Here is the ever-to-be-repeated lesson:

“I think in some ways we owed it to the industry to try new things,” said Sean McManus, president of CBS News. “But we found at 6:30 with only 22 minutes of programming time, people basically want you to tell them what happened in the world that day . . . That’s probably the biggest lesson we learned.”

McManus and co. owed nothing to the industry, of course. They owed it to CBS management at Black Rock to screw around with the format to somehow justify the money being spent bringing in Katie Couric to read the news. Still, other broadcasts will be thanking the Couric news for pushing viewers their way.

You can read more on what’s been learned here. But remember, the wheel turns slow. If Couric stays, her turn will come.