Did you hear the one about Katie Couric trying to leave CBS News? Or the one about CBS News trying to dump Katie Couric?

Some inquisitive types asking questions at the Television Critics Association did! So when Couric appeared, via satellite, on a panel supposedly about the election, she was immediately hit with, So what's the deal with your employment situation?

She's been through this before. So her answer shouldn't surprise you. Entirely.

"I can't control what media writers write," Couric told the audience. "We live in a bit of an echo chamber…It's befuddling to me the amount of attention I have received." Okay, but is she going to split?

"We have no plans to part company any time soon."

Any. Time. Soon.

Ah, the nuances of ambiguity. It's these charged terms that can, theoretically, get you off the hook if your situation later changes. They are also the type of statements that can only encourage the speculation.

When she was still running for president, Hillary Clinton found this out when, responding to whether she believed Barack Obama was Muslim, said, "No, no, why would I — there’s nothing to base that on — as far as I know."

Indeed, "Any time soon" is the new "as far as I know."

[TV Week]