Katie Couric out at CBS?

The hot news in media circles is the likely demise of the Katie Couric Evening News experiment at CBS. The New York Daily News TV columnist Richard Huff says

CBS needs to pull the plug on Katie Couric anchoring the "CBS Evening News" immediately.

This despite his conclusion that

The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric is a fine newscast. Side by side, it's just like the others

But

Couric has a target on her back. She can do no right in the eyes of the media, the gossip crowd and those working in the navel-gazing world of TV news.

If you doubt that Couric "has a target on her back," listen to New York Post resident scold today (Friday)

Katie was trotted out to the public less than two years ago as no less than the savior of modern American communications - a woman combining Joan of Arc's zeal and Madonna's legs.

She had the gumption to smash through the glass ceiling to make the world safe for gals. Well, at least for those who rake in $15 million a year, plus a free ride to work.

But now that her career has crashed and burned into a wicked-witch-size puddle, it's time to say it: Katie screwed up on behalf of more than just one woman who had trouble reading the TelePrompTer with conviction.

She did it for all of us.

And believe me it only gets worse. Huff says that unlike her competitors "she's treated as a celebrity." I have never been a big Katie Couric fan, but it seems to me that being the first solo female network news anchor it would be hard not to be treated like a celebrity. Her only predecessors (as co-anchors) Barbara Walters (1976) and Connie Chung (1993) were treated the same way. And in their cases it also contributed to their difficulties.

But their biggest problem is being the first woman to crack through in a man's world. The biggest problem with Couric's failure to launch is that it will probably be another 15 or 20 years before a network is willing to try again. Here's the Daily News list of possible replacements: Anderson Cooper, Harry Smith, Chris Wragge (WCBS/Ch.2) and Scott Pelley (60 Minutes). Notice the common characteristics of all of them: testosterone. Even if Couric was wrong from the idea there are several great female news people who would make great anchors: NBC's Andrea Mitchell, the Today Show's Ann Curry and ABC's Elizabeth Vargas (who was an anchor until she got pregnant).

If CBS has any imagination, which is doubtful, if they do fire Couric, they'll replace her with a real female journalist and even I might watch CBS Evening News with ....