World News with Charles Gibson
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| World News with Charles Gibson | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | News |
| Creator(s) | Roone Arledge |
| Starring | Charles Gibson (2006–present) Elizabeth Vargas (2006) Bob Woodruff (2006) Peter Jennings (1965–1967 and 1978–2005) Max Robinson (1978-1983) Frank Reynolds (1968-1970, 1978-1983) Barbara Walters (1976-1978) Harry Reasoner (1970-1978) Howard K. Smith (1969-1975) Bob Young (1967-1968) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | N/A (airs daily) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | 1953 (as ABC Evening News), July 10, 1978 (as World News Tonight), July 19, 2006 (as World News) – present |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
World News with Charles Gibson (previously known as World News Tonight and often abbreviated as WNT) is an American television news program. It is the ABC network's flagship news series. Charles Gibson currently serves as anchor on its weekday telecasts. Weekend broadcasts of the show are titled World News Saturday and World News Sunday.
[edit] Early years: 1953-1978
ABC first began a nightly newscast in fall 1953 with John Charles Daly as anchor of the then-15-minute ABC Evening News. Daly, who also hosted the CBS show What's My Line simultaneously, anchored the news until 1960 with multiple hosts and formats succeeding him. Hosts during the early 1960s included John Cameron Swayze (formerly of NBC), Howard K. Smith, Bill Lawrence, Bill Shadel, Fendall Winston Yerxa, Bill Sheehan and Edward P. Morgan. This lasted until 1962, when Ron Cochran was made full-time anchor, serving until 1964. Then, in 1965, a 26-year-old Canadian, Peter Jennings, was named anchor of Peter Jennings with the News. It was also during this time the program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes, some years after CBS and NBC had done so.
In 1967, the inexperienced Jennings left the anchor chair and was reassigned as an international correspondent for the news program. ABC News was hosted by Bob Young (October 1967 to May 1968), Frank Reynolds (May 1968 to May 1969), and, eventually, Reynolds and Howard K. Smith (May 1969 to December 1970).
Harry Reasoner, formerly of CBS News and 60 Minutes, joined ABC 1970 to co-anchor ABC Evening News with Smith, beginning in December. In 1975, after Smith stepped down into semi-retirement, Reasoner assumed sole anchor responsibilities until his pairing in 1976 with Barbara Walters, the first female network anchor. Ratings for the nightly news broadcast declined shortly thereafter, possibly due in part to the lack of chemistry between Reasoner and Walters. Reasoner would soon return to CBS and 60 Minutes, while Walters became a regular on the newsmagazine 20/20.
[edit] World News Tonight: The Early Years 1978-1983
Always the perennial third in the national ratings, ABC News president Roone Arledge reformatted the program, relaunching it as World News Tonight on July 10, 1978. Frank Reynolds, demoted when the network hired Reasoner, returned as lead anchor, reporting from Washington D.C. Max Robinson, the first African American network news anchor, anchored national news from Chicago, and, also returning for a second stint, was Jennings, reporting international headlines from London. Occasional contributions included special reports by Barbara Walters and commentary by Howard K. Smith. The program’s distinct and easily identifiable theme was written by Bob Israel. Ratings slowly climbed to the point where "World News Tonight" eventually beat both NBC Nightly News and the CBS Evening News, marking the first time ABC ever had the most popular network evening newscast.
[edit] "First News" strategy
Because ABC had nowhere near the number of affiliates as the other two major networks and, thus, especially in smaller markets, was often carried by a station primarily affiliated with another network, ABC chose to feed its evening newscast to its affiliates at 6 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Central, one half-hour ahead of CBS and NBC. Even in areas with three full-time affiliates, ABC stations often opted to broadcast the news at 6/5 in order to entice viewers by presenting the day's national and international news first, thus making it more likely that they would stay tuned to the station's local newscast immediately following (or a half hour afterward), instead of turning to CBS or NBC. (In some markets, especially in the Eastern time zone, it was not unusual for the ABC affiliate to air its local newscast at 5:30, followed by the network news at 6, then syndicated sitcom reruns or game shows at 6:30.) As the youngest and least viewed of the networks, ABC employed the strategy to get a foothold on the American public's consciousness, although stations were quite free to tape-delay the feed in order to run it against the other two networks, or, in some larger markets especially, at 7/6 p.m. Eventually, though, by the 1980s, when all markets obtained full-time ABC affiliates and the evening newscast won the ratings, the network discontinued the practice and started feeding to stations at the conventional time of 6:30/5:30.
[edit] World News Tonight With Peter Jennings: 1983-2005
In April 1983, Reynolds became ill, leaving Jennings and Robinson to co-anchor the broadcast until his planned return; he never did and succumbed to bone cancer on July 20. A rotation of replacement anchors (including Jennings) anchored the program until August 9, 1983 when Jennings became the sole anchor and senior editor of World News Tonight. In September 1984, the program was renamed World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in order to reflect its sole anchor and senior editor. Robinson left ABC News in 1984, after stints of hosting news briefs and anchoring weekend editions of World News Tonight; he died of AIDS in 1988.
With Jennings as lead anchor, World News Tonight was the most-watched national newscast from 1985 to 1997, but during the late 1990s and early 2000s, it has been in second place behind its main rival, NBC Nightly News.
In April 2005, Jennings announced that he had lung cancer and, as before, other ABC News anchors, mostly consisting of 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas and Good Morning America co-anchor Charles Gibson, filled in for him. Jennings died of lung cancer on August 7, 2005, at his apartment in New York City at the age of 67.
The August 8, 2005 edition of the program was dedicated to Jennings' memory and four-decade career in news. During his career, Jennings had reported from every major world capital and war zone, and from all 50 U.S. states, according to the network. The Jennings era was known for his ability to calmly portray events as they were happening. He was known for his coverage of many major world events.
- Further information: Peter Jennings
[edit] World News Tonight with Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas: January 2006-May 2006
On December 5, 2005, ABC announced Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would be the new permanent co-anchors starting January 3, 2006, replacing Jennings. People in the news industry looked at the choice of Vargas and Woodruff by ABC News as the start of a new era in network television news.
The broadcast was produced live three times per day: the regular Eastern/Central Time zone live broadcast, plus separate broadcasts for the Mountain and Pacific time zones. In addition, a live webcast, World News Now, with a newsbrief and a preview of that evening's broadcast, was added. The webcast currently airs live at 3 p.m. ET on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com and can be viewed throughout the rest of the day after 4 p.m. Eastern.
On January 29, 2006, Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were injured by a road-side bomb while riding in an Iraqi military convoy. Both underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Balad (50 miles north of Baghdad). It was reported that both men suffered head injuries, even though they were both wearing body armor and helmets. Both men were evacuated to a U.S military hospital in Germany on January 30, 2006. Woodruff and Vogt were later transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in the U.S. for further treatment and released for outpatient treatment.
On February 10, 2006 ABC announced that Elizabeth Vargas was pregnant and due to give birth in late summer.
For about a month, Good Morning America co-hosts Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer had taken turns co-anchoring the newscast with Elizabeth Vargas. From about March 2006 to May 2006, Elizabeth Vargas had been anchoring the broadcast alone, becoming the first de facto female evening news solo anchor. At the time, it was unknown what ABC News planned to do until Bob Woodruff returned to the anchor chair, which appeared to be nowhere in the near future, and when Vargas began her maternity leave. Rumors flew that Diane Sawyer wanted to become the sole anchor of WNT in order to beat Katie Couric's switch to the CBS anchor chair.[1] However, the New York Post's Cindy Adams reported that Charles Gibson would become Bob Woodruff's Temporary Permanent Replacement. [2].
Starting around March 2006, the West Coast editions of WNT were scaled back due to the fact that Elizabeth Vargas anchored the broadcast on her own at the time. [3]
[edit] World News with Charles Gibson: 2006-present
On May 23, 2006, Elizabeth Vargas announced her resignation from World News Tonight. Charles Gibson was then named sole anchor of the show, effective May 29, 2006, effectively replacing Vargas and her injured co-anchor Bob Woodruff. [4] Vargas cited her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due to her maternity leave, and her wish to spend more time with her new baby. She has since returned to co-anchor 20/20 and ABC News specials, and has already substituted for Gibson on World News.
Bob Woodruff, although still recovering from his injuries, returned to WNT on February 28, 2007.[5]
While the 3 p.m. World News Now webcast remains, the West Coast editions have been scrapped. Gibson will continue to update the newscast as warranted for the other time zones, but the entire newscast will not be presented live, as was previously the case.
Some media analysts found the reasons for the change to be merely a cover for ABC News' real intentions to bring stability to its flagship news program that had been slipping in the ratings, and to attract some older viewers away from the CBS Evening News with interim anchor Bob Schieffer. [6] [7] Indeed, the advertising campaign focuses on Gibson's experience, calling Gibson "Your Trusted Source", similar to a campaign for Peter Jennings, "Trust is Earned", in the wake of the Killian documents scandal at CBS and Brian Williams' assumption of the NBC anchor chair. [8] Since being named permanent anchor, Gibson seems to be slowly closing the gap between his broadcast and NBC Nightly News.
On July 19, 2006, ABC News announced that World News Tonight would be now known as World News With Charles Gibson.[9] The network chose to make the minor name change in order to reflect the program's availablity twenty-four hours a day through its webcast and through ABCNews.com.
In the 2007 February sweeps, World News with Charles Gibson achieved the number one spot in the Nielsen ratings for nightly news broadcasts, overtaking NBC Nightly News. This was ABC's first victory since the week Peter Jennings died in August 2005 and the first time since 1996.[10]
Jon Banner is currently the show's executive producer.
[edit] Weekends
WNT expanded to six nights a week with World News Sunday on January 28, 1979, and to a full 7 days with the premiere of World News Saturday on January 5, 1985. These editions added the word "Tonight" in the mid-1990s, and in the mid-2000s, their respective names were shortened to simply World News Tonight to correspond with the weekday editions. However, the original names were restored on July 19, 2006 to go along with the weekday broadcast's name change, but the title card says World News for both days.
Prior to 1979, the only network newscasts ABC stations broadcasted on weekends were 15-minute late-night updates on Saturdays and Sundays, seen on many affiliates in tandem with the local 11 p.m./10 p.m. Central newscasts, although some stations opted to tape delay them until immediately before sign-off time. ABC discontinued the late-night weekend service sometime in the late 1980s.
Also, starting in 1973, then-co-anchor Harry Reasoner hosted "The Reasoner Report," a half-hour topical look at important stories; affiliates usually carried the program in the time slots where the main newscast aired on weeknights. The program ended in 1975.
Some former anchors of the weekend news include Sam Donaldson from the mid-1970s to 1988, Carole Simpson from 1988-2003, Elizabeth Vargas in the mid 90's, Terry Moran from 2001-2005, and Bob Woodruff from 2003-2005. Currently, David Muir is the Saturday edition anchor and Dan Harris is the Sunday edition anchor.
During the fall months, the Saturday broadcast is usually pre-empted by ESPN on ABC's college football coverage.
[edit] International Broadcasts
ABC News programming is shown for several hours a day on the 24-hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes ABC World News.
In the UK, the programme is shown at 01:30 on BBC News 24. BBC News 24 is frequently simulcast by BBC Two (and, less frequently, BBC One) at this time, meaning the programme is broadcast terrestrially throughout the UK.
In Australia, WNT is shown every morning at 10:30 on Sky News Australia. In New Zealand, WNT is shown every afternoon at 12:30 on Sky News New Zealand
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
- ABC World News With Charles Gibson Official Website
- ABC Evening News/World News Tonight/World News at the Internet Movie Database
- Network News Music: ABC
| Anchors of ABC Evening News/World News Tonight/World News |
|---|
| Daly • Young • Reynolds • Smith • Reasoner • Walters • Robinson • Jennings • Woodruff • Vargas • Gibson |
