It’s unclear if The Scoop’s Courtney Hazlett knows Larry King renewed his contract with CNN through 2010 or whether she just chose to overlook it in favor of the deal’s loophole, which doesn’t guarantee King his 9pm timeslot, but she’s pushing rumors that Ryan Seacrest is planning to take over for King, supposedly, in 2009. Which, um, would be impossible? Not according to a CNN source, who claims the American Idol host is in “serious negotiations” to assume hosting duties by year’s end.

Either way, the gossip mill chum isn’t good news for Katie Couric, whose camp has been putting out feelers for the King slot for months.

Update: Worth noting: This isn’t the first time MSNBC gossip Hazlett has run into trouble with her reporting (but when haven’t us gossips?). As the Observer notes, she had to have her story about James Frey pulled from the website on Thursday because it was based on false info.

Yesterday, Katie Couric had a chat with CBS Evening News producers, where she shared some of her ideas on how to make the show better, Jossip hears. It’s not so much the substance of her suggestions, but what it represented: 1) Exec producer Rick Kaplan wasn’t there (perhaps he was dealing with The Early Show?); and 2) It’s clear she’s still trying to come up with ideas about how to save the show. Or at least that’s the face she’s putting on for staffers.

Better than Jon Friedman’s (recycled) argument that Bob Scheiffer should replace Katie Couric, who herself replaced Bob Sheiffer? Watching Friedman deliver the argument in this “Media Web Minute.” [Marketwatch]

BY THE NUMBERS Katie Couric has outdone herself with a new record! Record low, that is. Besting the week of April 14th’s CBS Evening News record-setting ratings (5.39m viewers), Courc’s broadcast averaged just 5.34m viewers for the week of April 21. [TVD]

The remaining dozen people watching the CBS Evening News are, based on the broadcast’s ads, “impotent and incontinent.” And like seniors in an old folks home, it’d probably be better just to put ‘em down.

THE NEWS SHOW! Not the elderly viewers. That would be cruel and unnecessary.

Actually, argues newlywed Troy Patterson, the entire CBS News division must go. That means The Early Show, 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, and Katie Couric’s $15 million stage. Whether they outsource the thing to CNN as was originally discussed or just throw it off the side of the cliff, hunker down, and pray for daylight, Les Moonves must. give. up.

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Even though Larry King just reupped his deal with CNN to keep his game of softball on the air until at least 2011, his contract did not guarantee him the 9pm slot, effectively leaving open the possibility that they could still install ratings-loser Katie Couric there post-CBS. When word arrived that a King takeover was a possible Couric career move, the Time Warner network quickly re-signed its star; but without giving him the 9pm slot, they kept King under contract while maintaining the option of transitioning Couric into the primetime post. Sneaky sneaky!

Leaks about Katie Couric’s future at CBS occupied the chattering classes last week. Then we learned she wouldn’t get a presidential debate, even though Hillary and Barack have faced off more than twenty times. And now the CBS Evening News is coming off clocking its worst week of ratings in its history, averaging just 5.4 million viewers, down from 6 million two weeks before. CBS News SVP Paul Friedman says he’s “frustrated” about their numbers. As he should be:

Katie’s broadcast scored fewer viewers than 48 Hours Mystery and, if things continue, will end up somewhere between the WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown and clip show Most Outrageous Moments. (And those Seinfeld numbers are here.)

Sorry, Katie Couric, but your best post-CBS job prospect just got taken off the table. Larry King is re-signing with CNN, keeping his farting on the air until at least 2010.

In the end, Katie Couric will not get her debate. The planned CBS News presidential showdown on April 27 was just called off by the North Carolina Democratic Party. They’re blaming “time constraints and logistical issues,” as well as fears about “party unity,” and not the fact that Barack Obama never agreed to the debate (holding out for Pennsylvania’s results?). Statement below.

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When CBS chief Les Moonves made a surprise visit to a CBS Evening News staff meeting today – with Katie Couric, Sean McManus, and exec producer Rick Kaplan all in attendance – he spent about 10 minutes restating his support for his $15 million gal, while Katie thanked her team for dealing with all the speculation about their leader. We also hear Les, on his way out, told one staffer that today’s Keith Kelly report, about Katie writing a tell-all book, is “all lies.” Which is probably true, but as if Katie would fill him in on it.

John Koblin’s argument that, thanks to the web breaking EVERY BIT OF NEWS EVER, the newsworthiness of many print media stories are total hoky, since reporters and editors are grasping at whispers of memes to turn out articles rife with speculation and a prayer for relevance.

Which just about describes today’s rumor that Katie Couric might be writing a tell-all memoir.

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You can let America choose its next idols. But please do not let them choose the next job for Katie Couric. The CBS Evening News anchor, who is either being “pushed out” or “volunteering an exit” from her post, was the subject of career speculation outside the Today show, or at least she was when the Observer egged on the crowd. So what do fans of the former morning show star think she should be doing?

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“I reached out to her right after it was announced that she was taking the job. Nothing ever came of that - I reached out to her and had a conversation with her and that was the last I’ve heard. I do want to make clear that I never have had, nor do I now have, any animosity toward her - I thought I could help her because frankly, I didn’t think she had any idea that she knew what she was stepping into - all the problems with infrastructure that had been severely damaged over the past few years.” — Dan Rather on whether he bothered to bond with his replacement Katie Couric [HuffPo]

All that talk about Katie Couric leaving CBS? Cindy Adams had the story back in September, as she so artfully insists in today’s column. Nevermind that everybody in the media industry has been predicting a scenario like this since her ratings began slipping after her first week on the job. And nevermind that the most recent chatter about her possible exit stems from a February meeting, and not anything from September.

The possibility of Kate Couric leaving the CBS Evening News after the November election or January inauguration wasn’t yet supposed to be considered a real option, but that’s what information leaked from a “wide-ranging discussion” about her future surmised. A Feb. 28 meeting between Couric, CAA agent Alan Berger, CBS News president Sean McManus, and CBS chairman Les Moonves was only supposed to put a list of options on the table; an early exit from her five-year contract was one of them, but certainly not the only possible outcome. But now the media gossips got wind of the story and, supposedly, may have already forced her into lame duck status, assuring her early exit.

As if it was that simple. Let’s make sure CBS takes plenty of responsibility for the direction of the chattering class’ conversation: They confirmed rumors that CBS was discussing the possibility of replacing Couric. And even if there were other options on the table, that’s a typical “throw ‘em under the bus” move from the tiffany network. If anything, it’s CBS’ own fault for framing the conversation that way. And don’t think for a minute it was accidental.

“And so it is / Just like you said it would be / Life goes easy on me / Most of the time / And so it is.” Not even halfway through her five-year, $15 million/year contract with CBS News, and Katie Couric is already said to be in talks with CBS chief Les Moonves and CBS News head Sean McManus to shape her exit. It’ll likely come after November’s presidential election or January’s inauguration, and nobody’s entirely sure where Katie will end up, or who will take over the Evening News. Two plausible scenarios: Katie will wait out CNN’s Capt. Fartypants, Larry King, to replace him (his deal expires in 2009), or she’ll grab her own talk show on CBS, or a full-time gig on 60 Minutes, or they’d let her go free to run through the meadows in search of a better deal. Though CBS brass continue to think she’s doing an excellent job with her 22 minutes a night, she hasn’t been able to pull the show’s ratings up to a competitive level; CBS Evening News draws an average 5.9 million viewers to NBC’s 8.3m and ABC’s 8m. All this, and just when Howard Kurtz started rolling out the sympathy red carpet.

Naturally, the Katie Couric-hating Matt Drudge went with this dramatic photo for his story about CBS’s maybe-deal with CNN. But with so many options to choose from, it’d be a shame to let fellow Couric bashers go without the news kingpin’s resources. So what could have been some of his other options?

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Segment-stealing Howie Kurtz’s Katie Couric profile cannot be described in any other way but a softball reputation resuscitator. But we’re not faulting either of them for it. Couric could use, and perhaps deserves, the good press; Kurtz enjoys zagging when others zig. Now nineteen months on the job, Couric treats us to her brand of:

• Sympathy: “She is trailing in a highly competitive contest against her male rivals, is occasionally covered in a condescending way and faces predictions that she’ll be forced out of the race. Katie Couric understands what Hillary Clinton is going through.”

• Charity: “On Saturday she will be in Charlottesville to help the University of Virginia break ground for a $74 million Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center, funded by both the state and private donations.”

• Congeniality: “On the political front, Couric believes the imbalance in the way the Democratic candidates are portrayed stems in part from some reporters ‘who are predisposed not to like the Clintons.”‘But she says the coverage has evened out recently, thanks to a pair of comedy skits that portrayed journalists as being in the tank for Barack Obama. ‘Saturday Night Live did have a big impact on the media,’ she says.”

• Originality:

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Katie Couric, the fifteen million dollar lady, will finally join the world of news media grown ups: She’s hosting her own presidential debate. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have accepted CBS News’ invitation for a 90-minute banter on April 27, where we’re hoping they’ll have a cartoonist on stage so they can explain all those complex topics, like the recession and racism, with Idiot America.

Admitting to fabrications is probably something Katie Couric should take off her To-Do list.

Last spring’s Katie Couric Notebook scandal – where a producer was fired for lifting a Wall Street Journal column – revealed the CBS News anchor isn’t responsible for her own words.

Now, she’s admitting more of the same is true: At a poetry event last night, she revealed a poem she wrote 45 years ago as a kid, published in The St. James Grammar School Gazette, was actually the work of Penny Eastman.