Evening news lead shifts again

The evening news ratings roller coaster continued Tuesday as CBS’ Katie Couric won the night, climbing back on top a day after her broadcast had dropped into third place.

“CBS Evening News” garnered 8.6 million viewers Tuesday, beating NBC’s 8.1 million and ABC’s 7.9 million, according to Nielsen Media.

CBS News executives noted that the newscast continues to post gains compared with this point last year.

“What looks like is going to happen is that there’s going to be a very, very tight race with very little space between first, second and third,” CBS News President Sean McManus said. “Everyone has admitted that these things move glacially.”