CBS News is experimenting with a number of different formats for the post-Dan Rather 30-minute evening news broadcast. Details are speculative at best, mostly because CBS News staffers said the process of developing an evening news format was "too sensitive" to give anything more than anonymous tips. Maybe it's a sign of "out-of-the-box" thinking at the media titan -- or maybe it's a sign of panic at a dying media brontosaurus -- but it sounds like CBS News is pulling out all the stops to create something fresh and new:

"In trying to elicit fresh ideas, [the chairman of CBS] has cast a wide net. Earlier this year he sought advice from executives far afield of the news division, including those who conceived the "Dr. Phil" talk show and others from MTV News. A report yesterday in The New York Observer said the network had asked dozens of college-age summer interns to give Olympic-style ratings - on a scale of 1 to 10 - to ideas for revamping the news."