Susan Estrich
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006

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The CBS anchor's falling ratings are the talk of the town, the Internet and media gossip circles. After a huge opening, the first-time evening news anchor has been sinking in major markets. Her critics have delighted in chronicling her demise and comparing her ratings to those of her much-respected and even better liked predecessor, Bob Schieffer.

What are we to make of this?

How about ... nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Give the girl time. She may have great legs, but she still needs to get her sea legs.

Someone has to be third. In the short run, should we be surprised that it is the new girl on the block?

Does anyone remember how Brian Williams did his first week? I don't. Why would you? What would the headline be? "White Man Scores"? "White Man Doesn't Score"? "Wednesday Follows Tuesday"?

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If you want to blame someone for the latest round of loud criticism, blame CBS itself, and its leader Les Moonves, for setting Katie up in a blatant effort to cash in on the curiosity factor and clean up on early money. Instead of giving her time to settle in to a new and unbelievably difficult job, CBS turned the opening of the Katie Show into a national event. That was sure to guarantee extra viewers, extra scrutiny and extra skepticism. It was certain to deny her the time she needed, and that Bob Schieffer and every other man to hold the job has had, to settle in and find her way.

Moreover, Katie did not take the safe path. The safe path would have been to do exactly what Bob was doing the day before, to read the same scripts, use the same correspondents, keep to the same format. The safe path would have been to introduce change slowly, if at all, lest anyone question her "gravitas."

Of course, criticism being what it is, had she taken that route, some would have said she lacked new ideas, that she was just a boy with good legs, a guy in girl's clothes, a pale and pretty imitation of Bob and Dan, and Brian and Charlie.

The truth is the knives were out from the start.

How could they not be, given the buildup, the would she or wouldn't she, the national tour, the full-fledged campaign, the Photoshop-ed images, the whole she-bang orchestrated not by her or for her, but by her bosses for the benefit of the corporate coffers?

Maybe she should have known better. Maybe she should have put a stop to it.

But it's hard to know better about what's never happened before.

That's part of the problem when you're the first woman something. The good news is that you get all kinds of extra attention. The bad news is that you get all kinds of extra attention.

The good news is that the old rules don't necessarily apply. That's the bad news, too. When you do well, everyone notices, even more than with one of the boys. When you stumble, it's a landslide.

I wish Katie didn't have to play it cute. I cringe sometimes, and I know other women do, too. Men may be watching her legs, but I'm more interested in the news. Some of her experiments are clearly not going to survive, and they shouldn't. Sometimes I want her to sit down and get tough, as I know she can.

That's how it is with maiden cruises.

But what I really want is for her critics to take a breather and give the girl a chance.

It's taken my lifetime to get a woman in the chair.

Can we at least give her time to get used to the seat?

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