Katie Couric began tonight’s CBS Evening news with the media coverage of the Shirley Sherrod saga. “It was an extraordinary scene on national television today,” Couric began.
But Couric herself is news tonight, featured in a New York Magazine item about her own future. There’s not much new to the story, but this part is intriguing:
Couric may even wind up back at NBC. According to people with knowledge of the matter, NBC CEO Jeff Zucker has communicated to Couric’s agent, Alan Berger at CAA, that NBC would welcome Couric’s return when she is available. One issue for Couric to weigh in a possible deal with NBC would be Zucker’s fate after the Comcast merger closes, and whether it would be smarter to wait and do a deal with Comcast executives.
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Couric’s $15 million a year CBS deal is up next June. Meredith Vieira is set to stay with “Today” at least until September of 2011.
Daily Intel’s Gabriel Sherman sums it up this way: “Whatever the case, the discussions over Couric’s future represent a growing awareness that the Couric experiment, however successful journalistically, was a failure in terms of reinvigorating the TV news business.”