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TVNewser has obtained a transcript of this morning's questioning of CBS chief Les Moonves at the TCA press tour in Los Angeles. Highlights from the Q&A follow:

Why it's good to be in third place:

QUESTION: Do you feel that you have to do something really big to get people's attention? MOONVES: No. I think we have to do something really different to get people's attention. Look, the good news about this -- there's good news about being in third place. It happened when we were in entertainment. We can try stuff. We can take risks. You have Brian Williams. Very good. You have Peter Jennings. Very good. You know, we're in third place. We're going to be third place until Dan leaves. We've got a great opportunity here. We can try something different. And perhaps we'll be on the cutting edge. We'll give them something different. But to do something big, there aren't many big things you can do, and it's going to take us a while to get there.

On timing of the announcement:

QUESTION: Les, the time is getting pretty short to name a successor for Dan Rather. Are you looking outside CBS, and is there a chance you might name an interim anchor or acting anchor because you may not be able to get your successor on air immediately? MOONVES: We have nothing to announce right now. We're exploring every possibility imaginable. Certain roads are proving fruitful, but we don't know anything right now. So we're not prepared to announce a start date, an interim possibility. Everything is still very, very much a work in progress, and it would be inappropriate right now for me to reveal what we're doing, but needless to say we're very active. QUESTION: Les, it's quite a contrast, obviously, from the way NBC handled it. How soon do you think you have to name somebody? Do you feel a real sense of urgency at this point? MOONVES: No.

"Reinventing the wheel:"

QUESTION: Leslie, question over on your left over here. Why weren't there a strategy in place for when Dan Rather was going to leave as to who would take over? MOONVES: There wasn't the right people in place at that point in time. And by the way, when we first had our discussion with Dan last summer about him leaving, the strategy began then. It didn't just begin last week. QUESTION: I guess that's my question. Why weren't the right people in place if and when Dan was going to leave? MOONVES: Well, by the way, there aren't a lot of great people out there who are the solution. And when you're changing it up -- you look out there on the landscape. There aren't -- and maybe that's good. Maybe it isn't that single guy or lady that you're looking for to take their place. Maybe it is reinventing the wheel to a certain extent, and I think that's what we're trying to do.

What will a "redefinition" of CBS entail?

QUESTION: Les, when you talk about this being an opportunity to redefine CBS News, what do you mean by that, and what is the objective that redefinition? MOONVES: There are a lot of processes. There are a lot of things in place, without getting into too much detail, that were antiquated, that there were ways of doing business that have been done the same way for 25 years that need to be reexamined. As I said earlier, it was very clear in the panel report, and we took their recommendations very seriously, having an ombudsman, having different ways of vetting sources, having different ways of vetting material that hadn't been done as carefully as they should have been done. In addition, we've looked at certain people, certain structures of the system, and we're going to change it. So we're looking from top to bottom how things are done in an operation. It's, in some ways, not dissimilar to what happened in entertainment where you reexamine an organization and, clearly -- and I'm not -- please don't go write that I'm equating a sitcom with what happened at CBS News because I'm not. When an organization clearly has a chink in the armor, it's clearly necessary to look at what they're doing, how they're doing it, and change it, and make it more relevant. And that's what we're doing.

The multi-city idea:

QUESTION: For people who are home at that hour, are you looking at, as part of pushing the envelope, an approach perhaps to a multicity anchor, be it New York -- Washington-New York, L.A.-Chicago, with the mind-set of getting those regions involved? Is that something being tossed around? MOONVES: That is one of the things talked about. I don't know how realistic it is. But it used to be successful with Huntley-Brinkley being in different cities, and ABC News did it successfully. So that's one of the scenarios. Believe it or not, we're talking about everything, and we've been doing that since last summer.

Future of the Evening News:

QUESTION: Question for Les. How viable is the future of the evening news in its current form? MOONVES: It depends what you mean by its current form. QUESTION: A solo anchor. MOONVES: A solo anchor? We'll see. We'll see. There are a lot of alternatives for us to deal with. It's very possible it might not be the voice of God single anchor that has been in existence for so many years, that it might be time to change it up and do something different. QUESTION: What are the odds at this point that you will change from the current model? MOONVES: Gail, I'm not going to give you odds. Go to Vegas. It's a very good possibility that will happen. How about we leave it at that?

Andrew Heyward:

QUESTION: The second question. The Navy has a strong part in CBS's schedule. And in the Navy when the ship runs aground, the captain loses his command even if he was asleep when it happened. Why does Andrew Heyward still have his job? MOONVES: CBS News is not the Navy. Next question. QUESTION: Les, down here in the middle. The report went into -- QUESTION: I think that question deserves an answer more than a quip. MOONVES: All I would say to you is, as I said, I did about 25 interviews on Monday. I answered that question then, and I think I answered it now. Andrew Heyward has my support. I think he was led down a wrong path by his people. It demanded that every syllable be accurate. He said that he didn't want the story to be stampeded on the air. It did get on the air. He was let down. I made a decision. You obviously may disagree with the decision. That was the decision I made.

The resignations:

QUESTION: Les, on your left. What is the status of the three producers that have been asked to resign? Have they resigned? MOONVES: Not as yet. There are discussions going on with them. QUESTION: What is your option if they refuse to resign. MOONVES: I can't talk about that, Gail. It's frankly -- right now it's a legal issue, and I'm not allowed to talk about that.

60 Minutes Wednesday:

QUESTION: Will "60 Minutes Wednesday" continue on the air? Something you said the other day, you seem to be waffling on that. MOONVES: No. Once again, come May, we look at our pilots and we decide our schedule. "60 Minutes Wednesday" has to earn its right to be on the schedule. What happened on September 8 will not affect the decision to renew or not renew "60 Minutes." Now that we're an 18-49 network, and we're competitive there, its numbers have not been particularly wonderful long before that story went on the air. Jeff Fager said it accurately. It's his job to prove to us that it deserves a spot on the schedule, and that's what will be decided.

"In the upcoming weeks and months, we're going to be seizing this opportunity to look at CBS News with a fresh eye and the process of news gathering," Moonves said in his intro. "It's probably something we should have done a while ago. I think the incidents of the last few months caused this to happen, and hopefully we can turn lemons into lemonade."

> Reuters: "The good thing about being in third place is that we can try something different. We are looking at all sorts of options, ensembles, [broadcasting from] different cities...big names, little names..."

> Orlando Sentinel: "We're not going to keep doing what we're doing. Come later this year, some time, there's going to be a different show on the air. There's going to be a very different show than the show that's on the air now."

> Another from Reuters: "Maybe it is reinventing the wheel but it is something we are trying to do. There is going to be a very different show than the show that is on now."

> NYT: "When we were looking at redoing 'The Early Show' a few years ago, we said, 'Listen, you get two people sitting behind the desk like the other guys, we're going to lose.' The other networks do it very well. They have very solid people. We said, 'All right, we need much more of an ensemble feel'...The results are fantastic. We're very pleased with that."

> The NY Times calls the changes "significant" and "potentially revolutionary:" Moonves "said the strategy to sharply alter the newscast's format is directly tied to the critical battering CBS News received this month over its discredited report..."

> Moonves insisted he wanted a "revolution and not an evolution," Reuters says. The wire also says Rather "will remain at CBS News as a reporter, Moonves said without giving specifics."

> Gawker headline: "Jon Stewart to Replace Dan Rather? (World to Go Insane?)"

> "Different cities and host for different types of stories would be refreshing," an e-mailer says. "Have Couric do the human interest stories, have someone like John Roberts do the political headlines, someone else for the 'rest of the news,' and maybe Jon Stewart for an Entertainment wrap-up, all done with FOX-esque graphics and packaging. There'd be nothing wrong with it at all, and it'd set CBS Evening News apart."

A TV writer describes this morning's Moonves Q&A to RatherBiased: "It was somewhat like a bullfight," one critic said. "We'd ask some succession and scandal questions, he'd try to go after them, then we'd ease back with some entertainment questions, and then we'd pull out the red flag with some more Rather stuff." More...

Associated Press: "CBS will probably replace Dan Rather on the evening news with a multi-anchor, perhaps multi-city format that changes the 'antiquated' way of reporting the day's top stories," CBS chief Leslie Moonves told TV reporters at the TCA press tour this morning.

"Those days are over when you have that guy sitting behind the desk who everyone believes to the 'nth' degree," Moonves said. "It's sort of an antiquated way of news telling and maybe there's a new way of doing it." He refused to comment on Time's report about Katie Couric.

Moonves says CBS has to try and "reinvent" the evening news: "One of the ways we're looking at is making it younger and more relevant, something that younger people can relate to as opposed to that guy preaching from the mountaintop about what we should and should not watch."

> "Moonves wouldn't rule out a role on the evening news for Comedy Central's Jon Stewart," David Bauder adds...

USA Today's Mark Memmott updates the exit poll report story: "The firms that produced exit polls of voters last November this week told the news organizations that paid them what, if anything, they think went wrong with those surveys." CNN political director Tom Hannon "says representatives from ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC and the Associated Press want to review the report before releasing it later this week." The news orgs plan to follow "past practice regarding the exit poll data. That means information gathered by the exit pollsters -- showing, for example, breakdowns in support for Bush and Kerry by age, gender and race -- will soon be made public."

The rumors are true: "None of the news producers CBS asked to resign in the wake of the investigation into a 60 Minutes segment on President George Bush's military record has done so," Broadcasting & Cable reports. "They are in discussions now," Les Moonves told reporters this morning at the TCA press tour. "Moonves wouldn't comment on what the network might do if the producers refuse to resign, saying the matter is now being handled by lawyers."

Quoting the press release: "Heather Cabot has been named an anchor of ABC News' overnight news programs 'World News Now' and 'World News This Morning,' ABC News president David Westin announced today. 'Heather is a trusted name and familiar face on ABC stations around the country through her work at NewsOne. That experience and credibility will be an enormous asset to our overnight news programs,' said Mr. Westin."

Broadcasting & Cable explores several questions in the wake of the CBS report: Who really wrote the documents? How did the CBS News president keep his job? Why do the National Guard story in the first place? Will the people who were forced out ever work in the news business again? How can CBS restore its credibility -- and what will be the overall impact of this episode on the news business? Obviously a must-read...

> Flashback: Broadcasting & Cable, December 20: Couric is "Moonves' best choice:" "Swiping the Today co-host would be a move right out of his playbook."

> On FTVLive, two anonymous Today Show staffers say no way to Katie on the evening news: "The most important thing for Katie is her children, I don't see her taking that much time out of their lives," one insider said.

> "How did that last guy CBS got from the Today Show work out for them?," an e-mailer asks...

> Best headline: From the Pioneer Press: "Couric vies with guys for top CBS News anchor slot"

> TV prof Robert Thompson: "She could pull it off, but 'Today' would be crazy to let her go. She's already making a ton of money, and she's probably worth twice that. The Katie-Matt (Lauer) combo is the best in all of morning television." (LA Daily News)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown Jr.'s recent column about Fox News personalities provoked a a heated response from readers. "I had no idea I was insulting an entire disenfranchised and disrespected group of Americans," he writes. Here are some of the letters... (Via Newslab)

"This week, the firms that produced exit polls of voters last November will tell the news organizations that paid them what, if anything, they think went wrong," USA Today reports. Reps from the networks are reviewing the report "before making any decisions about what to make public." More...