John McCain wanted ten town hall style debates with Barack Obama, but after 22 Democratic debates, Barack said, "Thanks, but no thanks." So now the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates will meet three times: two traditional, one-on-one debates with a single moderator for each, and one townhall-style session with questions from the crowd.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that NBC's Tom Brokaw, PBS's Jim Lehrer, and CBS's Bob Schieffer will be the moderators, with Gwen Ifill, the host of PBS's Washington Week handling the chores for the one vice presidential debate.

What's interesting here is that of the big three, ABC is not represented. Among the cable news crowd, Fox News and MSNBC were equally snubbed as was CNN.

I can't say why ABC was left out of the loop. However, George
Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson were both roundly criticized for their work on the Democratic debate they helmed.

After the executive session, it was CBS News' turn to face the critics and talk about their election coverage. Via satellite from their New York studios was CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer, senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, and CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus.

Right away, a reporter brought up Katie Couric's job status. "I'm glad you got right to it," Couric joked. "I thought [the speculation] had died down considerably." She said she "can't control what media writers write. We live in an echo chamber," with media reporters more fascinated by her status than the general public is. "The attention befuddles me," she continued. She's concentrating on doing "the best job I can."

I'm sure a lot of you were scratching your heads over the weekend, wondering how Tim Russert's passing merited the all-encompassing, presidential-like coverage it got, especially on his home network of NBC. He's only a reporter, right? Why the wall-to-wall coverage? Well, first of all, it seems that by all accounts, Russert was one of the most well-liked people in the news business, so the outpouring might have been a function of people mourning a friend who was taken from them too soon. But, I have another, more off-beat theory as to why NBC did a broadcast version of sitting shiva for Russert: it was because they have no idea how to replace him.

Think about it: he wasn't only the longtime moderator of Meet The Press, where he took the venerable show and rejiggered its format, making him the face of the show. He was also NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the main political voice for the network. "It's going to take four or five people to replace Tim," CBS' Bob Schieffer told The New York Times.

For now, though, the immediate question is who will replace him on Meet The Press. Speculation is already underway.

For once the info coming from CBS News is not about whether Katie Couric's job is in jeopardy. Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer has decided not to retire after all; he's staying with CBS News indefinitely.

The veteran newsman, who'll be 72 this year, had announced his retirement. He was going to leave the Black Rock as of the January presidential inauguration. Now he's decided to postpone the rocking chair. According to TV Week, the network didn't have to twist his arm; the deal was easily and simply done. All Schieffer had to do was get his wife Pat's approval and he was able to tell CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus asked him not to step down as planned with the inauguration of a new president that he would remain.

All this talk about how Katie Couric is single-handedly destroying network news (supposedly) overlooks one fact: she's actually losing less viewers than Brian Williams over on NBC.

Couric lost 287,000 viewers over the first 39 weeks of her show compared to what the show did last year, and during that same time, Williams lost 533,000. He's now in second place behind ABC and Charles Gibson.

Of course, it doesn't mean that everyone who is leaving NBC or CBS is going over to ABC and Gibson. I think it's an indication of what's going on with network news in general (and NBC in particular).

Boy, Bob Schieffer really doesn't want to anchor the CBS Evening News anymore, does he? He's been so effusive and enthusiastic over the arrival of Katie Couric, you'd think she was relieving him from his night-shift duties at the local 7-11.

That's the impression I got when I read this Daily Record article about a talk Schieffer gave at Drew University in Madison, NJ, last night. He told the crowd that he was part of the "welcome  wagon" when Couric came to visit the CBS newsroom for the first time, and that she "will remind people that there is an evening news." He also said he admired her personally and professionally, saying she will be a "role model for the people at CBS."

Like I said, Schieffer's starting to sound a little too enthusiastic about this move, doesn't he? I mean, don't get me wrong, Couric has had an admirable career. But he's talking about her like she's the second coming of Edward R. Murrow. Ratchet it back a little, Bob; you're starting to sound like a short-timer.

[via Mediabistro]

There's been a lot of talk lately about the state of network news. With the resignation of Dan Rather, the retirement of Tom Brokaw, and the death of Peter Jennings, along with the coverage of news we get with CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, many feel that the days of the dinnertime nightly network news shows are just about over. But not so fast: Verne Gay at Newsday gives his ten reasons why we need those network news shows.

OK, maybe that's a little unfair to the interns at CBS. I apologize. But that's the first thing that came to mind when I read this story at The New York Observer about the CBS college interns helping the execs decide what direction the CBS Evening News should take. One of the suggestions is a younger anchorperson alongside Bob Schieffer. But they also suggested more international coverage, so good for them.

Readers, what do you think? Should CBS News try to skew younger? Should they replace Bob Schieffer and go with a different format? Is network news dead anyway? Leave your comments below.