Jon Friedman has a go at explaining the failure of the new CBS Evening News to break out of third place through Katie Couric. His verdict? “America wasn’t truly ready for the first solo woman evening-news anchor…” Well, it is 1956.

My own view would have been that Couric was the change and wrapping that change up in a major format revamp was a mistake. It’s a mistake news organizations often make. Now the show is back to being more conservative, but has lost the boost that Couric’s arrival gave it because people didn’t like the format tweaks. Just a theory mind, but maybe a little more compelling than U.S. citizens failing to cope with a woman reading the news – alone!