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New York, New York The storied history of CBS News fairly calls out from the 75 framed photographs that line one of the first floor halls of its venerable Broadcast Center on West 57th in New York City. Many a time, I've walked past the gallery of television giants at work feeling a mixture of pride and passion at the pioneering history of the news division and excitement given the historic debut of Katie Couric as the first female solo anchor of an evening newscast. But one picture rises above the rest. Rightly so, it's the first on your left. The black and white shot highlighting the classic November 1960 Harvest of Shame report on the plight of migrant farm workers. The man with the microphone pinned to his shirt still synonymous with CBS News. What Edward R. Murrow created – a tradition of astute reporting, analysis and intellectual storytelling – still lives inside the old dairy farm we now call home. Just watch Good Night, and Good Luck or read the mesmerizing The Murrow Boys and you'll understand how journalistic genes born during World War II were passed on to William L. Shirer, Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, George Polk and Daniel Schorr, who, in turn, inspired Cronkite, Rather, Wallace, Schieffer, Stahl, and the rest of us attempting to walk in his shoes.  Katie Couric follows in the footsteps of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. It's hardly breaking news that in recent years the House That Murrow Built had fallen into disrepair. Ownership changes, massive budget cuts, and a general malaise all contributed to a decline culminating in the flawed 60 Minutes II report on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. The fallout from that September 2004 story nearly demolished the news division robbing the network of the only air that matters around here – the air of credibility. I can almost picture the men and women lining our hall of fame turning their collective backs in shame. Today, much of the antipathy associated with that piece is gone, replaced by energy and hope. New construction, literally, abounds, matched by a desire to compete that many say was missing for years. Much of the credit goes to Sean McManus, my former boss for eight years at CBS Sports. Since taking over as president of the news division in November 2005 he has, through sheer force of will and a series of brilliantly-orchestrated hires, sparked a revival equal to what Roone Arledge accomplished at ABC News. For the last six months I've had a front-row seat as day after day announcements of a new set, a new executive producer, new producers, directors, correspondents, editors, right down to desk assistants and dot.com hires, burst onto our internal email. The countdown to Katie precipitated by an extraordinary effort designed to rebuild our house and restore public trust. As Sean told us recently, "This is the beginning of a new era for the CBS Evening News...our ultimate goal to make tomorrow's broadcast better than today's, the next day's even better, and on and on." I believe for Couric & Co. to succeed we must not reject the old but rather embrace the humanity and civility and integrity that marked Murrow's reporting. A time, very simply, the word was the hallmark of CBS News. Eight-time Emmy Award winning Armen Keteyian is the Chief Investigative Correspondent for CBS News in New York and executive editor of Hall of Fame Magazine. You can contact him at
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