The buzz in the news world is that Katie Couric may leave her anchor job at CBS Evening News. According to the Wall Street Journal (with information from CBS execs and other sources), Katie Couric may abandon her post as early as January 2009.

Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News contract runs through 2011, but speculation comes after continued low ratings and an astronomical salary for the perky former Today show host. With the need to cut costs and grab more viewers, Katie Couric may be on her way out.

Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News ratings are the bottom of the bunch — for the last week in March, she grabbed an average of 5.9 million viewers, while Brian Williams at NBC’s Nightly News had 8.3 million viewers and Charles Gibson at ABC’s World News snagged 8 million.

A spokeswoman for CBS Evening News denied the rumors, saying, “We are very proud of the CBS Evening News, particularly our political coverage, and we have no plans for any changes regarding Katie or the broadcast.”