cbs evening news with katie couric

As rumors continue to swirl about what she'll do next, Katie Couric has signed off for the last time from the CBS Evening News.

Her departure Thursday night came after almost five years after she became the first woman to anchor a nightly news broadcast.

E!Online.com reports that Couric bid farewell following a montage featuring some of her most memorable moments, including interviews with President Barack Obama, Valerie Plame, Alex Rodriguez and Clint Eastwood, trips to the Middle East and Africa, and coverage of the Royal Wedding and the death of Osama Bin Laden.

"To all of you watching, thank you so much for coming along with me on this incredible journey," Couric said. "That's the CBS Evening News for tonight. I'm Katie Couric. Good night."

The 54-year-old reporter, who joined CBS in 2006, says of her next move, "I am looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling ... I have a lot of areas of interest and I want to be able to fulfill all of that."

See her final sign off after the jump.

Every time I watch a TV talking head like Glenn Beck, I usually walk away with the same thought I had every time I walked out of my economics class in college: "What the hell were they talking about?"

That's because there isn't anything journalistic or scientific about their pontifications. It's all "gut talk," particularly Beck who throws around more wild and unfocused theories about the ongoing war between "us vs. them" than a homeless preacher in a bus station. Chances are if you actually sat down and simply asked him "what did you mean by (x)", he would give you a 1,700 word answer that answered everything but the question you asked him.

Walter Cronkite is a tougher act to follow than letting Metallica open for William Hung.

But now that the news legend and former most trusted man in America has passed on to that big newsroom in the great beyond, America needs someone else to trust. They need someone they can depend on to get the hard, cold facts about the important stories that truly affect their lives. They need someone to cut through the political haze of misdirection and mediocrity that cloud almost every major news story like a lingering beer fart.

That man is ... Jon Stewart. Don't like it? Blame the rest of the news media for not doing a better job.

This isn't just the week for prime time Emmy nominations, we also have the nominations for news.

Here's the list of news and documentary Emmy nominations. There are many categories, including several for the cable news channels, but a few of the big nominations include Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin for Outstanding Interview (really?), NBC Nightly News coverage of Tim Russert's death for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story, 60 Minutes taking three of the four nominations in the Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine category (Primetime took the other), and three nominations for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

[via TV Newser]