CBS News president Susan Zirinsky created a "massive bible" of interviews before shaking up CBS Evening News and CBS This Morning

The New York Times

Zirinsky, who became CBS News president in a shakeup last fall, created five three-ring binders full of notes to figure out how to get CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News out of third place. “What I did was, when someone sent me an idea, I categorized it, I booked it,” she said. “I took the ideas I liked the most and created a massive bible. It was so long that I had to put a table of contents in it.” She added: “I am obsessive-compulsive. But I am a collaborative person.” Zirinsky said that Gayle King, who will stay at CBS This Morning, brings qualities to CBS News that it didn't have in its golden age. “Gayle has evolved as someone we’ve not ever had at CBS in that vein,” said Zirinsky, who joined CBS News during that golden age in 1972. “Sure, we’ve had the Mike Wallaces and the Ed Bradleys, but Gayle has this humanity, relatability, this curiosity. She’s smart, and people trust her.” Zirinsky also praised newly named CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell, calling her "a game-changer." Zirinsky even presented O’Donnell with a gift as part of her announcement: the Hermes Rocket manual typewriter she used when she worked at CBS News' Washington bureau in the early 1970s. Zirinsky said thanks to the CBS News shakeup, "now we can put teams together and build armies and really become battle ready."

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• Report: Gayle King negotiated an $11 million/year salary, compared to $7 million to $8 million yearly salary for Norah O'Donnell to anchor CBS Evening News
• Susan Zirinsky delivered the bad news to CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor after his Friday broadcast
• Glor briefly acknowledged his departure on Monday's CBS Evening News: "I have family, friends, and — in the future — far more to share with all of you"
• Zirinsky says she was unfazed by all the gossip and leaking about the impending shakeup: “Look, I had to tune out the noise to keep my focus on the end game"
• CBS News needs much more than a management shakeup to return to its glory days