WEIGHING ANCHORS

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Rooney now says he regrets any hurt feelings. "I think they're both first-rate news people. It's the idea of co-anchors that's bad. It's unnatural. It forces on them the business of being actors when they have to respond to each other." CBS News president Eric Ober, for one, did not appreciate Rooney's remarks. According to Rooney, "I was in the cafeteria . . . Eric happened to be there, and I said, 'I'm sorry to have made your life more difficult,' which I meant. And he said, 'You did make my life more difficult.' "

Life for everybody at CBS News became more difficult when, in an effort to boost the newscast's ratings, CBS decided to team Rather, who had flown solo since 1981, with the highly popular but more lightweight Chung. From the start, their minimal patter has seemed forced, and critics never embraced the pairing. Lately, Chung has come under fire for her interview with U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich's mother (on her magazine show Eye to Eye), in which Chung coaxed her into saying that "Newty" referred to Hillary Clinton as a "bitch." Though CBS aggressively publicized the comment, the network was somewhat tepid in her defense. Rather himself didn't exactly jump to her aid. "Connie's intentions were the best," he said. "And I know she wants to do the right thing journalistically."

On Friday night Rather anchored the newscast from London in recognition of the 50th anniversary of V-E day. The show invoked the spirit of Murrow, whose own wartime reports from London set the standards for broadcast journalism. The newscast ended, as usual, with the motto "Experience. CBS News." It may be time for cbs to chalk up the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and Connie Chung as a Bad Experience. --Reported by William Tynan/New York