Confirming the suspicions of pretty much everybody, CBS News anchor Katie Couric officially announced on Tuesday that she’s leaving “CBS Evening News.”
“I have decided to step down from the ‘CBS Evening News,'” Couric told People magazine in an exclusive interview. “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.”
Though Couric didn’t specify where she’s headed, she said, “I am looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling.” Details on when and where the show will air are “still being discussed.”
For the past few weeks, news outlets have speculated that Couric would flee CBS after the expiration of her contract in June. Earlier this month, TheWrap reported that NBC, ABC and CNN have all tried to get Couric on board with their networks.
In an April interview with New York magazine, Couric said it wouldn’t kill her to see someone else take her “Evening News” role.
“No, it wouldn’t kill me,” Couric said. “But you can’t necessarily read anything into that. I think I might have felt that way five years before I left the ‘Today’ show.”
Acknowledging rumors that she’s chatted with former president of NBCUniversal Jeff Zucker about working together on a possible future project, Couric said, “We talk a lot and, yes, we’ve been discussing the possibilities. That’s true.”