Couric Leaving CBS Evening News

Politico reports:

Well, you can’t say you weren’t warned.

Katie Couric reveals the worst-kept secret in the news business in an interview with People magazine.

"I have decided to step down from the 'CBS Evening News,'" Couric told People. "I'm really proud of the talented team on the CBS Evening News and the award-winning work we've been able to do in the past five years in addition to the reporting I've done for "60 Minutes" and "CBS Sunday Morning." In making the decision to move on, I know the Evening News will be in great hands, but I am excited about the future."

Speculation about what’s next for her will continue for a while, we can bet, as her answer to People on the topic was vague. “"I am looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling," she tells People, adding that other details, including when and where the show will air, are "still being discussed."

The smart money has been on her launching a syndicated talk show in 2012 with her old producer, the recently-made-available Jeff Zucker. But today’s buzz is the less likely, but possibly more fun bet that she’ll go to ABC News.

Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, is the favorite to succeed her in the anchor’s chair. The New York Times’s Brian Stelter reported Monday that CBS News planned to name Couric’s successor next week, and that he would likely be it.

Couric’s ascent to the position of the country’s first solo female network news anchor was accompanied by a massive promotional campaign that seemed to backfire when the program’s ratings remained stuck in third place.

And Couric told the New York Times Magazine earlier this month that she had probably been “overly ambitious” at the start of her tenure in 2006, when she tried to shake up the format of the traditional newscast. The show soon settled back into a more traditional format.

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