Door’s not barred for Katie

CBS News chief Sean McManus says he expects that Katie Couric will stay at the network “for a long time.”

Although no negotiations have taken place, McManus offered the strongest signal yet that CBS is interested in Couric beyond her May 2011 contract expiration – a possibility once considered remote.

“I am not anticipating, nor do I want to anticipate, life at CBS News without Katie Couric,” he said.

CBS News is in the process of job cuts across all of its broadcasts.

Despite cutbacks in bureaus outside of the United States, McManus noted the network had four correspondents and five camera crews in Haiti within 16 hours of last month’s earthquake.

Couric was one of them. Since she’s CBS News’ highest-paid employee, at an annual salary estimated at nearly $15 million, Couric has been the subject of some anonymous grumbling by people upset with the layoffs.

“I don’t think it’s fair at all,” McManus said. “There is no relationship between how much money Katie is paid and the adjustments we make to our budget periodically.”

He wouldn’t speak to whether she’d be asked to take a large pay cut in order to return.

The “CBS Evening News” has remained in third place in the ratings behind NBC and ABC.

But McManus cited Couric’s interviews with Sarah Palin and Alex Rodriguez, along with trips to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If you look at what she’s contributed in terms of quality work … it’s hard to imagine that a news organization wouldn’t want someone like Katie working for them,” he said.

The birthday bunch

Singer Carole King is 68. Actor Joe Pesci is 67. Actress Mia Farrow is 65. Country singer Travis Tritt is 47. Actor David Gallagher (“Seventh Heaven”) is 25. Actress Camille Winbush (“The Bernie Mac Show”) is 20.