TVSquad

After the executive session, it was CBS News' turn to face the critics and talk about their election coverage. Via satellite from their New York studios was CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer, senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, and CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus.

Right away, a reporter brought up Katie Couric's job status. "I'm glad you got right to it," Couric joked. "I thought [the speculation] had died down considerably." She said she "can't control what media writers write. We live in an echo chamber," with media reporters more fascinated by her status than the general public is. "The attention befuddles me," she continued. She's concentrating on doing "the best job I can."

Long before ESPN was the worldwide leader in sports, ABC sportscaster and newsman Jim McKay was the voice of American sports. ABC sports legend Jim McKay died today at the age of 86; the cause of death was not revealed. In the annals of television history, Jim McKay is among the giants in sports broadcasting: a twelve-time Emmy winner, an iconic presence on The Wide World of Sports, the man who said the words, "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat." He was the moderator of twelve Olympics and a broadcaster who gave the best he had in every television show in which he was involved, be it the Kentucky Derby, the British Open, or any of the other hundreds of events he covered.

If Jim McKay had just done that, he'd have a great legacy. However, when he was confronted with the task of anchoring the events that unfolded at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when the Israeli athletes were taken hostage by terrorist and killed in a commando raid, Jim McKay rose to the occasion.

For once the info coming from CBS News is not about whether Katie Couric's job is in jeopardy. Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer has decided not to retire after all; he's staying with CBS News indefinitely.

The veteran newsman, who'll be 72 this year, had announced his retirement. He was going to leave the Black Rock as of the January presidential inauguration. Now he's decided to postpone the rocking chair. According to TV Week, the network didn't have to twist his arm; the deal was easily and simply done. All Schieffer had to do was get his wife Pat's approval and he was able to tell CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus asked him not to step down as planned with the inauguration of a new president that he would remain.

From the Good News department comes word that CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier is making a "miraculous recovery". Those are the words used by CBS News president Sean McManus, who is not a doctor. Still, two-and-a-half months after being critically wounded in Iraq, she's about to be released from Bethesda Naval Hospital. Dozier sustained shrapnel injuries to her head and legs on May 29 when a bomb detonated near the convoy she was traveling with in Baghdad. Her cameraman, Paul Douglas, and soundman James Brolan were killed in the blast. McManus said that Dozier will have full use of her legs and she apparently didn't suffer any brain injuries because he describes her as "sharp as a tack" and says she plans to return to Iraq.

Looks like John Roberts decided not to wait around for CBS to get its act together. The long time correspondent and heir apparent to the anchor chair of the CBS Evening News has decided to leave the network and join CNN. He'll start there on February 20.

Actually, according to the AP article that I linked to, Roberts wasn't even in the running for the anchor job anymore. News president Sean McManus told reporters that if they couldn't get Katie Couric to make the jump, the new anchor would not come from inside the ranks of CBS News. So, it looks like Roberts knows not to stick around somewhere he's not wanted. Sometimes you need to be smacked in the face to make a change, you know what I mean?