There will be a little less “Free Speech” and more news on Katie Couric’s “CBS Evening News.”
The controversial opinion segment will be cut back to a couple of times a week, sometimes less, and feature more people whose opinions aren’t already well known, Rome Hartman, the broadcast’s executive producer, said Monday. The cutback was first reported in the Washington Post.
It was the most experimental segment on Couric’s broadcast, currently third behind NBC and ABC in the ratings.
“We did learn as we went along that some worked better than others, although I found most of them quite interesting,” Hartman said. “The ones that we were giving a platform to somebody who already had one worked less well.”
Rush Limbaugh was featured on “Free Speech” during Couric’s first week, and Arianna Huffington and Sean Hannity have also appeared.
With all the election news, the last “Free Speech” appeared on Nov. 3.