Monitoring the Media   

E die Magnus had no trouble bouncing back from the demise of her last job, as a correspondent for the now-defunct "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung ." That's because she helped shape her new beat, covering the media for "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather ."

The beat, created jointly by Magnus and CBS Evening News Executive Producer Andrew Heyward , stemmed from Magnus' feeling that there was a void in new media coverage at the major networks, where reports on such high-tech topics as the World Wide Web were sporadic.

She plans to change all that. "I am truly interested in all the subjects that it is now my pleasure to cover," she says. "Everywhere I turn there is something I think is endlessly fascinating and newsworthy."

So far Magnus, 38, has reported on such topics as the debate over the content of TV's daytime talk shows and the latest computer animation craze. She also covered a major controversy focusing on her own network: CBS' decision to scrap a "60 Minutes" interview with a former tobacco executive (see "Fighting Back," page 34). "I was happy we did [the report] but it was a little uncomfortable," she says, adding, "two of the most ubiquitous subjects in America are '60 Minutes' and smoking."

While her "Eye to Eye" reports often lasted from eight to 11 minutes, the Cincinnati native now finds herself struggling to adjust to the one- to two-minute format of evening news reports.

But she manages to put a positive spin on the shift. "I can't cover as much ground," she says, "so it becomes incumbent to hit the high points."