Mired in 3rd Place, Couric Rallies

After 2 years of stories about bad ratings and an uncertain future, Katie Couric is in the news for a positive reason, the AP reports—her work. Her CBS Evening News interviews with Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, and John McCain have brought the broadcast unprecedented buzz even though, as the New York Times reports, the ratings payoff has been modest at best.

With a huge assist from Tina Fey, the Saturday Night Live writing staff, and various Web outlets, an effort one rival exec described as "brand-building" is paying off. "I've never really lost confidence in my abilities, which I guess is pretty miraculous," Couric said yesterday. "I didn't really have a lot of platforms to do what I excel at, which is talk to people and do interviews." (More CBS Evening News stories.)