At CBS, it’s a feeling of good news again

A year ago, the mood in the West 57th Street headquarters of CBS News was bleak.

An independent panel had just issued a scathing report that blamed the network for “fundamental deficiencies” in rushing to air a piece that raised questions about President Bush’s military service -- a story that CBS News ultimately had to admit was based on unverified documents. In the wake of the controversy, four staffers were forced out and anchor Dan Rather, who had reported the story on “60 Minutes Wednesday,” retired from “CBS Evening News.”

The crisis deeply shook network employees. When veteran Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer took over as interim anchor of the evening broadcast in March, he recalled, “It’s all people were talking about, it’s the only thing people were thinking about.”

But there are some signs that CBS News may be shaking off the depression that had hung over it since the controversial story about Bush aired in September 2004. The emerging confidence in the newsroom illustrates how quickly fortunes and moods can change in a fast-paced media environment -- even within news organizations that have suffered blistering public critique.

Whether the optimism is premature, or misplaced, remains to be seen. Much of the improved morale stems from changes at the flagship broadcast, the once-top-ranked “CBS Evening News,” which has lagged its competition at NBC and ABC in recent years. The newscast remains in third place this season, but it is the only broadcast to have gained viewers since last year, albeit by an increase of 3%.

Network employees have seized on the slim ratings increase as a welcome sign of larger positive change, especially when coupled with the recent appointments of two energetic executives -- CBS News President Sean McManus and Rome Hartman, the new executive producer of “CBS Evening News.” Both intensely competitive, McManus and Hartman have stressed that they are determined to restore the news division’s luster and regain its top standing.

“The team at the top has real belief in CBS News, and people are taking a lot of comfort in that,” said the network’s chief White House correspondent, John Roberts. “A lot of people weren’t quite sure whether CBS News was so deeply wounded that it wouldn’t be able to come back. I think those anxieties have disappeared.”

Some of that is due not only to a reinvigoration of the news division but a new clarity about its mission. After a period of experimentation in which network chairman Les Moonves and CBS executives contemplated rethinking the entire format of the evening news, the network has quietly decided for now to simply build on the existing newscast, reaffirming a commitment to delivering a traditional, hard-news program.

“We have an evening news that works, and my job is to try to make it work better,” said Hartman, who took over the newscast Jan. 9.

Added Schieffer: “We’re not going to change the look of the broadcast very much. This is very much going back to basics, and the basics are to find the news that’s most important and tell people about it in ways they can understand.”

Courting Couric

Meanwhile, CBS’ courting of “Today” co-anchor Katie Couric to take over the helm of the newscast when her contract at NBC is up in May has bolstered the spirits of many in the newsroom, who view it as a sign that CBS officials are serious about investing in the news division.

“When we start going after the big money players on the other teams, we’re really saying what a baseball team says when it goes after the big salaried players,” said Schieffer, who added that he hopes Couric will take the job. “We’re saying, ‘We’re trying to win the World Series.’

“I think we’ve come a tremendous distance here. We had been beaten about the heads and shoulders so badly for so long there that people were pretty quiet about the office. People are talking again. They’re having more fun, and they’re smiling more.”

The atmosphere is starkly different than just last fall, when the newsroom swirled with anxiety as staffers tried to decipher what changes were afoot.

Moonves, having declared that viewers no longer wanted a “voice of God” anchor, had asked news executives to develop a wholesale makeover of the evening news. Many editorial employees feared that the CBS chief was trying to turn the venerable newscast into more of an entertainment show, especially after he was quoted in the New York Times Magazine suggesting, half in jest, that producers should look to a British program that features women delivering the news in lingerie.

Andrew Heyward, then president of the news division, put together a series of pilot newscasts for Moonves that stressed a “60 Minutes”-style of in-depth storytelling. He and other news executives also suggested adding more on-screen graphics and features that took viewers behind the scenes.

But Moonves was still dissatisfied, and in late October, Heyward stepped down -- a decision he and the CBS chief characterized as mutual -- and was replaced with McManus, the well-liked president of the sports division. Newsroom employees who feared the post was going to go to an entertainment executive from one of CBS’ sister cable channels breathed a sigh of relief -- especially after McManus addressed the newsroom.

“There was hunger inside the organization to get going, and I think Sean came in and he immediately tapped into that,” Hartman said. “He said: ‘I care about this place. I love CBS, and I want to win, and I want to help you win.’ I saw people in that room that day who just wanted to get up and cheer.”

A month later, Jim Murphy, the longtime executive producer of “CBS Evening News,” decided that he was ready for a change. McManus then named Hartman, a 23-year veteran of the network, to lead the broadcast and advise him on news gathering and talent recruitment.

Since they took over, Heyward’s initiative to develop pilots for the evening news has been abandoned. Network officials said that Moonves -- now busy with responsibilities as head of the newly formed CBS Corp. -- is content to let McManus decide what needs to be done with the program. McManus said that he is not looking for Hartman to reinvent the form.

“His [Hartman’s] plan is not to break the mold of the evening newscast but rather to take the best of what currently exists, improve upon that, and inject some new energy and a true commitment to putting on the best newscast in the business,” McManus said in an e-mail to The Times.

Hartman praised his predecessor and Schieffer for the changes they had made to the broadcast in the last year, saying the anchor’s expanded give-and-take with correspondents has contributed to “a kind of loosening of the tie, metaphorically.”

“I’m grateful to have the tailwind, and I just want to continue it,” Hartman said, adding that his goal was twofold -- to be “relentlessly original” and to improve the quality of the writing and production.

The newscast still has substantial ground to regain. Just five years ago, it attracted an average audience of 9.5 million people, 2 million more than this season.

But “CBS Evening News” has drawn an average of 214,000 more viewers since last year, while “NBC Nightly News” and ABC’s “World News Tonight” are down more than 700,000 viewers each, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Network competitors

The other two network newscasts still far outstrip CBS in viewership; NBC by more than 2.2 million people, and ABC by more than 1 million on average this season. But internally, CBS employees say they feel a sense of momentum, one they credit largely to Schieffer and the folksy approach he’s brought to the newscast.

“Bob is a terrific presence, someone whom the viewers are very comfortable with,” said correspondent Roberts, who added that Tom Brokaw’s retirement and Peter Jennings’ death may have prompted viewers to begin searching for a new broadcast and be drawn to Schieffer. “He’s not a polarizing figure ... and he exudes a certain sort of confidence and gravitas that people are looking for.”

Schieffer, who planned to fill in on the broadcast for just two months, said he now planned to stay at least through the spring, when Couric was expected to make a decision about her next move.

“I never realized I’d be doing this at this particular time in my life,” said the 68-year-old anchor, who commutes home every weekend to Washington, where he continues to anchor the Sunday show “Face the Nation.” “But if I can move this organization forward and get it back to the position it was in when I came here [37 years ago], I’m going to feel very good about that.”