Columnist's Blog: He Hasn't Been Himself Lately

CBS News President Sean McManus told the staff he was struck by "her respect for good journalism, solid reporting and compelling storytelling." Schieffer says he found her to be "a wonderful person and wonderful mother who will be nurturing of our correspondents."

When the love-fest ended, Couric went across the street to the offices of "60 Minutes," where she will be a contributor. Couric met with Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Dan Rather and many others, including the office receptionist. "I think we wore her out," executive producer Jeff Fager says. "But she's so friendly, she had to meet everyone."

Couric did not encounter Andy Rooney, who badmouthed her hiring. But the "60 Minutes" curmudgeon recently told TV Week that he wished he had been "a little softer" in criticizing the Couric move and that "my objection is probably an old fogy's objection."

Page Six's Deep-Six

The New York Post has dropped Jared Paul Stern, the Page Six gossip contributor caught in a videotaped sting.

A Post spokesman did not deny a report in New York's Daily News that the Post has let go Stern and the three other part-timers at Page Six. The move comes during an FBI probe into whether Stern violated the law by asking California billionaire Ron Burkle for $220,000 following Burkle's complaints about his rough treatment by Page Six.

Stern's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, says that "we will be pursuing all of our legal options." Stern, who says he sought the money for media consulting and an investment in his clothing line, calls the News's reporting on him "total BS," saying: "The News are the ones who will have to cut back on staff -- they'll need the money to pay out all the libel claims."

Time Heals All Wounds

Three years ago, writer Gregg Easterbrook was thrown for a loss when ESPN's Web site dropped his weekly football column.

The problem was a New Republic blog posting in which he suggested that the Jewishness of Hollywood executives -- he mentioned Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, then both with Disney -- might be a factor in their filmmaking. Easterbrook apologized, but ESPN, which is owned by Disney, dumped him anyway.

Now the bad feelings have apparently faded. ESPN is announcing tomorrow that Easterbrook, who had been writing for the National Football League's Web site, has signed a new contract.

"They were friendly to me in private, even while they were firing me," Easterbrook says. "I made a mistake. They made a mistake. The world would be a better place if people could just forgive each other's mistakes."

While the Brookings fellow usually writes on weightier matters for such magazines as the Atlantic, he says, "this is the part of my writing my kids read."