WISHING ON A STAR

You can imagine the pitch CBS News might make to Matt Lauer: for the first time in years, he'd be able to eat breakfast at home at a regular hour, instead of rising in the dark every morning to cohost "The Today Show" on NBC. The trade-off, of course, would be his absence at dinnertime, when he might be anchoring the "CBS Evening News." A similar pitch could be made to Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press"--he would have Sunday mornings off for a change. Long-shot scenarios? Perhaps, considering that NBC has locked up those two stars with long-term contracts. But NEWSWEEK has learned that Lauer's and Russert's names are on a wish list of outsiders that CBS has considered for successors to Dan Rather, who announced last week that he would accelerate his retirement by a year and step down next March after 24 years in the anchor chair. For now, according to senior officials of parent company Viacom, CBS execs have decided to move on to other potential candidates. Among them are two oft-mentioned internal prospects: chief White House correspondent John Roberts and "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley.

Even so, the fact that the network is even considering Lauer and Russert, two of broadcast journalism's biggest stars, is a sign of CBS chairman Leslie Moonves's determination to dramatically overhaul CBS News in the wake of Rather's departure. Ratings for "CBS Evening News" have lagged both NBC's and ABC's, and Rather's reputation took a hit with his central role in a controversial "60 Minutes II" report about President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard-a report that Rather later acknowledged was based on forged documents. Viacom and CBS are awaiting what is expected to be a highly critical report following an independent investigation into the matter. The report is expected to be completed by the year end.

According to the Viacom sources, the embarrassment has presented Moonves, who is also a Viacom co-president, with the opportunity to revamp the news operations. Moonves has led a remarkable rebound with such prime-time hits as "Survivor" and the "CSI" franchise. The sports division is performing well, too, but CBS News has languished in third place for years. Until recently, the corporate bosses held off attempting to renovate CBS News, according to high-ranking Viacom sources. "They considered it sacred territory," says one source, adding that they had feared major changes would generate a backlash at CBS News and lead to the kind of unwanted headlines generated by their efforts to persuade Don Hewitt to relinquish control of "60 Minutes."

The overhaul won't necessarily stop with naming new on-air personalities or off-camera producers, according to the Viacom sources. Andrew Heyward, CBS News president, will come under renewed scrutiny and may be asked to resign, the Viacom sources say. "We don't comment on rumor and speculation," said Gil Schwartz, a CBS spokesman. It seems likely that, for a while at least, CBS won't be just reporting the news, but making it as well.

© 2004