Once again, 60 Minutes, the venerable CBS News magazine, has proved the analysts wrong in winning last week as the highest-rated show on all of television with an audience of 18.47 million viewers Sunday night.

Two sets of analysts, actually.

The first group proven wrong by that number one ranking includes those pundits who foolishly assumed America's interest in news, politics and public affairs was suddenly going to end last Tuesday with the election of a new president. The newsmagazine's lead story was a savvy backstage interview taped on election night with President-elect Barack Obama's braintrust. It was an illuminating conversation -- especially in terms of race -- lead by Steve Kroft, and you can read my Sunday night review of it here.

 The second group of know-it-alls are the new-media gurus who have been pointing to 60 Minutes as the poster dinosaur for network news. Last week's tube-topping ratings mark the second consecutive week and the fourth time in seven weeks that TV's number-one newsmagazine made the top 10 list of all shows on TV.

Do you know how many millions (tens of millions) of dollars 60 Minutes has made for CBS since it was pronounced a dinosaur supposedly crawling to the media boneyard?

I will tell you what 60 Minutes is: It's the poster show for all those smart enough to understand that media epochs do not begin and end on a dime. Those who have actually studied media history know that the periods of transition can last decades. And as inevitable as the new media in which I now write this blog are, there are still tens of millions of dollars to be made in network TV news and the newspaper that pays my salary -- for many, many years to come.

And, by the way, it's not all about prime-time dollars -- nice as those are. When you attract 18 million prime-time viewers, you have enormous cultural clout. You are still setting and reflecting the national agenda like no other media.

Way to go, 60 Minutes.

(Photo of Obama advisers from 60 Minutes courtesy of CBS News)