Our timeline looks at the history of CBS News and Katie Couric during the period 1975-2011. It begins in 1975 when Couric graduated from high school.
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1975
COURIC
June 1975
Katherine Anne Couric graduates from Arlington, Virginia‘s Yorktown High School. (She was born in Arlington, Virginia, on January 7, 1957.) After graduation she enrolls at the University of Virginia.
CBS NEWS
Walter Cronkite is the anchor of the CBS Evening News.
(The network’s first regularly scheduled nightly newscast, the CBS Television News, was anchored by Douglas Edwards on August 15, 1948. A couple of years later the name was changed to Douglas Edwards with the News. This was the beginning of the CBS Evening News we know today. Edwards remained as anchor until April 16, 1962 when he was replaced by Walter Cronkite. The 15-minute program expanded to 30 minutes on September 2, 1963.)
The president of CBS News is Richard Salant. (He served two terms as president: 1961-1964 and 1966-1979.)
April 21, 1975
Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, and Bob Schieffer interview President Gerald Ford.
April 29, 1975
CBS News reports on the fall of Saigon.
1976
COURIC
At the University of Virginia Katie Couric majors in English with a focus on American studies.
CBS NEWS
July 4, 1976
CBS News reports on the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
The 64-page CBS News Standards book is compiled from policy memos dating back to the beginning of CBS News in the 1930s. The loose-leaf book is distributed to CBS news personnel.
November 3, 1976
CBS News reports on the presidential election between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
1977
COURIC
While at the University of Virginia, Katie Couric serves as an associate editor for the school’s newspaper, The Cavalier Daily.
She is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at UVA.
CBS NEWS
August 17, 1977
CBS News reports on the death of Elvis Presley.
November 14, 1977
Walter Cronkite conducts interviews with Eygptian President Anwar El-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.  These interviews help lead to Sadat’s trip to Israel.
November 30, 1977
CBS News correspondent Eric Sevareid retires after a career spanning 38 years.
(Sevaried video on YouTube)
1978
COURIC
Katie Couric interns at local radio stations while attending UVA.
CBS NEWS
October 16, 1978
Stories about the election of Pope John Paul II are on the CBS Evening News.
November 20, 1978
CBS News reports on Jim Jones and the People’s Temple mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
December 1978
A special 30-minute videotape about CBS News is produced for station affiliates. The December 1978 tape is called, CBS News At Work, and narrator Charles Kuralt gives a behind the scenes look at various news programs produced by CBS. (A link to the CBS video.)
1979
COURIC
June 1979
Katie Couric graduates from the University of Virginia.
Couric is hired as an assignment desk assistant at the ABC News Washington, DC bureau.
CBS NEWS
January 28, 1979
The CBS news program, Sunday Morning, debuts. Anchor Charles Kuralt remains with the program until he retires on April 3, 1994. He is succeeded by Charles Osgood.
March 28, 1979
CBS News reports on the accident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
The president of CBS News is Bill Leonard. CBS presidents during the 1980s and early 1990s include: Van Gordon Sauter, Ed Joyce, Howard Stringer, David Burke and Eric Ober.
November 4, 1979
CBS News reports that the U.S. Embassy in Iran was seized and hostages were taken.
1980
COURIC
The ABC News Washington, DC, bureau chief, George Watson, leaves ABC for the new CNN network. He asks Couric and other ABC staffers to join him at CNN’s Washington, DC, bureau. Couric begins at CNN as an assignment editor.
CBS NEWS
April 12, 1980
CBS News reports that the United States will be boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Russia.
November 5, 1980
The presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan is covered by CBS.
December 9, 1980
The CBS Evening News reports on the murder of former Beatle John Lennon.
1981
COURIC
Although most of Couric’s early work at CNN is as a producer behind the scenes, occasionally she appears on the air.
In a 2005 New Yorker article, Ken Auletta writes about Couric’s early days at CNN: “One morning, a correspondent didn’t show up and the producer asked Couric to fill in. CNN’s news chief, Reese Schonfeld, was at home, watching. He thought that Couric looked and sounded like a sixteen-year-old. ‘I never want to see her on the air again,’ he said.”
CBS NEWS
January 20, 1981
CBS News reports on the release of the U.S. hostages in Iran and the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.
March 6, 1981
Walter Cronkite retires as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. Here is an excerpt from the end of the program:
This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of the CBS Evening News.
….This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job and another, Dan Rather, will follow.
….Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is, Friday, March 6, 1981.
I’ll be away on assignment and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night.
March 9, 1981
Dan Rather becomes the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. The other major contender for the anchor position was Roger Mudd, who leaves CBS when Rather is named Cronkite’s successor.
CBS News reports on the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
Burton Benjamin is the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. (He also held this job from 1968-1975.) Benjamin will retire from CBS in 1985.
1982
COURIC
Katie Couric moves from Washington, DC, to Atlanta and becomes the producer for the CNN program, Take Two. She
works with anchors Chris Curle and Don Farmer.
CBS NEWS
January 23, 1982
Mike Wallace anchors the documentary, “CBS Reports: The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception.” After the program airs, General William C. Westmoreland brings a $120 million libel suit against CBS. As a result of the suit and other allegations, executive producer Burton Benjamin writes a report that investigates the documentary’s failures.
During 1982 CBS and KNXT (later called KCBS ) develop content for their Extravision videotex system. Videotex was an early and unsuccessful new media format before the Web was created.
June 15, 1982
CBS News reports on the Falkland Islands War.
Bob Schieffer becomes the network’s chief Washington correspondent.
October 3, 1982
The CBS overnight news program, Nightwatch, begins. The show airs until the early 1990s.
1983
COURIC
In addition to being a producer for CNN, Couric continues to do more on-air work.
CBS NEWS
May 16, 1983
Stories about the attempted peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon appear on the CBS Evening News.
October 23, 1983
CBS News reports on a suicide truck-bombing at the U.S. compound in Beirut, Lebanon.
1984
COURIC
During the 1984 presidential campaign, Katie Couric serves as a CNN political correspondent. This is a temporary assignment and she is not asked to become a full-time reporter at CNN.
Couric leaves CNN and moves to South Florida to work as a general assignment reporter at WTVJ in Miami.
CBS NEWS
July / August 1984
CBS News covers the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
November 6, 1984
Stories about the presidential election between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale appear on the CBS Evening News.
1985
COURIC
While at WTVJ Couric produces a special report about the homeless in downtown Miami.  The story airs on WTJV’s magazine show, Montage. Another major project by Couric is a series on child pornography.
CBS NEWS
March 11, 1985
CBS News reports on the death of Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko and the succession of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Tom Wyman becomes CBS chairman and CEO.
There are hostile corporate takeover attempts against the CBS company during the middle 1980s. The most serious bid comes from Ted Turner.
1986
COURIC
At the end of 1986 Couric leaves Miami’s WTVJ and moves to WRC-TV, NBC’s Washington, DC, station.
CBS NEWS
January 28, 1986
CBS News reports on the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.
Tom Bettag is the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. (He leaves CBS in 1991 to work with Ted Koppel on ABC’s Nightline.)
September 1986
CBS board member Larry Tisch, who owns 25 percent of the company’s stock, replaces Tom Wyman as CEO. During this period the CBS News division is forced to make major budget cuts and layoffs.
1987
COURIC
Couric focuses on local news stories as a general assignment reporter at WRC-TV.
CBS NEWS
May — August 1987
The Iran-contra congressional hearings are covered by CBS.
September 11, 1987
During a remote broadcast in Miami, Dan Rather walks away from the anchor set for six minutes at the beginning of the CBS Evening News.
October 19, 1987
A story about the stock market‘s record drop is featured on the CBS Evening News.
1988
COURIC
Katie Couric’s WRC-TV story about a dating service for the disabled earns an Emmy and an Associated Press award.
CBS NEWS
January 1988
The news program, 48 Hours, premiers.
January 25, 1988
Dan Rather and Vice-President George H.W. Bush‘s confrontational interview is broadcast.
November 8, 1988
CBS News reports on the presidential election between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
December 20, 1988
Stories about the bombing of Pan Am 103 are on the CBS Evening News.
1989
COURIC
July 1989
Katie Couric joins the NBC network as a deputy Pentagon correspondent. (According to a 1990 Washingtonian article by Barbara Matusow, there are a number of people who help Couric move to the network, including NBC chief Pentagon correspondent, Fred Francis, and NBC Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert.)
Michael Gartner is the president of NBC News when Couric joins the network.
During 1989 she marries attorney and TV legal commentator, Jay Monahan.
December 21, 1989
Couric reports on the U.S. invasion of Panama for the NBC Nightly News.
CBS NEWS
March 26, 1989
The Exxon Valdez oil spill is the main story on the CBS Evening News.
June 3, 1989
CBS News is in China when the Tiananmen Square assault begins.
1990
COURIC
June 1990
Katie Couric becomes the Today show’s national correspondent.
Jeff Zucker becomes Couric’s producer soon after she is named as Today’s national correspondent. (He would later become executive producer of the Today show.)
August 1990
Couric reports on Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In a few months she would also be covering the Gulf War.
During this period Couric not only begins appearing on the Today show more often, but she occasionally fills in as an anchor on the Saturday and Sunday editions of the NBC Nightly News.
CBS NEWS
August 29, 1990
Dan Rather interviews Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein for the first time. Rather will interview him again in 2003.
October 1, 1990
CBS News reports on the unification of West and East Germany.
October 26, 1990
The founder and chairman of CBS, William S. Paley, dies at the age of 89.
December 1990
Larry Tisch, CBS president and CEO, is named as the new chairman.
1991
COURIC
February 1991
Katie Couric becomes the Today show’s substitute co-anchor.
April 5, 1991
Couric is named as Bryant Gumbel‘s new Today show co-anchor. (She replaces Deborah Norville who had succeeded Jane Pauley about a year earlier.)
Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the program:
ANNOUNCER: This is Today, with Bryant Gumbel, Katherine Couric and Joe Garagiola.
BRYANT GUMBEL: Good morning, and welcome to Today on a Friday morning and to a new chapter. How did it sound?
COURIC: Sounded good. And I still can’t decide whether I’m Katherine or Katie.
GUMBEL: Alex, re-rack it for us, will you?
ANNOUNCER: Katherine Couric.
GUMBEL: One more time, Alex.
ANNOUNCER: Katherine Couric.
GUMBEL: Thank you very much.
COURIC: There you go.
GUMBEL: In case you haven’t gotten the message, Katie is now a permanent fixture up here, a member of our family, an especially welcome one.
During the Couric/Gumbel era the program broadcasts from locations around the world, including Russia, China, Africa, Cuba, Italy and Vietnam.
July 23, 1991
Katie Couric’s daughter, Elinor Tully Monahan, is born.
CBS NEWS
February 28, 1991
CBS News reports on the end of the Gulf War.
May 1991
Bob Schieffer joins Face the Nation, one of the longest running news programs on CBS. (The show premiered on November 7, 1954.)
1992
COURIC
January 14, 1992
The Today show celebrates its fortieth anniversary.
March 1992
The news magazine, Dateline NBC, premiers.
May 1992
Katie Couric appears on the CBSÂ show, Murphy Brown.
Summer 1992
Katie Couric and Bob Costas co-host NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games opening ceremonies in Barcelona, Spain.
October 13, 1992
During a Today show interview at the White House with Barbara Bush, Couric surprises President Bush with tough questions when he walks into the room unannounced.
CBS NEWS
January 26, 1992
60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft interviews presidential candidate Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, in the midst of the Gennifer Flowers scandal. The interview takes place right after the Super Bowl airs on CBS.
April 1992
The overnight news program, Up to the Minute, premiers on CBS.
August 24, 1992
CBS News reports on Hurricane Andrew.
November 3, 1992
The presidential election between George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot is covered by CBS.
1993
COURIC
April 1993
Katie Couric appears on the NBC show, Cheers.
August 18, 1993
In addition to the Today show, she begins co-anchoring the program, Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric. This weekly news magazine show airs until September 1994.
December 1993
Couric produces an NBC News special called, “Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade.”
CBS NEWS
April 19, 1993
CBS News reports on the end of the standoff between Branch Davidians and federal agents in Waco, Texas.
June 1993
Connie Chung and Dan Rather begin co-anchoring the CBS Evening News program together. The co-anchor format ends in May 1995 when Chung leaves the show.
1994
COURIC
June 1994
The Today show moves to a new glass-walled, ground-floor studio where the studio windows face the street. The new set is at the corner of 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
During 1994 Katie Couric becomes a contributing anchor on the Dateline NBC program.
CBS NEWS
January 17, 1994
Stories about the southern California earthquake are featured on the CBS Evening News.
April 29, 1994
CBS News reports that Nelson Mandela has been elected president of South Africa.
1995
COURIC
April 20, 1995
The Today show and all of NBC News covers the Oklahoma City bombing.
Katie Couric produces an NBC News special about children called, “Everybody’s Business: America’s Children.”
October 4, 1995
The Today show reports on the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdict. (In 2004, Couric interviews O.J. Simpson for Dateline NBC.)
CBS NEWS
April 19, 1995
CBS News reports on the Oklahoma City bombing.
November 1995
CBS chairman Larry Tisch helps sell CBS to the Westinghouse Corporation.
1996
COURIC
January 5, 1996
Katie Couric’s daughter, Caroline Couric Monahan, is born.
July 1996
NBC News programs begin sharing stories with the new Web site and cable network, MSNBC.
July 17, 1996
Reports about the crash of TWA Fight 800 appear on the Today show.
August 1996
The Today show and other NBC News programs cover the Olympic Games in Atlanta and the August 27th pipe bomb explosion.
CBS NEWS
January 1996
Andrew Heyward is named as the new president of CBS News. (He will remain in that post until the end of 2005.)
April 3, 1996
CBS News reports on the arrest of the Unabomber.
November 5, 1996
The presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole is covered by CBS.
1997
COURIC
January 6, 1997
When Bryant Gumbel leaves the Today show, Matt Lauer takes over as Couric’s new co-anchor. (Gumbel was on the Today show from January 1982 — January 1997.)
March 27, 1997
The Today show and other NBC News programs report on the Heaven’s Gate suicides.
August 31, 1997
NBC focuses on the breaking news about Princess Diana‘s car crash and death.
CBS NEWS
June 2, 1997
CBS News reports that Timothy McVeigh has been convicted for the 1995Â Oklahoma City bombing.
September 5, 1997
Stories about the death of Mother Teresa appear on the CBS Evening News.
1998
COURIC
January 28, 1998
Katie Couric’s husband, Jay Monahan, dies from colon cancer at the age of 42.
August 7, 1998
The Today show and other NBC News programs report that terrorists bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
CBS NEWS
January 21, 1998
CBS News reports on the allegations that President Clinton and Vernon Jordan obstructed justice by asking Monica Lewinsky to commit perjury.
April 1998
Les Moonves is named as the new CBS Television president and chief executive officer.
1999
COURIC
February 12, 1999
The Today show and other NBC News programs report on the end of President Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial.
April 22, 1999
Katie Couric interviews two people connected with the Columbine school shootings. She later writes about this interview for USA Today Weekend. Here is an excerpt:
….These were two people who suddenly found themselves, under the worst of circumstances, thrust into the media spotlight. They were not media-savvy. They had no experience being interviewed. They were completely unprepared.
Yet they were two of the most compelling people I’ve ever spoken with, compelling because of their raw honesty, dispair and, yet, compassion. Compelling because of their simple, spontaneous eloquence, the kind of eloquence that comes only from expressing the most excruciating pain. Michael Shoels lost a son; Craig Scott, a sister. But somehow, on that cold Colorado morning last spring, while snow fell silently against the dark sky, they found each other.
I learned a lot from those two people. I learned that even in the face of tremendous heartache, there can be comfort in sharing intensely personal stories.
CBS NEWS
April 20, 1999
CBS News reports on the Columbine school shootings.
July 17,1999
CBS News reports on the crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.‘s airplane. It would soon be learned that John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette, died in the accident.
2000
COURIC
January 1, 2000
Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric host NBC’s millennium coverage.
March 7, 2000
Katie Couric undergoes a colonoscopy for her special Today show series on colon cancer. (Additional Today show programs about confronting colon cancer would air during the next few years.)
September 2000
The Today show broadcasts from the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
October 2000
Couric writes a children’s book called, The Brand New Kid.
October 2000
A third hour is added to the Today show.
November 8, 2000
The Today show reports on the undecided presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw and NBC’s Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, appear on the show and describe the contested Florida results.
December 18, 2000
Larry King interviews Katie Couric on CNN.
CBS NEWS
May 2000
Westinghouse sells CBS to Viacom. After the sale, the Viacom company includes MTV Networks, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television Group, Paramount Stations Group, Blockbuster, Paramount Parks, Simon & Schuster, CBS Sports, CBS News and CBS Television.
July 28, 2000
CBS News reports on the end of the Elian Gonzalez case.
2001
COURIC
May 2001
Katie Couric is awarded a Peabody Award for the Today special series, “Confronting Colon Cancer.”
August 2001
She anchors the NBC Nightly News while Tom Brokaw is on vacation.
During 2001 Couric finalizes a deal with NBC to serve as a Today show co-anchor for another five years.
September 11, 2001
The Today show and other NBC News programs report on the September 11 terrorist attacks. (See also: “NBC News Special Reports Sep 11, 2001″, NBC/YouTube)
October 18, 2001
Katie Couric’s older sister, Virginia state Senator Emily Couric, dies from pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. Katie also has a brother, John M. Couric Jr., and another sister, Clara Couric Batchelor.
CBS NEWS
January 10, 2001
CBS reports on a videotape that shows terrorist Osama bin Laden in good health. It had been thought that he was seriously ill.
April 16, 2001
A story about the September 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing is broadcast on the CBS Evening News. (Thirty-eight years earlier, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite asked Atlanta Constitution editor, Eugene Patterson, to read his newspaper column about the church bombing on the CBS Evening News.)
September 11, 2001
CBS News begins 93 hours of continuous coverage about the September 11 terrorist attacks.
2002
COURIC
January 14, 2002
The Today show celebrates the program’s 50th anniversary. (The Today show began on January 14, 1952. NBC vice president Sylvester “Pat” Weaver created the program and hired Dave Garroway as the first host.)
January / February 2002
The Today show and other NBC News programs report on the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
September 11, 2002
A special six-hour version of Today is made available to stations on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
CBS NEWS
January 10, 2002
CBS News reports on the Enron scandal.
October 2002
Stories about the sniper attacks in the Washington, DC, area are broadcast on the CBS Evening News.
2003
COURIC
February 1, 2003
The Today show and other NBC News programs report on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
April 6, 2003
Weekend Today anchor David Bloom dies while covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He was traveling with the Army Third Infantry Division.
May 12, 2003
Katie Couric fills in for Jay Leno as the host of the Tonight Show.
December 2003
Elizabeth Smart talks about her kidnapping during an interview with Katie Couric on Dateline NBC.
December 2003
Dateline NBC airs Couric’s interview with Trisha Meili, the Central Park Jogger.
CBS NEWS
February 1, 2003
CBS News reports on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
March 19, 2003
CBS News reports on the beginning of the war in Iraq.
September 28, 2003
60 Minutes starts its 35th season.
2004
COURIC
March 4, 2004
Larry King interviews Katie Couric on CNN.
March 5, 2004
Couric interviews former New York Times reporter Jason Blair for Dateline NBC. (Poynter Online coverage about Jason Blair.)
April 2, 2005
The Today show and other NBC News programs cover the death of Pope John Paul II.
During 2004 Katie Couric writes a second children’s book, The Blue Ribbon Day.
Summer 2004
The Today show reports from the Olympic Games in Greece.
October 2004
Former President Jimmy Carter is interviewed by Couric on the Today show.
December 2, 2004
Brian Williams succeeds Tom Brokaw as the anchor of the NBC Nightly News. (Brokaw served as a co-anchor on the Today show from August 30, 1976 — December 18, 1981.)
CBS NEWS
September 8, 2004
CBS broadcasts a 60 Minutes II report about George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service. (Poynter Online coverage about the controversial story.)
November 3, 2004
The presidential election between George W. Bush and John Kerry is covered by CBS.
November 23, 2004
Dan Rather announces his retirement as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
December 26, 2004
CBS News reports on the South Asia earthquake and tsunami.
2005
COURIC
June 2005
Jennifer Wilbanks, who is often referred to as the “runaway bride,” is interviewed by Katie Couric.
July 7, 2005
Stories about the London subway bombings are featured on the Today show and other NBC News programs.
July 2005
Couric interviews J.K. Rowling about her new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
August 29, 2005
The Today show and all of NBC News, including Brian Williams‘s new Daily Nightly blog, report on Hurricane Katrina.
December 2005
Katie Couric’s friend and former producer, Jeff Zucker, is named as the CEO of the NBC Universal Television Group.
CBS NEWS
January 10, 2005
Louis D. Boccardi and Dick Thornburgh’s report about the Dan Rather and Mary Mapes‘s 60 Minutes II story on George W. Bush is released. (Poynter Online coverage about the report.)Â
March 9, 2005
Dan Rather retires as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News.
Here is an excerpt from the end of the program:
We have shared a lot in the 24 years we’ve been meeting here each evening. And before I say good night, this night, I need to say thank you.
Thank you to the hundreds of wonderful professionals at CBS News, past and present, with whom it has been my honor to work, over these years.
And a deeply-felt thanks to all of you who have let us into your homes, night after night. It has been a privilege, and one never taken lightly.
Not long after I first came to the anchor chair I briefly signed off using the word “courage.” I want to return to it now, in a different way.
To a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001 and especially those who found themselves closest to the events of Sept. 11; to our soldiers in dangerous places; to those who have endured the tsunami and to all who have suffered natural disasters and who must find the will to rebuild; to the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle, in financial hardship or in failing health; to my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all; and to each of you.
Courage.
For the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reporting. Goodnight.
March 10, 2005
Bob Schieffer begins anchoring the CBS Evening News.
Here is an excerpt from the end of the program:
Tonight we begin a new chapter at CBS News.
Only a very few people have held this job, among them Walter Cronkite, who was my hero when I was a young reporter — and Dan Rather, my friend for 40 years.
It is an honor to be asked to follow them.
Dan will be remembered for the remarkable body of work he has compiled over four decades, but I’ll remember him for his love of the news and the fierce determination and courage to go wherever the news was breaking. I wish him the very best. This is a daunting assignment, but I accept it because we have a proud tradition and a terrific news team.
My friend, the great Watergate reporter Bob Woodward was asked the other day what his mindset was when he and his partner, Carl Bernstein, embarked on covering that important story.
Woodward said, “we didn’t have an agenda and we didn’t know how it would end. We were just trying to find out what happened.”
That’s what we’ll try to do — find out what happened and tell you about it in clear and concise language.
If we do that — and do it well — you’ll take it from there.
I’m not exactly a new face. Many of you have known and trusted me over the years. I take that as a high compliment and I promise you this, I’ll never take that trust for granted.
That’s the news. We’ll see you right here tomorrow.
April 2, 2005
CBS reports on the death of Pope John Paul II.
June 2005
It is announced that Viacom, the parent company of CBS, will split into two parts: a cable unit/Paramount called Viacom Inc., and a broadcast unit called CBS Corporation, with Les Moonves as CEO.
August 31, 2005
The CBS Katrina Disaster blog continues to report on the aftermath of the hurricane.
October 2005
Sean McManus is named as the new president of CBS News. He has also held the post of president of CBS Sports since November 1996.
October 7, 2005
“Good Night ,and Good Luck“, a film about CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, is released. It focuses on Murrow‘s See It Now program, which began in November 1951. On March 9, 1954, Murrow and See It Now broadcast one of the most famous programs in journalism history: “A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.” The film reminds us that a few years later, during a speech at the RTNDA convention on October 15, 1958, Murrow worried about the future of television and broadcast journalism. Near the end of his speech he said:
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
yes, and it can even inspire.
But it can do so only to the extent that humans
are determined to use it to those ends.
Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.(See also: “Industry Leaders: 50 Years of Murrow” RTNDA)
2006
COURIC
February 2006
The Today show broadcasts from the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
April 5, 2006
During the Today show Katie Couric says that she will be leaving in May to join CBS as the new anchor of the CBS Evening News. This is also the 15th anniversary of when she became the co-anchor of the Today show. (NBC later announces that Meredith Vieira will replace Couric as Matt Lauer‘s co-anchor.)
May 31, 2006
On her last day on the program, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker, Willard Scott, and many other Today show contributors and guests say goodbye to Katie Couric with special stories and tributes.
CBS NEWS
April 5, 2006
CBS announces that Katie Couric will join the CBS network as the new anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. She will also be a contributor to 60 Minutes.
May 29, 2006
A car bomb explosion in central Baghdad kills CBS camerman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan. The blast serverely wounds correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
June 20, 2006
Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, announces that Dan Rather will be leaving CBS.
July 10, 2006
A six-city “Eye on America” listening tour begins in Tampa. Other trips include visits to Minneapolis, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco.
July 18, 2006
The CBS Evening News devotes most of its newscast to reports about the violence in the Middle East. (Poynter’s Bob Steele interviews Bob Schieffer about the show.)
July 26, 2006
The PBS “American Masters” documentary on Walter Cronkite is narrated by Katie Couric.
August 15, 2006
In an article for The Washington Post, Howard Kurtz writes:
When she takes the helm of the CBS Evening News, Couric’s challenge to NBC’s Brian Williams and ABC’s Charlie Gibson will mark the first such three-way showdown since Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings initially went at it in the early 1980s. But the media landscape has shifted dramatically since then, leaving this trio fighting for a shrinking slice of the audience and increasingly taking their battle online.
August 31, 2006
Bob Schieffer signs off for the last time as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
September 1, 2006
CBS airs a program that looks back at Dan Rather‘s career at CBS News. The special is called, “Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers.”
September 5, 2006
Katie Couric begins anchoring the CBS Evening News. CBS also begins simulcasting its program on the Web and creates a new blog.
2007
CBS NEWS & COURIC
March 9, 2007
“CBS News Hires Ex-CNN Chief To Give a Boost To Katie Couric.”
By Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post.
April 11, 2007
“CBS says Couric unaware video essay plagiarized.”
By Steve Gorman, Reuters.
June 11, 2007
“CBS Campaigns For Couric.”
By Marisa Guthrie, Broadcasting & Cable.
July 9, 2007
“Alas, Poor Couric. But pity her not.”
By Joe Hagan, New York Magazine.
September 5, 2007
“In Iraq, Couric Hones Her Hard-News Image.”
By Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times.
November 16, 2007
“Katie Couric’s Dan Rather YouTube Video.”
By Danny Shea, Huffington Post.
2008
CBS NEWS & COURIC
February 5, 2008
“Behind the Scenes: Super Tuesday.”
CBS News/YouTube.
April 10, 2008
“CBS News, Katie Couric Are Likely to Part Ways.”
By Rebecca Dana, The Wall Street Journal.
April 16, 2008
“Roger Mudd: CBS Was ‘The Place to Be’.”
NPR Talk of the Nation interview.
April 21, 2008
“Condolences — 10 Years Later.”
By Katie Couric, Newsweek.
May 19, 2008
“Bob Schieffer Inks New CBS News Deal.”
CBS Press Release.
May 26, 2008
“ANCHOR AWAY: Katie Couric’s ill-fated voyage with CBS.”
By Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker.
May 28, 2008
“3 network anchors team to ‘Stand Up to Cancer’.
Katie Couric returns to TODAY for first time in two years for announcement.”
By Mike Celizic, MSNBC/Today Show.com
June 11, 2008
“Couric on the Media and Clinton.”
By Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times Politics Blog.
June 13, 2008
“Remembering Russert.”
By Katie Couric, Couric & Co., CBS News
June 17, 2008
“Katie Couric shows her ‘nerd’ side with YouTube channel.”
By Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times
July 14, 2008
“Katie Couric, New Anchors and the Cult of Personality.”
By Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times.
September 24, 2008
Katie Couric interviews vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin
and presidential candidate John McCain.
October 13, 2008
“Couric Rebounds With Web and Palin.”
By Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times
2009
CBS NEWS & COURIC
January 29, 2009
“Good News, at Last.”
By Tom Shales, The Washington Post
January 28, 2009
“Couric Anchors “First Ever Evening Newscast in Prime Time.”
Mediabistro.com: TVNewser
July 17, 2009
“Walter Cronkite Dies.”
Television Pioneer, CBS Legend, Passes Away in New York at 92
CBS News story
(See also: Special Section on Walter Cronkite)
July 17, 2009
“What Walter Cronkite Did for Journalism.”
By Al Tompkins, Poynter
2010
CBS NEWS & COURIC
January 4, 2010
“Morgan Freeman becomes voice
of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.”
By Eric Deggans, The Feed, St. Petersburg Times
January 12, 2010
“Court rejects Rather’s appeal against CBS.”
Associated Press / MSNBC
January 18, 2010
Charlie Rose Interview with Katie Couric (Video)
PBS program, “Charlie Rose”
(See also: CBS News Coverage of the Earthquake in Haiti)
January 22, 2010
Couric Accepts duPont Award for Palin Interviews
Kevin Allocca, Mediabistro.com: TVNewser
.
2011
CBS NEWS & COURIC
May 19, 2011
Quiet Departure Is Stark Contrast to Heralded Arrival
Alessandra Stanley, New York Times
May 19, 2011
Notebook: Final Page
CBS Video, Katie Couric Notebook
May 19, 2011
Katie Couric: A Look Back
CBS Video, CBS Evening News
