What does fall hold for TV news?

As television network news divisions went into overdrive last week to cover the unrelenting aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, scrambling to provide daily necessities to their crews on the ground and assemble special reports that lifted news ratings at all three networks, behind-the-scenes broadcasters were contending with another challenging reality: Their news operations face potentially drastic changes this fall, and no one is sure of the direction things will take.

It’s a time of soul-searching and open questions about the future at all three networks -- even top-ranked NBC, where News president Neal Shapiro, who began negotiating his departure last spring, is expected to step down from his post as early as this week, according to several network sources familiar with the situation.

Over at CBS, the news division was reeling after network chairman Les Moonves, who has called for a dramatic reinvention of the evening news, appeared to suggest in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine that the struggling broadcast should look to entertainment programming for ideas about how to find and keep an audience.

Meanwhile, still-grieving ABC News officials are beginning to search for a replacement for anchor Peter Jennings, who died last month, and contemplating whether and how to make broader changes in their own broadcast.

The atmosphere of widespread change marks the most striking period of flux since the early 1980s, when Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather all took over the anchor desks. But back then, the very format of the anchor-led evening news was not on the table. While the hurricane coverage has lifted viewership, it will likely prove hard to sustain that audience in the long run. The persistent defection of viewers still preoccupies network officials: A total of 25.6 million people have tuned in to the three networks’ evening news programs on average this season, a 30% drop from 15 years ago, according to Nielsen Media Research.

“Each of the networks is in a period of transition,” said CBS News president Andrew Heyward. “It is extraordinary.”

Heyward, however, may face the thorniest problem.

Nearly a year after CBS weathered fierce criticism for broadcasting a controversial report about President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard, uncertainty persists about the direction of its flagship newscast. Once dominant, the “CBS Evening News” has lagged behind its competitors for more than a decade, a situation that frustrates Moonves, who has overseen the recent climb of CBS’ entertainment programming.

The CBS chairman wants Heyward to develop a radically new approach to the broadcast. That prospect has been met with some consternation inside the news division, especially after Moonves in January seemed open to the idea of incorporating Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart into the newscast.

The trepidation about Moonves’ intentions turned into alarm late last week after excerpts of his interview in the New York Times Magazine began circulating as the exhausted staff worked to cover the hurricane devastation on the Gulf Coast. In one passage that elicited shocked disbelief, he cited the British newscast “The Big Breakfast,” which featured women delivering the news in lingerie. “On the other hand, you could have two boring people behind a desk,” he said. “Our newscast has to be somewhere in between.”

He was also quoted expressing frustration about the news division’s conservative approach to change, saying hyperbolically that he wants “to bomb the whole building” and expressing doubt about whether Heyward could “lead a revolution.”

Heyward declined to comment on the article, saying it spoke for itself. He described his relationship with Moonves as “cordial and collaborative.”

But the piece prompted interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who took over the broadcast temporarily when Rather retired in March, to defend the news division.

“I can’t remember a time in all the 38 years I’ve worked at CBS News when I’ve been prouder to be a part of this organization,” Schieffer said. “I see our people in Baghdad risking their lives every day and now what our reporters in New Orleans are going through. I’m just in awe of their courage and their dedication and their professionalism.”

Late last week, Moonves said his remarks were made “tongue in cheek,” adding that he is not seeking to transform the evening news into an entertainment program.

“It’s about looking at it differently,” he said. “I’m not looking to lighten it or make it entertainment.”

“What I was saying was, it’s an opportunity for change and I would like our people to try to do that and be more open to change.

Moonves called himself a “huge supporter” of the news division and said he is merely seeking to strengthen the evening broadcast.

“I respect the people at CBS News immensely and realize the phenomenal job they do,” he said. “I just want to make sure it’s around five years from now.”

The CBS chairman said he had confidence in Heyward’s ability to develop a new version of the broadcast and said he has been pleased with some of the prototypes the news president has presented in meetings over the last two months.

“Absolutely, some of the things are very interesting,” he said.

Those familiar with some of the prototypes said they incorporate more of the storytelling approach of “60 Minutes” and expand the role of correspondents.

Heyward declined to provide other details or indicate when the revamped broadcast would be ready. One factor, he said, was the need to create a new approach to the program that will not alienate its core audience.

“One of Leslie’s jobs as an executive, and one of the reasons he’s successful, is that he’s a successful agent provocateur,” Heyward said. “He knows how to encourage people to think in new ways.”

“Leslie has made no secret of wanting to at least see what a really radical alternative would look like and we are trying to rise to that challenge.

At ABC, news executives are wrestling with a different kind of challenge -- the emotional and practical repercussions of Jennings’ death. His presence is still felt keenly in the newsroom, where employees sport blue wristbands that read, “What would Peter do?”

In the midst of their mourning, ABC executives are trying to settle on an anchor for “World News Tonight.” No successor had been chosen before he became ill, as Jennings had planned to be in the job for several more years. After his diagnosis, the network did not develop a plan for who would take over for him, hoping it would not be necessary.

His death set off an awkward round of low-key jockeying for the position as executives began meeting to discuss Jennings’ replacement.

“TV people are quite aggressively ambitious, and there are probably 10 people here who really want that job and who feel like it should be theirs,” said Paul Slavin, ABC News’ senior vice president for worldwide news-gathering, who did not name those who have expressed their interest in the post. “But I have to say -- with one or two exceptions -- they were all very, very sensitive to not look like vultures.”

For now, “Good Morning America” co-host Charlie Gibson and “20/20” co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas have split the evening anchoring duties, with weekend anchor Bob Woodruff and White House correspondent Terry Moran filling in at times.

That arrangement could suffice for another couple of months, Slavin said, while the network settles on a permanent solution. For now, he and Jon Banner, the newscast’s executive producer, have been meeting twice a week to discuss who should take over and updating News president David Westin on their progress weekly. Ultimately, the decision will be made by Westin and Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, along with Walt Disney Co. chief executive Robert Iger.

“We’re not in a tremendous hurry,” Slavin said. “We have such depth here that we can keep this regime going for some time while we figure out what the best thing to do is.”

Still, he acknowledged that the wearying pace of the recent hurricane coverage underscored the need to find a permanent anchor. Gibson, in particular, is putting in extraordinarily long hours.

The affable morning host is thought to be one of the top candidates for the job. But tapping Gibson for the job could upend the dynamics of “Good Morning America,” which made significant gains in closing the gap with top-rated “Today” this past spring. ABC hopes to surpass NBC’s morning show this fall, when the launch of new episodes of popular ABC shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” are likely to drive more viewers to “Good Morning America.”

At stake is tens of millions of dollars. The network’s morning news programs are more profitable than the evening newscasts, and supplanting “Today” as the top-rated broadcast would mean “Good Morning America” could demand big advertising premiums.

And there are other factors to consider in taking Gibson off the program.

“The morning show is a family,” Slavin said. “And anything you do to disrupt that family can have consequences. So it’s complicated, sure. Any decision we make is going to have a far-reaching impact on the organization.”

More broadly, he and Banner are discussing a ream of issues related to the broadcast, from the design of the set to the structure of the newscast, including the possibility of having more than one anchor.

“This is a perfect opportunity to assess, reassess, explore,” Slavin said. “We may end up putting on the exact same program that we’re putting on now, but we will certainly take this as an opportunity to look at a lot of different techniques or technologies or editorial ways of doing the evening news.”

The likelihood that neither CBS nor ABC will settle on a permanent newscast soon could give NBC -- whose “Nightly News” has been solidly in first place for nine years -- an opportunity to pull away even further.

“We feel as though our consistency and the strength of our team is what comes through right now,” said senior vice president Steve Capus.

But NBC has its own change in leadership to contend with.

After four years as news president, Shapiro has decided to leave, prompted by NBC Universal officials who have reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with his unassuming management style, according to several network sources. An NBC News spokeswoman declined to comment.

Shapiro, who earned a reputation as a talented producer at NBC’s “Dateline,” had trouble transitioning from the deliberative style of the newsmagazine to the high-profile demands of running the news division, according to editorial employees. Shy and retiring, the news president failed to cultivate strong bonds with the on-air talent.

Discontent with his leadership only worsened after “Good Morning America” crept perilously close to “Today.”

While the network’s own anchor transition -- Tom Brokaw’s handoff to Brian Williams in December -- was widely lauded as a smoothly managed change, it is less certain how Shapiro’s exit will affect the news division. Although his plan to leave was long in the making and something of an open secret at the network, there are no signs that NBC has settled on his replacement.

That could force the network to assign someone to run the division temporarily -- thrusting NBC, the only network with a permanent anchor, into its own state of limbo.