Katie,

There's been a lot of talk lately about the third place ratings that The CBS Evening News continues to get. There are people saying that you aren't professional enough and that the show doesn't cover hard news the way it should. You even fired your executive producer and hired another, and then this week fired a producer for plagiarizing (and just what are those first person "Notebooks" if other people are writing them?). These are all things that you have to fix, but may I make one suggestion that might help immediately?

Don't lead your newscast with news about Don Imus on the day that there was a major bombing in Iraq.

(Update 4/12/07 5:00 PM: CBS Radio has also fired Don Imus. Details are here.)

Just heard a statement read on tonight's NBC Nightly News that MSNBC has decided to stop simulcasting Don Imus' WFAN radio show, Imus in the Morning, starting immediately. They had previously announced that they were going along with CBS Radio's two-week suspension of the talk show host, but after re-evaluating what they called an "ongoing review process" and conducting "many conversations with our own employees," NBC News decided to end the simulcast permanently. The entire press statement is after the jump.

Talk show host Don Imus has been suspended from his show by both CBS Radio and MSNBC, which telecasts his radio show every morning. The suspension is for two weeks but doesn't start until next Monday.

This is because Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." Imus went on Al Sharpton's radio show on Monday and, as Howard Stern pointed out today, probably made things worse by the apology he made there and other comments he made.

MSNBC says that any "any future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word." I wonder why the suspension doesn't start til next Monday. Do they want the ratings bump the controversy is going to create? Will Imus talk about it on his show the next four days? CNN has certainly been talking about it all day.