Blink of The Eye CBS shakes up management as it falters in the ratings

More than once in his 23 years as a researcher, producer, vice president and finally president of CBS News, Howard Stringer must have cursed the network's top brass. With one eye on the ratings and another on the bottom line, they have too often canceled a news program before it had a chance to catch on. Now Stringer will have no one to blame but himself. Last week, in a dramatic realignment of CBS management, Chief Executive Laurence Tisch elevated Stringer, 46, to the presidency of the CBS Broadcast Group. Though he has no direct experience in entertainment programming -- the network's bread and butter -- the Welsh-born newsman will now run everything from the CBS prime- time schedule to its radio shows.

For the first time in the network's history, an outsider will take over as news president: David Burke, executive vice president at ABC News. Outgoing Broadcast Group President Gene Jankowski will assume the less taxing post of broadcast chairman. Said Tisch: "This is a start of a new era."

And so it seems. After a long period of turmoil at CBS -- including protests against layoffs and budget cuts, and a spate of embarrassing kiss-and-tell books -- the appointments were greeted with unusual comity. Burke "is the right guy at the right time," said Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes. Executive Producer Don Hewitt was equally enthusiastic about Stringer's elevation: "Howard will provide a sympathetic ear to talented writers, and that is what show business is all about."

A shrewd politician and ebullient leader, Stringer says that, among other things, he hopes to mend fences with Hollywood's TV producers, many of whom have become disenchanted with CBS. "I want to make this a place where we can talk about ideas, new ways of doing things," he says. Given the network's unprecedented third-place finish in last season's prime-time ratings race, he is going to need all the good ideas he can muster.