Though Couric hasn't been able to pull her newscast out of third place, the reports of her upcoming departure from CBS may have been, as she jokes, "greatly exaggerated." Back in April 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Gail Shister wrote, "CBS executives deny it, but there's a growing feeling within the network that Katie Couric is an expensive, unfixable mistake." She also said Couric would probably leave her anchor chair early, perhaps after the 2008 elections. But Couric's still around, and although ratings are disappointing, she says she's staying until her contract runs out in 2011.

Brian Stelter of the Times says Couric is pulling down "some of the lowest ratings in the newscast's history" — 5-6 million viewers a night, compared to NBC's 8 million. But rather than a "mistake," CBS may now view Couric as a star who has hit her stride. Her election coverage, including her famous interviews of Sarah Palin, helped make up for a rocky start, and journalism professor Paul Janensch says, "The program seems settled and Couric seems confident. As a result, the questions have subsided, and reviews of her performance are far more positive." Her executive producer Rick Kaplan concurs, saying, "There's a growing admiration for our anchor and respect for our broadcast, and that is worth a lot. Until the ratings catch up with our expectations, that really goes a long way toward making it O.K."

But what Couric really wants to do is interview. She said she originally signed on for a more interview-focused newscast at CBS. When viewers didn't like the new format, she was forced to look for other avenues. One of these is apparently Glamour, where she'll be doing a monthly interview column starting in December. Her first subject is Michelle Obama. As fun as it is to hear more about Michelle, we're betting the Glamour column will be pretty soft. Couric has been affiliated with magazine's Women of the Year program, and it seems probable that her column will focus more on the achievements of prominent women than on particularly critical journalism.

Her new web series, @katiecouric, may be a different story. According to CBS, "The webcasts will feature Katie's candid and incisive one-on-one interviews with high-profile guests ranging from politicians and celebrities to business titans and other top newsmakers." Coming up Tuesday night: Glenn Beck. Maybe Couric will give him the Palin treatment.

Couric says she doesn't know what she'll do when her CBS Evening News contract expires, but these new ventures may offer a clue. The failure of her efforts to revamp her newscast (the Times mentions her unpopular "Hi everyone" greeting) may say less about her and more about evening news viewers — they like what they know. But the days when lots of people want, as Joshua Alston wrote, "to have the day's stories read to them in a grave voice," are probably numbered. The big get, a celebrity interviewer sparring with a celebrity interviewee, may be changing form — I'm sure I'm not the only one who first saw Couric's Palin interviews on YouTube. But Couric, in producing her new interview show for the Web, seems to understand this. She understands, too, that one of her greatest strengths is talking directly to people — and she'll likely continue to do this regardless of the medium.

Doubts Fade And Couric Is Energized [NYT]
Memo Pad: Duty Calls... Michelle Obama In Glamour... Across The Twitter-Verse [Women's Wear Daily]
Katie Couric Debuts New Web Show [CBS]

So far, coverage of the switchover has been pretty staid — and to be sure, Couric is calling Sawyer "one of the hardest-working people" she knows. But New York Magazine was calling Sawyer and Katie Couric "arch-rivals" back in 2007 (when Sawyer had just lost a bid to anchor Word News Tonight), and the New York Observer even opined that Sawyer was considered for Couric's job at CBS. And not one but two major publications called Sawyer and Couric's 2005 competition for morning-show ratings a "duel at sunrise." It's just a matter of time before the "duel at sundown" stories start rolling in. The Columbia Journalism Review already has some Couric-inspired wardrobe advice for Sawyer. We'll start there with our predictions to help you bet on the knockdown, drag-out bikini-mud-wrestling showdown the nightly news is sure to become.

Katie Couric wore white on her first CBS newscast — a day after Labor Day. And her blazer was supposedly "buttoned in such a way as to make her look chubby." The horror!

Diane Sawyer hasn't worn anything on World News Tonight — yet.

Advantage: Sawyer (for now)

Diane Sawyer is supposedly drunk in this clip from the morning of the Inauguration.

But Katie Couric was getting hopped up on cold medicine (again, supposedly) as early as the New Hampshire primary.

Advantage: Couric, we guess

Katie Couric is famous for her "shapely legs."

Diane Sawyer also has legs. Who knew?

Advantage: only a leg-wrestling match can determine this

Diane Sawyer made Vanity Fair's "New Establishment" Hall of Fame.

Katie Couric didn't. But that's okay, because that old establishment magazine, the New Yorker, called her "darn likable."

Diane Sawyer has interviewed Mel Gibson, Saddam Hussein, and Michael Jackson.

Katie Couric talked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, J.K. Rowling, and Tony Blair. And she got Sarah Palin to reveal that she doesn't know the names of any newspapers.

Advantage: probably Sawyer, but the Palin spots bring Couric darn close

Katie Couric's not doing so well in the ratings these days.

Diane Sawyer's Good Morning America is still second among network morning shows, but Sawyer did get big ratings for a February 20/20 special — on Appalachian poverty, not exactly a well-known crowd-pleaser.

Advantage: Sawyer

Katie Couric was nicknamed "America's Sweetheart."

Diane Sawyer "has been called the Ice Queen."

Advantage: unclear, but certainly not Couric, Sawyer, women, or journalism

Verdict: Neither Couric nor Sawyer is a safe bet in the upcoming Queen-vs.-Sweetheart media-generated catfight. But if you wager that upcoming coverage of their "battle" will include the words "legs," "gravitas," and "diva," you'll probably make some bank.

Diane Sawyer Will Take Over ABC's World News Tonight Anchor Chair [Gawker]
Advice For Diane Sawyer [Columbia Journalism Review]
Diane Sawyer To Anchor ABC Newscast [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Couric On Sawyer: 'One Of The Hardest-Working People I Know' [Politico]

I think Katie is temperamentally wrong as an evening news anchor — the position stifles her exuberance — but I do think CBS News bears much of the blame. First of all, though the Journal claims that "CBS had hoped to recast Ms. Couric this year as a populist political anchor", the multimillionaire is about as much of a populist at this point as 10,700-square-foot-mansion-owning John Edwards is. (I know that she probably had a big working class female audience as an anchor on Today, but her semi-recent glamorous makeover and the big bucks she's making at CBS make her "populism" a difficult product to sell to the people.) The Journal also reports that CBS CEO Les Moonves "vowed to dedicate more money to the broadcast and to build up its Web presence," and lured Katie to the job by saying he would structure the program around her skills. But where are those skills and where is evidence that CBS played to them? Couric always seems to be behaving the way she thinks an anchor should behave like as opposed to just being herself. It makes me wonder whether the fact that she's a woman in a largely male-dominated field is influencing how she presents herself, or, gender aside, she was simply the wrong person for the job.

CBS News, Katie Couric Are Likely To Part Ways [Wall Street Journal]
Katie Couric's Future As CBS Anchor Under Discussion [Washington Post]

Katie Couric: Probs A Bitch, Definitely A Slapper