Original Blog Entry: Katie Couric giving up 'CBS Evening News' anchor desk to launch talk show

truesee — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:52:06 GMT

Katie Couric to give up 'CBS Evening News' anchor desk, expected to launch talk show in 2011

Bill Hutchinson

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, April 4th 2011, 4:00 AM

Filo/CBS/AP

The 54-year-old newswoman's 5-year contract with CBS is set to expire

June 4.

Katie Couric is giving up her anchor's desk at the CBS Evening News, according to a report early Monday.

Couric, who five years ago became the first woman appointed solo anchor of a network nightly newscast, is expected to announce she is giving up her prized post soon, a network executive told the Associated Press.

The 54-year-old newswoman's contract is set to end June 4.

We're having ongoing discussions with Katie Couric, said CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair Sunday. Matthew Hiltzik, Couric's spokesman, refused to comment.

Couric, the widowed mother of two daughters, is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012, but for which broadcasting company is unclear.

Several companies have been wooing her, including CBS.

She made television history in 2006 when she replaced Dan Rather as anchor of the CBS Evening News. She signed a contract worth $15 million a year, making her the highest paid anchor on network TV.

Couric kicked off her gig with huge ratings and won the Edward R. Morrow Award for best newscast in 2008 and 2009.

She was praised for her 2008 interview of Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, which exposed the candidate's lack of knowledge of world events.

But the honors didn't translate into ratings, and CBS has remained stuck in third place behind NBC and ABC.

Couric began her broadcasting career at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., and later worked as an assignment editor for CNN and as a reporter for WTVJ in Miami.

While working as a Pentagon correspondent for NBC News in 1989, she got her big break when hired as an anchor substitute for NBC's Today show.

She was tapped as the permanent co-anchor of Today on April 5, 1991.

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