great guy, well-liked at CBS News, and a fine choice to inherit the chair once owned by Walter Cronkite. Picking Pelley would reshuffle the evening news anchor deck, returning it to mostly white guys, with ABC’s Diane Sawyer the only exception. But what if CBS decided on a more diverse choice? Who’s out there? Is there anybody worth a look?

Back at her old home, NBC’s TODAY, Katie Couric sat down with Matt Lauer to talk, naturally, about her new book. Making absolutely no mention of the frenzy of speculation surrounding Couric’s future as anchor of the CBS Evening News, Lauer and Couric had a casual chat about Couric’s book on life advice (“you have to keep trying” was one insider’s tip) for a full three minutes. It was only then that Lauer pivoted, asking “heard any good rumors lately?”

It seems fairly certain that very soon, CBS News will come to the end of the Katie Couric era. For many, that means an entertaining round of media speculation about who will inherit the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News.

Much of the speculation has focused on Scott Pelley, the CBS lifer who’s a correspondent at 60 Minutes. Pelley’s a nice guy, a good reporter and would surely do a fine job as an evening news anchor.

Here’s a factoid you don’t want to see if you work at CBS News: your flagship newscast, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric hit the lowest ratings in nearly two decades–actually, the lowest on record, since Nielsen figures for the program only go back to 1992. Hence the widespread belief in media circles that Couric, whose CBS contract expires in June, will not be continuing in her evening news role.

For the first quarter of 2011, in the key demo of adults 25-54, the CBS Evening News averaged 1.98 million viewers, compared to ABC World News‘ 2.43 million and NBC Nightly News‘ 2.94 million.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, whose contract is set to expire in June, may stay at the network as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, according to a report in the New York Post. The paper’s Michael Shain cites “network insiders” saying “an offer to become a regular correspondent for the prestigious Sunday night TV magazine is part of the package being offered Couric–if she’ll stay and do a projected daytime talk show for CBS.”

The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz says CBS News is deep into the process of finding a replacement for Evening News anchor Katie Couric, whose contract ends in June. “The search is on” for a worthy successor, writes Kurtz, with “the new CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, is looking at candidates both within and outside the network, insiders say.”

A top contender at CBS, Kurtz says, is 60 Minutes‘ Scott Pelley:

While some predict that Katie Couric‘s career at CBS will not last much longer, others like David Letterman refuse to give up hope. Couric appeared last night with Letterman and confirmed her contract is up in June and that she is exploring her options. Some disappointment was heard from the crowd and Letterman asked “you can’t leave the network can you?”

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric previously proved she could make fun of herself with an appearance alongside actress Jane Lynch on the television show Glee, yet this time Couric owns all the laughs herself. In a Funny or Die video, Couric goes out in the field to do a report on whether a group of young kids is able to “shake the sillies out” and after she gets a case of the sillies herself, hilarity ensues.

A day after CBS News shook up its leadership, replacing CBS News president Sean McManus and handing control of the news division to 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager, comes word the network is eager to keep Katie Couric in her role as anchor of the CBS Evening News–but for far less than she’s making now.

The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz reports CBS wants Couric to remain in her post at least through the 2012 elections–a move that would require an extension of Couric’s contract, set to expire in May:

The uprising in Egypt forced an airlift of American news anchors to Cairo, but NBC’s Brian Williams outperformed his counterparts in terms of ratings, hitting a six-year high for his NBC Nightly News for the week ending February 5. Nightly averaged more than 11.2 million viewers, the newscast’s best showing since January 2005.

NBC execs point out that the ratings for Nightly were bigger than the viewership of some primetime shows, including ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (11.182 million viewers) and The Bachelor (9.660 million).

NBC’s Nightly News will finish 2010 as the top performer in the evening news race, according to 4Q Nielsen ratings released today.

The Brian Williams-led newscast dominated the key ratings metric of adults 25-54, beating ABC’s World News by 424,000 viewers and the CBS Evening News by 756,000.

Broadcasting & Cable‘s Paige Albiniak reports, syndicators are very interested in negotiating a daytime TV deal for CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, “should renewing her contract with CBS not pan out.”

Couric’s deal–which reportedly pays the former TODAY host $15 million a year–is set to run out next May. Sensing an opportunity “multiple syndicators” have approached Couric, Albiniak reports, to talk about “the daytime option.”

Brian Williams, fresh off his tour de force boneless arms routine on TODAY, now has something to be thankful for this week: his Nightly News has opened a big lead over second-placed ABC World News with Diane Sawyer:

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, in an interview on the Wendy Williams Show says she won’t be making a return to morning TV: “No! No that’s not something that I’m doing – I love the Today show, I miss all my friends from the show,” said Couric.