On the heels of ABC’s huge audience–nearly 15 million viewers–for Diane Sawyer‘s exclusive interview with kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard comes word the interview, which was previewed on Sawyer’s ABC World News, boosted ABC’s evening newscast into a first place finish ahead of NBC Nightly News. On Thursday night, World News beat Nightly by 106,000 total viewers (7.656 million vs. 7.550 million), and helped drive World News to its best weekly performance in six weeks.

The Associated Press is reporting that an unnamed source identified as a network executive has confirmed that Katie Couric will be leaving the anchor chair at CBS Evening News. This comes as unexpected news to dozens of individuals who have not paid close attention to the many recent public and private comments concerning Couric’s future at CBS News that have given every indication that she is preparing to move on.

The February finishing order for the network evening newscasts didn’t look much different, with Brian Williams‘ NBC Nightly News taking top honors, followed by Diane Sawyer‘s ABC World News and Katie Couric‘s CBS Evening News finishing last.

But at ABC, news execs point to promising signs World News is making progress. It was the best ratings ABC’s best February performance in three years, and compared to February 2010, World News grew its total audience by one percent, the only network evening news program to grow (CBS was down by 4% and NBC dropped by 10%).

CBS would love to have Katie Couric remain in the CBS Evening News anchor chair when her contract runs out next year, sources tell Bloomberg News, but Couric’s reported $15 million salary is on the chopping block. Bloomberg’s Ronald Grover and Andy Fixmer report Couric’s reps are in talks with CBS, with both sides accepting [...]

Likely Alaskan Senate race winner Lisa Murkowski sat down with the most famous Sarah Palin-interviewer, Katie Couric, yesterday.

Murkowski sounded confident she’d win in the CBS Evening News interview – and also took some shots at Palin.

The Daily Beast’s Rebecca Dana wrote yesterday about the “implosion” and “collapse” at CBS News, focusing on a variety of issues – from ratings to business cards.

Today, CBS News fires back, responding directly to the “fabrications” in the article and pointing to the “perverse hobby” of Dana and others who predict the fall of the Tiffany Network.

Which reporter logged the most minutes of air time during from 2000-2009? The honor goes to Andrea Mitchell of NBC, according to the invaluable resource that is Andrew Tyndall‘s TyndallReport.com. Here’s a full breakdown.

New York Times TV Critic Alessandra Stanley‘s takeaway from the move is that Diane Sawyer taking over for Charlie Gibson means she, Katie Couric and Brian Williams are now “evenly matched in looks and take-charge personality.” Also, from earlier in the column: “Ms. Sawyer appears to have the same high-octane drive and ambition as Brian Williams and Katie Couric.” But wait – looks?!

The passing of Walter Cronkite brings back memories of a time when the CBS Evening News not only dominated the ratings, but the news conversation as a whole. And it turns a light on the current situation at the network, where the newscast sits in a clear third. There are many reasons for this: here’s why the CBS Evening News is struggling in the ratings, how it can turn things around…and why none of it is Katie Couric’s fault.

It’s not often that somebody dying makes me feel young. But the death of Walter Cronkite has inspired me with an overwhelming feeling of youthfulness. You see, I really know next to nothing about Walter Cronkite.  He means nothing at all to me. Hearing that he’s dead was like a looking at a well-painted apartment [...]