In literature, the phoenix is a mythological bird used as a symbol of death and resurrection. Phoenix also is a word used to describe a thing of excellence. What better icon for CBS News to adopt?

Earlier this month, CBS appointed Andrew Heyward as News Division president. The task will be daunting for this 45-year-old, 20 year veteran of the network wars. But the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa is highly respected, and the early betting is, Heyward will be able to restore a lot of the luster that CBS News has lost–provided that new owner Westinghouse gives him the money.

If his predecessors’ experiences serve any lesson, Heyward will be getting a lot of advice on how to do his job. Here’s some from Maine:

“It seems to me that one of the best things they could do is look backwards instead of forwards, at least as a first step, and look back to what the good old days of CBS were,” said Larry Henrichs, news director of the network’s Portland affiliate, WGME-TV.

“Look for the new blood that has that kind of journalistic ethic,” he added. “Bottom line is, get back to meaningful journalism. Review what it was that made CBS the dynasty that it was.”

Don Colson, news director of the Bangor CBS station, WABI-TV, agreed. He said the tradition that began with Edward R. Murrow “was ingrained in CBS with Cronkite and that generation. Unfortunately, today the field staff at CBS is not as experienced.”

That’s because the reporter and producer ranks at CBS News were decimated by years of budget cuts. Colson suggested that the news division start over, and “develop a field force, an experienced field force…I just think CBS needs to be patient.”

Henrichs advised that Heyward “call a summit, if you will. Get Walter (Cronkite). Get (Charles) Kuralt. Sit down and have this summit about what was it that we did that was so good about who we were, and how can we get back to that again.”

The “CBS Evening News” when Cronkite was anchor, and, for the first five years after Dan Rather took over, ruled the airwaves. But CBS’ flagship news broadcast began a decline a decade ago, and in the most recent ratings, two million fewer viewers watched Rather than tuned in to ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

The CBS affiliates in Maine buck a national trend, however, and, as Henrichs put it, “actually drag up the `Evening News’ by virtue of what we deliver to them.” WABI-TV’s 6 p.m. news broadcast dominates the Bangor market, and WGME-TV’s is in a tight ratings race with the NBC affiliate in southern Maine.

Colson said that CBS News “has the intellect and the depth…It’s doing some good stuff. I hope they don’t go to tabloidism. We’ve got enough of that as there is.”

“It seems like we are getting further and further away from the issues that we live with every day,” said Henrichs. “We’re talking about shootings and this and that, and, of course, that’s news. But you don’t get left with that feeling of a sweet taste of hope.”

He added, “That may be because of the transition of the news to be more, I don’t know, tabloid? I hate to use the word `tabloid,’ because I think we all do it. The networks have to provide leadership…CBS, of all the TV networks, used to provide incredible leadership.”

Henrichs noted that the Old Guard of CBS News “really connected with the audience…They got the fabric of the country…You got a sense of what else was going on in the country. I don’t think any of the networks do that anymore.”

One way to correct this is for CBS News to turn to its many affiliates for help.

“If you believe in the absolute purity of journalism,” said Henrichs, “we bring a touch of the fabric of what this country is about. Our pain about unemployment, our pain about taxation, our pain about all the issues that are being talked about don’t get heard… You hear from the leadership. You hear from white guys in ties… But it seems like the one thing the networks have done that’s kind of confusing to me as the local guy is, they’ve lost touch with their audience.”

There’s an easy way to begin correcting this problem. If CBS News wants to have a future, perhaps it should study its past.

Sandor M. Polster of Durham was for 20 years a news editor and producer for CBS Evening News and, later, NBC Nightly News.