Politico’s Dylan Byers digs deeper into the story of CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. Byers reports that Attkisson, who openly discussed the challenge of getting her stories on the air, is in talks to leave the network, but that CBS would like her to stay.

CBS News president David Rhodes is said to value her diligence, but there are others, most notably Pat Shevlin, the executive producer of CBS Evening News, who are wary of her motives and have even dismissed her, in private, as a partisan carrying water for Republicans. Alternatively, some sources suggested that Shevlin’s own political bias, which they described as liberal, was to blame.

“She is a dogged reporter, a good reporter, but some people here get the feeling she goes too far — that she’s agenda driven,” a source told Byers. “She’s not afraid, and that’s a great thing. But sometimes people here believe she has to be reined in.”

Janet Rollé, who has been CNN Worldwide’s chief marketing officer for the last two years, is leaving the network, TVNewser has learned. Rollé had previously worked at BET, MTV Networks and HBO.

In a note to staff, obtained by TVNewser, CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker writes, “In a busy time of new show launches and ongoing campaigns underscoring the strength of CNN and all its platforms, Janet led her team to successfully spread the word in creative, engaging ways. I want to thank her for that, and all that she has done in her tenure here.” Rick Lewchuk who is SVP of creative services will lead the department in the interim. Structural changes to CNN’s marketing department may be in store.

Fox News CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes sent a note to Fox News employees about recent revelations of DOJ investigations involving members of the press, including FNC correspondent James Rosen. “To be a Fox journalist is a high honor, not a high crime,” Ailes writes.

The administration’s attempt to intimidate Fox News and its employees will not succeed and their excuses will stand neither the test of law, the test of decency, nor the test of time. We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth.

In an interview soon after Pres. Obama’s re-election in November, Ailes told us Fox News’s often chilly relationship with the Obama White House was “day-to-day.”

“I don’t mind praising the guy and I don’t mind questioning the guy.”

The full memo after the jump…

(h/t Playbook)

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• PBS host Tavis Smiley celebrates his 2,000th show tomorrow. Smiley’s diverse guest list, from musicians to presidents, authors, actors, and activists, will be highlighted in a clip reel. Smiley’s show premiered on PBS in 2004.

• This Memorial Day Weekend CBS’s Steve Kroft, a Vietnam veteran, will host “Combat Stress: Finding the Way Home” on CBS Radio News. The one hour show explores the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on our nation’s veterans.
• Ann Curry anchored her first newscast for NBC News in 11 months. The former “Today” co-host was filling in for Brian Williams this evening on “Nightly News.” She posted this image (above) to Instagram about 15 minutes before the show.

Tom Mazzarelli (left) has been named Co-Executive Producer of the first two hours of NBC’s “Today” show, TVNewser has learned. At the same time, Tammy Filler has been named Co-EP of the third and fourth hours of the show. Both will report to show EP Don Nash.

Mazzarelli is a “Today” veteran, having served as a senior producer on the show from 2003-2006. He left NBC for CBS where, most recently, he was senior broadcast producer of “CBS This Morning,” a job he left in January. Nash took the top spot at “Today” in November. He reports to Alex Wallace who is executive-in-charge of the show.

On “CBS This Morning” co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell were talking about the falling price of gold with contributor Melody Hobson. The discussion turned to how gold has been sold over the years, on radio and TV. Those tactics even came under congressional scrutiny (by, as it turns out, the guy now running for NYC mayor). That led Rose to chime in: “I tend not to take stock advice from television.” Rose not only hosts a show on CBS, but also on business news channel Bloomberg.

Just to give you a sense of what the Jodi Arias trial has meant for cable news viewership, take a look at Tuesday’s 2pm hour. As the devastation in Moore, OK was still settling in, 1,000 miles to the west Arias was asking a jury to spare her life. While Fox News and MSNBC remained with storm coverage, HLN and CNN both carried Arias’ comments which began at 1:56pmET. Arias spoke for about 20 minutes. HLN won the 2pm hour Tuesday. In fact the network beat the combined averages of Fox News and MSNBC in both total viewers and the demo. Now you know why HLN has become the new CourtTV.

• 2pm hour, Tuesday May 21 (Total Viewers / A25-54)

HLN:  2,227,000 / 620,000
CNN:  964,000 / 332,000
Fox News:  1,488,000 / 270,000
MSNBC:  337,000 / 111,000

“Good Morning America” makes it 39 weeks straight as the most-watched morning show. Compared to the same week last year “GMA” is up +9% in viewers and up +1% in the demo, where it experienced the largest A25-54 advantage over “Today” in more than 2 months

The big gainer for the week is “CBS This Morning” which is up +19% in viewers and up +8 in the demo. NBC’s “Today” is down -9% / -14%, respectively.

Even more encouraging news for CBS: the younger viewer gap between “Today” and “CTM” last year stood at 1.302 million viewers; last week it was 902,000.

The averages for the week of May 13, 2013:

• Total Viewers: ABC: 5.589M / NBC: 4.712M / CBS: 2.859M

• A25-54 viewers: ABC: 2.107M / NBC: 1.918M / CBS: 1.016M

Bill O’Reilly went on “The Daily Show” last night to publicize his new book “Keep it Pithy.” The conversation began with the scandals in Washington, specifically the DOJ searches into reporters, including Fox News correspondent James Rosen, but moved on to racial profiling and ended with O’Reilly suggesting Jon Stewart should bring in a Muslim host as he takes leave from the show this Summer. Stewart: “You know it hurts me to say this, but some of the emails that the Department of Justice is finding from Fox News are probably between you and I.”

WATCH:

Following last week’s trifecta of scandals: Benghazi talking points, IRS targeting and DOJ phone taps, it turns out most Americans don’t give a damn. Late last week, the Pew Research Center surveyed a little more than 1,000 people and asked them if they are following the stories very closely.

26% said they are very closely following the IRS story; 25% are closely following the Benghazi investigation and just 16% are very closely following news about the Justice Department subpoenaing AP reporters’ phone records.

The numbers are greater if you’re a republican and less if you’re a democrat.