Katie Couric's on-air descent takes another tumble

Katie Couric can't catch a break.

Amid reports that last week's "CBS Evening News" had set a new record low in the ratings - averaging just 5.34 million viewers - a podcast of Wednesday's broadcast, distributed by iTunes, included an outtake showing Couric stumbling over an introduction to the night's top story.

By early afternoon yesterday, after a call was placed to a CBS spokeswoman, that podcast was unavailable at CBS.com. It wasn't clear if that version had also been flawed, but about halfway through the iTunes version, after a longer pause than usual, Couric is seen (and heard) eating something crunchy at the anchor desk.

"I'm sorry, I'm eating my [unintelligible]," says the anchor, as off-camera, a woman's voice says, "In 5, 4, 3 . . ."

Couric then begins a segment from that night's top story before stopping herself after a sentence.

"I'm sorry, you guys," she says, looking chagrined, then says, "OK," and resumes.

A few sentences later, while introducing correspondent Cynthia Bowers, she stumbles again, puts her head in her hands, smiling, and once again apologizes.

"That's all right," says the voice off-camera. "One more time. . ."

A CBS News spokeswoman yesterday explained that the footage, never intended for air, was shot during a commercial break. Couric was "running through the script for how they were going to air it for the West Coast update."

It's not the first time outtakes of Couric have found their way onto people's computers - video of a pre-show standup in which Couric pokes fun at Dan Rather quickly went viral several months ago -but another spokeswoman dismissed a suggestion that the iTunes extra was anything more than a "glitch." *