Reliable Sources
"They got a huge initial viewership, and it tailed off as we went back to the regular people who watch the evening news, and they didn't have a plan B," says
Eric Deggans. "They didn't have a plan for if everything turned out the way we all thought it would. And this is obvious, they have changed horses in mid-stream" with the hiring of
Rick Kaplan as
Katie Couric's executive producer.
Gail Shister adds: "I think what they need is somebody who's going to come in and have the chutzpah, if you will, to stand up to Katie, because what I've been hearing from people at CBS is that it's been pretty much Katie's way from the beginning, and clearly it's not working."
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Weak lead-in programming takes a toll on evening news ratings (NYT)