Katie Couric

Forget El Nino. The most worrisome blip on NBC's radar screen is a potential hurricane named Katie. NBC News said Tuesday that it is "in the middle of negotiations" with Katie Couric, co-anchor of the "Today" program, about her future with the network. ABC News, meanwhile, confirmed that it had spoken with Couric but added that its discussions were "not ongoing. " At stake - in addition to the services of one of TV's most popular and respected news professionals - is nothing less than NBC's dominance of morning television and the substantial portion of NBC News' $175 million annual profits that "Today" generates.

Katie Couric has officially confirmed that she is indeed leaving the "CBS Evening News. " Couric, 54, told People that she hasn't decided what she's doing next but that she is "looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multidimensional storytelling. " Pop-up books? Scott Pelley ("60 Minutes") is expected to succeed her. "There's a lot to be proud of during Katie Couric's time at evening news," said CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair . "CBS News, like Katie herself, is looking forward to the next chapter.

Katie Couric, coanchor of NBC's Today show, is expecting her second child in early January, she confirmed yesterday. Couric, 38, and husband, lawyer Jay Monahan, 39, have a daughter, Ellie, 4. "A boy would be nice but I love girls, too," said Couric, adding that she'd announce her pregnancy on this morning's show. "As somebody with two sisters, it would be great for Ellie to know the joy of having sisters. But I'm sure that three women would drive Jay right out of his mind. " No girl's name yet, Couric said, but if it's a boy he'll be Jay Monahan 4th - nicknamed Jack.

Katie Couric can't catch a break. Amid reports that last week's "CBS Evening News" had set a new record low in the ratings - averaging just 5.34 million viewers - a podcast of Wednesday's broadcast, distributed by iTunes, included an outtake showing Couric stumbling over an introduction to the night's top story. By early afternoon yesterday, after a call was placed to a CBS spokeswoman, that podcast was unavailable at CBS.com. It wasn't clear if that version had also been flawed, but about halfway through the iTunes version, after a longer pause than usual, Couric is seen (and heard)

Katie Couric's second baby is due within two weeks, and the co-anchor of the Today show figures she'll be due a rest after that. About two months' worth. Couric made her last live appearance yesterday morning and has taped a show for Christmas Day. After that it'll be feet up for a while as Jane Pauley, Maria Shriver and Elizabeth Vargas struggle out of bed in the wee hours to fill her spot. Couric is married to Jay Monahan, a lawyer who doubles as a television legal analyst.

It's easy to write nice things about Katie Couric. She blushes. The other day, for instance, she was standing in her office at NBC's Today show, near a framed newspaper article with a headline saying, "Katie Couric Saves 'Today.' " Couric saw a reporter studying the story. She hastily lifted the clipping from the wall and set it on the floor, facing the wall. Yes, she was blushing, but tickled to have been "caught" with her clips. People have been writing nice things about Couric since she was named a Today co-anchor one year ago tomorrow.

Part of the reason CBS's Katie Couric can't catch a break is because she's a she, says new colleague Jeff Greenfield . "Much as I hate to say this, the notion that we're all done with issues of gender is not right," says ex-CNN analyst Greenfield, yesterday named CBS's senior political correspondent. He starts May 1. "It takes a long, long time for several centuries of behavior to completely dissipate," Greenfield says. "I think people are just starting to realize that gender is a ridiculous limitation in terms of everything but sperm-bank donors.

SO MUCH television, so little time: _ With anchor Katie Couric reportedly poised to announce her too-much-talked-about departure from "The CBS Evening News," could we all finally agree that the person reading the news to us isn't nearly as important as the news itself? A 22- minute newscast is all about making day-to-day choices, a truth that's too often been lost in the five years or so of sporadic will-she-or-won't-she discussions involving Couric. The CBS anchor, whose contract's up in June, has, after a bit of a rough start, presided over a pretty good newscast, one I wouldn't expect to be hurt by her departure as long as the people behind the scenes and in the field continue to do their jobs.

QUOTE "I really am full of joy like a watermelon to be here with you. " - Italian director ROBERTO BENIGNI, true to form, receiving an honorary degree from Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Next to take on rockin', sockin' Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura: The petite "Today" show host from New York, Katie Couric. Ventura, currently in hair-pulling matches with such diverse luminaries as Howard Stern and Garrison Keillor, may soon have a few things to say about Couric, who opined this week that Ventura's habit of governing-by-photo-op may hurt the political process.

IREACT WITH amusement and disbelief to reports that CBS is courting Katie Couric to become Dan Rather's successor as "Evening News" anchor. Katie Couric is not known as a journalist or a serious news person - her credentials feature qualities as a perky, liberal entertainment-show hostess who is vastly overpaid for her "talent. " The thought of Katie Couric taking up the mantle of CBS news titans Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather is absurd. Oren M. Spiegler Upper Saint Clair, Pa.

LOS ANGELES - Five years after Katie Couric tried her hand at anchoring "CBS Evening News," the popular news personality is moving back to her comfort zone: daytime TV. Couric and the Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC television network announced a comprehensive deal yesterday that includes a high-profile role for Couric within the ABC News division and, beginning next year, the launch of a syndicated daytime talk show. Couric will produce the talk show along with her former "Today" show executive producer, former NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker.

Katie Couric will be getting a 3 p.m. weekday talk show on big-city ABC stations in September 2012, and she will join ABC News this summer, in a deal announced by Disney/ABC Monday. Couric, 54, will appear on all ABC News programs and platforms, the company said, and will "anchor specials, contribute interviews, [and] participate in special events coverage. " Diane Sawyer will remain as anchor of the flagship ABC World News . Disney will syndicate Couric's talk show, executive-produced by former NBC boss and longtime Couric crony Jeff Zucker, which means it would be sold around the country to station groups and local independent stations, which could air it whenever they want.

"I have decided to step down from the CBS Evening News . " With those shocking words, Katie Couric on Tuesday set the world ablaze with a heretofore unthinkable move. (It's not as if her departure hasn't been dissected for weeks!) Couric, who has been in the biz for 32 years, tells People.com she'll miss her CBS News family. "I'm really proud of the talented team   . . . and the award-winning work we've been able to do in the past five years," she says. Yet she adds, "   I am excited about the future.

Katie Couric has officially confirmed that she is indeed leaving the "CBS Evening News. " Couric, 54, told People that she hasn't decided what she's doing next but that she is "looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multidimensional storytelling. " Pop-up books? Scott Pelley ("60 Minutes") is expected to succeed her. "There's a lot to be proud of during Katie Couric's time at evening news," said CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair . "CBS News, like Katie herself, is looking forward to the next chapter.

SO MUCH television, so little time: _ With anchor Katie Couric reportedly poised to announce her too-much-talked-about departure from "The CBS Evening News," could we all finally agree that the person reading the news to us isn't nearly as important as the news itself? A 22- minute newscast is all about making day-to-day choices, a truth that's too often been lost in the five years or so of sporadic will-she-or-won't-she discussions involving Couric. The CBS anchor, whose contract's up in June, has, after a bit of a rough start, presided over a pretty good newscast, one I wouldn't expect to be hurt by her departure as long as the people behind the scenes and in the field continue to do their jobs.

CHICAGO - If you want to get your bearings on the world, Diane Sawyer says there's no better place than Chicago. "Chicago is the place we can go and get that," the anchor of "ABC World News" said Tuesday from her New York office. "You sit and talk and are reminded what really connects to people where they live and what matters. " Sawyer is headed to town this week. She is set to be the keynote speaker Thursday at the Chicago Network's 22nd Annual Women in the Forefront Luncheon at the Hilton Chicago.

Katie Couric is leaving her anchor post at "CBS Evening News" just short of hitting the five-year mark behind that desk. A network exec, who spoke on condition of anonymity because that's what they do, reported the move to the Associated Press on Sunday night. Couric, 54, is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012. Her CBS News contract expires June 4.

Katie Couric can't catch a break. Amid reports that last week's "CBS Evening News" had set a new record low in the ratings - averaging just 5.34 million viewers - a podcast of Wednesday's broadcast, distributed by iTunes, included an outtake showing Couric stumbling over an introduction to the night's top story. By early afternoon yesterday, after a call was placed to a CBS spokeswoman, that podcast was unavailable at CBS.com. It wasn't clear if that version had also been flawed, but about halfway through the iTunes version, after a longer pause than usual, Couric is seen (and heard)

In a recent speech at the National Press Club, Katie Couric expressed somber disapproval of the jingoistic excesses after 9/11. Among the things that vexed her: "The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying 'we' when referring to the United States. " From what I can tell, nobody among the journalistic swells bothered to ask, "Who isn't 'we,' Kemo Sabe?" I don't want to revisit those flag pins, which sat so heavily on so many journalistic lapels. But it's worth recalling that during World War II, civilian correspondent Walter Cronkite - whose anchor job Couric now holds - gladly wore a uniform, not just a pin, and subjected himself to military censors.

CBS executives deny it, but there's a growing feeling within the network that Katie Couric is an expensive, unfixable mistake. So unfixable that Couric - the first woman to anchor a network nightly newscast solo - may leave CBS Evening News, probably after the 2008 presidential elections, to assume another role at the network, CBS sources say. Despite her A-list celebrity, her $15 million salary, and a promotional blitz worthy of a Super...