Hunkering Down

What will be impaired is the model of constantly traveling anchors, given Gibson and Sawyer's morning responsibilities. And skeptics wonder whether the arrangement might linger, given that they were brought in as "temporary" replacements for the long-forgotten Lisa McRee and Kevin Newman on "GMA" -- back in 1998.

Westin says he asked Gibson and Sawyer to fill in for "a few weeks" -- and that they immediately agreed -- but that the double duty could last longer "if we learn Bob is going to be out for a period of some months."

Vargas, meanwhile, has been carrying the load. "Elizabeth is the co-anchor of this broadcast, but she clearly can't do everything we've set out to do by herself," Banner says. "Obviously we wish Bob was here more than anything. Elizabeth and I are determined to keep his seat warm until he's able to come back."

Cameo Appearance

It was a striking photo in Vanity Fair's December issue: a reunion of Vietnam War correspondents, including Peter Arnett, standing on a crowded Ho Chi Minh City street.

It was also fake. The Smoking Gun Web site discovered that Arnett wasn't there during the shoot of eight journalists last April and was digitally inserted into the picture.

"It wasn't supposed to be misleading," says Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak. "It was a mistake made at the last minute." She says a border around Arnett's image, making clear he had been shot separately, was removed after the art director raised aesthetic questions.

Unholy Bonds?

In baseball, Barry Bonds is almost always news, whether he's hitting homers, denying steroids use or snarling at the press.

It's no surprise, then, that ESPN is drawn to the San Francisco Giants slugger. But what is the network doing in negotiations that would steer money to such a prominent newsmaker? Its entertainment division is close to a deal with Bonds to star in a reality show as he chases Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

ESPN's ombudsman, George Solomon, who is also a Washington Post columnist, has spanked his new employer for an arrangement he says "boggles the mind" and "seems to be pushing the envelope for what's an acceptable practice for a network that prides itself on newsgathering, reporting, commentary and analysis. . . . Simply collaborating with such high-profile newsmakers seems out of place with the covenants of the kind of broadcast journalism most ESPN staffers seek to attain." A similar ESPN reality show with Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight begins this month.

ESPN Executive Editor John Walsh says the entertainment unit "operates outside our news division" and will not affect its journalism. "We're still going to aggressively cover Bonds," he says. "We had a reporter with him every day last year. The danger," he adds, is that the show "could become a puff piece for Barry Bonds, but he's such an interesting character it could be revealing."

Not With the Program

When Torie Clarke worked at the Pentagon and was pushing a program to embed journalists with U.S. forces during the Iraq war, one administration official objected.

"There's a very real possibility that the American people could see their soldiers hurt or even killed on the battlefield," said Ari Fleischer, then the White House press secretary, according to Clarke's new book, "Lipstick on a Pig." "They might see it on live television. It would be awful!"

"Well, it's the truth, Ari," Clarke says she replied. "People do get killed in battle. . . . The American people can handle it."

Fleischer says he was "horrified about what impact this could have on the military for the cameras to get there first" but agrees that in retrospect the program "was a huge success."

Meet the New Boss

"CBS Evening News" has decided to empower the viewers. Each week, says correspondent Steve Hartman, "you can tell me where to go and what to do" by voting online. Today's three choices include covering do-it-yourself funerals and a device called the Jerk-O-Meter.