Katie Couric is sitting in her all-white office, deep in the CBS News building in midtown Manhattan. The evening-news show she anchors has scored third place in the ratings almost continuously since she took over the top spot in 2006. But she has experienced something of a bounce since her series of interviews with Sarah Palin, which left the candidate squirming like an Alaskan sockeye caught in a net. Condé Nast Portfolio talked with Couric about feminism, Hillary, and the future of TV news.

A lot of people complained about sexism in the coverage of this election. Did you see it? I do think there is still sexism in the coverage. We’re still in a place in our society where sexism is more palatable than racism. It’s not as repugnant to people. There is still a mentality that you can make jokes about how someone’s hot or a babe, and about gender roles, in a way that is completely taboo vis-à-vis race.

Why do you think so many people had a negative reaction to Hillary Clinton? She’s ambitious. And I think there are still qualities that when women exhibit them are less acceptable than when men naturally exhibit them—like ambition.

Have you suffered from similar problems with your press coverage? I think there might be some of that. It might be because of my background—that I did a morning show and that people didn’t necessarily think I was a serious person. You know, I am sort of outgoing and friendly, and I think some people think that is incongruous with being serious and intelligent. So I think there may be all sorts of reasons, and that a lot of it is conditioned and behavioral.

You asked Sarah Palin if she thought of herself as a feminist. Do you consider yourself one? Oh yeah. I am. I am. I feel very strongly that women should have equal opportunity. I believe strongly in civil rights. I don’t want to get into too much else.

You have said in the past that perhaps the viewing public wasn’t ready to get its nightly news from
a woman. Is that changing? Sometimes I think maybe it was because I had come from the ­Today show, too, you know? Maybe Andrea Mitchell wouldn’t have as much of a challenging transition. Because I came from a show where I kind of did everything. I mean, I flew across Rockefeller Plaza as Peter Pan one year. And suddenly I’m in an evening newscast. I think people were a little bit like, “Well, what happened to her? She used to be full of life, and now she’s very stern and serious.” Because I’m a very spontaneous person, and I do have a lot of personality. Does that sound conceited?

No, it’s true. Has CBS supported all of the work you’ve been doing on the Web? I always wanted to have a strong inter­net presence, and I really pushed to have a webcast. I think CBS needs to be more aggressive, quite frankly, in putting its product on the Web and having a greater Web presence. Plus I thought the sensibility on the inter­net and the whole vibe—which makes me sound like I’m about 80—of the internet is so different, and is so much more authentic and natural and real and raw, that it would give me an opportunity to not feel as if I had to be so buttoned up.