If any good comes from the catastrophe, it will be that it signaled the beginning of the media's reassertion of aggressive, in-your-face reporting, in which it confronts government wrongdoing, rather than just swallowing the government's public-relations handouts.

She will certainly bring a fresh face to the program. But a woman serving as sole anchor on an evening network newscast is so long overdue that it can hardly be regarded as making a powerful statement. ... CBS had a chance to revolutionize the evening news by totally remaking the show. Instead, they are putting a new person into an old, boring format.

I think there will be a more serious, thoughtful treatment of September 11 [in the future].

It's like night and day when you compare this to 9-11, when the national trauma was so severe that the media felt uncomfortable being too critical of the administration,

Today, if knowledge of a movie is out there for a while, it may increase its appeal. It builds up a mystique. Bad buzz can actually morph into anticipation.

But I think it would be tougher for Walken than it was for Reagan. His weird roles might harm him.