| CBS Evening News | |
|---|---|
Title card for CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. |
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| Format | News |
| Created by | Don Hewitt |
| Presented by | Weekdays: Scott Pelley (2011–present) Saturdays: Various (2012–present) Sundays: Jeff Glor (2012–present) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | American English |
| No. of seasons | 61 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Patricia Shevlin |
| Running time | 15 minutes (1948–1963) 30 minutes (1963–Present) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i (16:9 SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | May 3, 1948 (as CBS Television News), 1950 (as Douglas Edwards with the News), April 16, 1962 (as Walter Cronkite with the News), September 2, 1963 (as CBS Evening News) – present |
The CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963.
The CBS Evening News is currently anchored by Scott Pelley on weekdays. It is broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center at 524 West 57th Street in New York City.[1]
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CBS began broadcasting news shows on Saturday nights, expanding to two nights a week in 1947. On May 3, 1948, Douglas Edwards began anchoring CBS Television News, a regular 15-minute nightly newscast. It aired every weeknight at 7:30 PM, and was the first regularly scheduled television news program. The week's news stories were recapped Sunday night with Newsweek in Review. The name was later shortened to Week in Review and the show was moved to Saturday.
In 1950, the name of the nightly news was changed to Douglas Edwards with the News, and the following year, it became the first news program to be broadcast on both coasts, thanks to a new coaxial cable connection, prompting Edwards to use the greeting "Good evening everyone, coast to coast."[2]
The program competed against the NBC's Camel News Caravan that was launched in 1949 with John Cameron Swayze. Edwards attracted more viewers during the mid-1950s, but began losing them when Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were teamed up by NBC on the Huntley-Brinkley Report. In September 1955, Edwards was moved to 6:45 PM, with some affiliates having the option of carrying a 7:15 PM edition.
On November 30, 1956, the show became the first to use the new technology of videotape to time delay the broadcast (which originated in New York City) for the western U.S.[3]
Walter Cronkite became anchor on April 16, 1962. On September 2, 1963, CBS Evening News became network television's second half-hour weeknight news broadcast, lengthened from its original 15 minutes, and telecast at 6:30 PM, being the Huntley-Brinkley Report as the first, by only a few months. As before, some affiliates (including flagship owned and operated station WCBS-TV 2 in New York) had the option of carrying a later edition, this time scheduled for 7 PM. NBC also allowed this practice for The Huntley-Brinkley Report and later ABC did so for Evening News. The networks ended this practice after 1971, although some affiliates, mostly in larger markets, continued carrying the broadcasts at 7 PM via tape delay from the original 6:30 PM time (the Atlanta's WSB-TV 2, an ABC affiliate, for example, shows ABC World News at 7 PM rather than 6:30 PM, in order to broadcast an hour of local news. This unintentionally enables local viewers to watch both the ABC national news and one of its competitors without having to record one of the broadcasts on VCR's or DVR's).
The news program broadcast in color for one evening on August 19, 1965,[4] and made the switch permanently on January 31, 1966.[5] Cronkite's 1968 editorial, declaring that the United States could only hope for a stalemate in Vietnam, is often credited with influencing Lyndon Johnson's decision to drop out of the Presidential race. "If I've lost Walter Cronkite ... [I]'ve lost Middle America", he stated.[6]
Under Cronkite, the newscast began what would eventually become an eighteen-year period of dominating the nightly news ratings.[7] In the process, Cronkite became "the most trusted man in America" according to a Gallup Poll, a status that had first been fostered by his coverage of the JFK Assassination.[8]
With the retirement of NBC's Huntley in 1970, Cronkite moved into the ratings lead, holding it through the decade. Cronkite's image was further bolstered by his enthusiastic support for the space program, culminating with his anchoring of CBS News' coverage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.
In late 1972, Cronkite prodded the show's producers to feature two nights of lengthy explanation of the Watergate scandal, which had been extensively covered by The Washington Post but had not received major national coverage. After the first half of the report, shown on a Friday, ran for 14 minutes – roughly half of the air time of the broadcast – White House officials complained to CBS founder William S. Paley. Monday's report was aired, but only for eight minutes.[9]
Cronkite retired from the broadcast March 6, 1981, nine months before his 65th birthday, under a CBS policy requiring mandatory retirement at 65. CBS correspondent Dan Rather, then 49, replaced Cronkite the following Monday.
Dan Rather had been a CBS news correspondent since the early 1960s and later a 60 Minutes correspondent. He began anchoring the program on March 9, 1981. By 1990, Evening News was in third place behind ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.[7]
Concerns about excessive liberalism in the media were frequently leveled at Rather, the CBS Evening News, CBS News and CBS in general.[10][11][12] Some of these concerns dated from Rathers' position as White House correspondent for CBS News during the Nixon administration. An interview related to the Iran–Contra affair with then-Vice President George H.W. Bush where the two engaged in a shouting match on live television did little to dispel those concerns.[13] Rather apologized for his behavior in statements the following day.
On September 1, 1986, amidst a brewing battle on CBS's Board of Directors for control of the company and turmoil at CBS News, Rather closed his broadcast with the word "Courage", repeating it the following night. On September 3, he said what he thought was the Spanish word for "courage", pronouncing it "cur-AH-he". In the face of media attention and pleas from his staff, Rather abandoned the signoff on September 8.[14]
On September 11, 1987, Dan Rather marched off the camera in anger when it appeared that CBS Sports' coverage of a U.S. Open tennis semifinal match was going to cut into time allotted for his program. Rather was in Miami covering the visit to the city by Pope John Paul II. When the tennis match ended at 6:32 PM, Rather was nowhere to be found. Six minutes of dead air followed before he returned to the broadcast position. Nearly half of the audience watched and waited. Rather later suggested that he intented to force the sports department to fill up the entire half-hour so that he wouldn't have to truncate their elaborately-planned coverage of the papal visit.
Demonstrators from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) broke into the CBS News studio on January 23, 1991, and chanted "Fight AIDS, not Arabs" during the show's introduction. One protester was seen on camera just as Rather began speaking. Rather immediately called for a commercial break and later apologized to viewers about the incident.[15]
From June 1, 1993, to May 18, 1995, Connie Chung co-anchored the broadcast with Dan Rather. Chung normally co-anchored in the studio with Rather, but sometimes one appeared on location, while the other remained in the studio. Though Rather never said so publicly, CBS News insiders said he did not approve of her appointment.[16]
The newscast returned to a solo anchor format in 1995 with Dan Rather continuing in his role as anchor.
At age 73, Rather retired from the Evening News on March 9, 2005, exactly 24 years after succeeding Cronkite. Rather left the anchor position amidst controversy and a credibility crisis over reports broadcast in the heat of the 2004 presidential election campaign. The report was a September 2004 60 Minutes Wednesday segment questioning President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard record. Conservatives challenged the authenticity of the documents used for the report. A number of bloggers analyzed scans of the documents, and rapidly concluded they were forgeries. Subsequently, CBS commissioned an independent inquiry into the matter and several CBS staffers were fired or asked to resign.
After departing from Evening News, Rather continued to work on other CBS News programming as a correspondent. On June 20, 2006, CBS News President Sean McManus announced that Rather and CBS had agreed to end his 44 year career with the network.
On March 10, 2005, Rather was succeeded on an interim basis by Face the Nation host and CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer.
At the time Schieffer took over, it was uncertain how long he would host the broadcast, whether it would retain its current shape or instead adopt some kind of multiple host or alternative format.
Under Rather in the years leading up to his retirement, the show trailed its rivals at ABC and NBC by a fairly large margin. White House correspondent John Roberts, and Scott Pelley, his predecessor in that position, were often mentioned as possible successors to Rather when he retired.[17] Jim Axelrod became White House correspondent when Roberts later left for CNN.
In the months following Rather's departure, the program came to emphasize live exchanges between Schieffer and various CBS News correspondents around the world. In contrast to traditional network news practice, these exchanges are unrehearsed as part of an effort to make the language on the broadcast sound more "natural".[18] Viewership levels increased over this period of time. It was the only news broadcast to gain viewers during 2005. In November 2005, CBS announced that Evening News executive producer Jim Murphy would be replaced by Rome Hartman, who took the helm over in January 2006.
Schieffer led the CBS Evening News to become the #2 evening news broadcast, ahead of ABC World News Tonight. The death of anchor Peter Jennings in 2005 coupled with the adoption of a multi-anchor format on World News Tonight and life threatening injuries to Bob Woodruff, leaving Elizabeth Vargas as sole anchor, in January 2006 put the ABC News division in flux. When Charles Gibson was appointed as anchor at World News Tonight, ABC regained stability and momentum to regain the #2 spot. Bob Schieffer's final broadcast of the newscast occurred on August 31, 2006. Russ Mitchell filled in for the following two nights (September 1 and 4), after which he was succeeded on September 5 by Katie Couric.
During this time, Schieffer commuted to New York, where he anchored Evening News, from Washington D.C., his home and the location of Face the Nation.
On December 1, 2005, it was reported that Katie Couric, co-anchor of NBC's Today, was considering CBS' offer to anchor Evening News. On April 1, 2006, Couric officially signed a contract to become the anchor of Evening News. On April 5, 2006, Couric announced on Today that she would be leaving the show and NBC News. She had been a co-anchor for fifteen years.[19]
Couric began working at CBS News in July 2006. During her first broadcast as anchor on September 5, 2006, new graphics, a new set, and a new theme composed by Academy Award winning composer James Horner were introduced. Similar graphics and music would be used in other CBS News productions such as Up to the Minute, CBS Morning News, and The Early Show throughout the month of October. A new opening title sequence was designed, with Walter Cronkite providing the voiceover, replacing Wendell Craig unless a temporary voice-over was needed. Morgan Freeman started doing the voice over on January 4, 2010. The program also debuted a new feature called "freeSpeech" in which different Americans, ranging from a well known national figures to average people, would provide news commentary.[20] After overwhelmingly negative reaction, the segment was discontinued.
On March 8, 2007, The New York Times reported that executive producer Rome Hartman was being replaced by television news veteran Rick Kaplan. Hartman's last production aired on March 7. Kaplan came to Evening News after stints at MSNBC, CNN, and ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
On April 4, 2007, Couric did a one-minute commentary about the importance of reading in a piece substantially lifted from a Wall Street Journal column by Jeffrey Zaslow. Couric claimed that she remembered her first library card, but the words were all from Zaslow's column. It was determined that a producer had actually written the piece. What made the plagiarism especially striking was the personal flavor of the video—now removed from the cbsnews.com—that began, "I still remember when I got my first library card, browsing through the stacks for my favorite books." [21]
Much of the rest of the script was stolen from the Journal. Zaslow said at the time that CBS had "been very gracious and apologetic, and we at the Journal appreciate it." [22] This is considered double plagiarism. The producer who wrote the piece copied from someone else for Couric and the anchor claimed the words were hers when they were not.[23][24] The producer responsible for Courics' piece, Melissa McNamara, was fired hours after the Journal contacted CBS News to complain.[22][25] The network promised changes in its procedures.[26]
On August 27, 2008, MediaBistro wrote a piece about the Big Three network newscasts, praising Courics' Evening News for extensive reporting that had, in its opinion, content better than its rivals.[27] Another critic from MarketWatch praised Courics' work and said that people should watch out for her in 2009.[28] Washington Post writer Tom Shales praised Couric as a warmer, more benevolent presence than her two competitors, something that she brought to the program nearly 16 years of goodwill from doing "Today" and becoming America's sweetheart, or else very close to it, and he claimed that this goodwill remained. He added that viewers may find bad news less discomforting and sleep-depriving if Couric gives it to them. He also added that she doesn't try to sugarcoat or prettify grim realities. According to Shales, "Evening News" may be a more hospitable, welcoming sort of place than its competitors. He concluded by stating that it's naive to think that viewers choose their news anchor based solely on strict journalistic credentials, though Courics' do seem to be in order, despite her critics' claims.[29]
The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric won the 2008 and 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast. In September 2008, Couric interviewed Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, earning respect from a MarketWatch critic for asking tough questions.[30]
On May 18, 2009, the newscast's graphics were overhauled, using a blue and red color scheme with web-influenced motifs and layouts. The new graphics design feature a look influenced by the graphics CBS used during the 2008 presidential election coverage.[31]
Ratings during Couric's period as anchor have fluctuated, seemingly improving at times, but also posting historic lows dating back to at least the 1991-92 season.[32] Despite receiving awards, positive critiques, and 'overhauled' on-air presentation, the newscast remains mired in third place—behind its competitors at NBC and ABC.[33]
Couric had been the only solo female network news anchor in the United States from September 5, 2006, until December 21, 2009, when Diane Sawyer succeeded Charles Gibson, who retired as anchor of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson.[34]
In 2009, CBS News revived its CBS Reports brand for CBS Reports: Children of the Recession, a critically acclaimed multi-part series. The second installment, CBS Reports: Where America Stands, aired in January 2010.
On April 3, 2011, the Associated Press reported that Couric would be leaving Evening News when her contract expired on June 3.[35] Couric later confirmed her departure to People, citing a desire for "a format that will allow (her) to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling."[36] On Friday May 13, 2011, Couric announced that the following Thursday, May 19, would be her last broadcast.
| “ | I think the audience can tell the difference between someone who is a brilliant reader of the teleprompter, and someone who has the experience and who has been in the field, who has covered the stories and knows what they're doing." | ” |
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—Pelley in 2004,[17] about his qualifications as anchor. |
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Despite originally retooling the newscasts to add more features, interviews, and human interest stories, over time it returned to the hard news format popularized by Cronkite.[37]
Scott Pelley, who in December 2004 publicly commented about his qualifications for the job when Rather was leaving,[17] was called the front-runner to replace Couric by The New York Times.[38] On May 3, 2011 CBS officially confirmed that Pelley would replace Couric on the CBS Evening News in June. Harry Smith was the interim anchor until Pelley's tenure started on June 6, 2011.[39][40][41] On said date, Pelley debuted as anchor of the program. The graphics were subtly updated, the American flag background on the news set (used since the 2008 elections) was replaced by a replica of the globe fixture during the Cronkite era, and the James Horner theme was replaced by the 1987-91 theme used during the Rather era. Reviews for the new program have been mostly positive.
Pelley announced upon starting his tenure that he would bring the original reporting, unique insight, and journalistic experience popularized by 60 Minutes to the evening newscast. As managing editor, Pelley is responsible for story selection and script editing prior to air.[42] Pelley has refocused the program towards hard news and away from the soft news and infotainment features of the early Couric era. Story selection has focused less on scandal[43] and more on foreign policy, Washington politics, and economic subjects.[44] Ratings have increased over the other two network newscasts, although the CBS program is still in third place.[45]
Since Russ Mitchell's departure from CBS News, various anchors will anchor the weekend edition of CBS Evening News which airs on Saturday at 6:30/5:30 PM ET/CT, and Sunday at 6:00/5:00 PM. Weekend newscasts are often pre-empted for CBS Sports telecasts. However, an anchor will deliver updates during a break in the action if major news develops. During this interim period, the newscast is simply called "CBS Evening News", and it uses a variation of the theme music.
Jeff Glor, and Bob Schieffer are primary substitutes for Pelley on the weekday editions. Anchors of the weekend edition may include Jeff Glor, Senior Business Correspondent Anthony Mason and Up to the Minute and CBS Morning News anchor Betty Nguyen. It was announced that CBS Evening News on Sundays will be anchored by Jeff Glor
On Monday, July 28, 2008, the CBS Evening News began broadcasting in high definition, becoming the third national newscast, behind NBC Nightly News and News Hour with Jim Lehrer to do so. In addition, 60 Minutes started broadcasting in HD in September, with the remainder of CBS News programming having followed by the end of 2009.[46]
A portion of the CBS Evening News is simulcast weekdays on some CBS radio stations. For example, KCBS-AM and KFRC-FM in San Francisco, California, simulcast the live television broadcast from 3:31 to 3:38 PM PT.
Evening News is shown on Sky News to viewers in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia at 12:30 AM & 5:30 AM GMT. In Australia, the bulletin is shown at 11:30 AM Monday to Saturday, and at 12:30 PM on Sundays on Sky News Australia. In New Zealand, Sky News broadcasts live CBS Evening News starting 1:30 PM Local Time. In Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, CBS Evening News is broadcast on American Network.
Evening News was broadcast live on ATV World in Hong Kong daily until January 1, 2009, when ATV ceased broadcasting it.
Belize's Tropical Vision Limited occasionally airs Evening News as a substitute for its more regularly carried Nightly News on Saturdays and occasionally during the week.
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