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I know the rigors of network news. I didn't want to be jumping on an airplane twice a week. I didn't want to be tied to my pager and my cellphone.

Today, especially, when there are so many stations for viewers to choose from, if they want news, they always come to CNN and that's where I wanted to be.

I think that what people want from cable news channels is the sense that if there's hard news, it's going to come up immediately.

The truth is I don't watch a lot of news, except for when I'm here at the office watching Fox News. I get my news online primarily when I'm not watching the channel.

I get really frustrated during a crisis when I go through all the cable channels and find - very often with the exception of CNN - that I'm not watching news at all. You think, 'Well, God... there are talk shows, talk shows, talk shows and everyone is an expert!'

Time off from the news is always something I welcome.

With news, especially investigative pieces, you've got to be really smart and really lucky to be timely and to not get beaten by the big guys. You can't go head-to-head with the networks.

Cable news is more titillating to talk about who's up and who's down and all that nonsense as opposed to what's actually done.

When I was leaving NBC News to go to CNN, people would say, 'What?! Why would you possibly leave the 'Today Show' to go to cable?' If I would've listened to people, I would've been on a great platform, but I wouldn't have grown as a journalist. So far, most of the steps in my career have been really good.

People essentially like local news better than network news.