CBS Evening News

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CBS Evening News
250px
Current CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley title card.
Also known as 'CBS Television News (1948–1950)
Douglas Edwards with the News (1950–1962)
Walter Cronkite with the News (1962-1963)
CBS Evening News (1963-present)
Genre News program
Created by Don Hewitt
Presented by Weekdays:
Scott Pelley
Weekends:
Jim Axelrod (Saturdays)
Jeff Glor (Sundays)
Theme music composer John Trivers, Elizabeth Myers
& Alan James Pasqua (1987–1991 and 2011–present)
Rick Patterson, Ron Walz
and Neal Fox (1991–2006)
James Horner (2006–2011)
Opening theme "CBS News Theme", composed by Trivers-Myers Music
Ending theme Same as opening
Composer(s) John Trivers, Elizabeth Myers
& Alan James Pasqua (1987–1991 and 2011–present)
Rick Patterson, Ron Walz
and Neal Fox (1991–2006)
James Horner (2006–2011)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 67
Production
Production location(s) CBS Broadcast Center
New York City, New York[1]
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 15 minutes (1948–1963)
30 minutes (1963–present)
Production company(s) CBS News Productions
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
1080i (HDTV)
Original release May 3, 1948 (1948-05-03) –
present
Chronology
Related shows CBS Morning News
CBS Overnight News
CBS This Morning
NBC Nightly News
ABC World News Tonight
External links
Website

The CBS Evening News is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The program has been broadcast since 1948 under the original title CBS Television News, eventually adopting its current title in 1963. Since June 6, 2011, the weekday editions of the program have been anchored by Scott Pelley. Since 2012, Jim Axelrod has served as anchor of the Saturday edition, while Jeff Glor anchors the Sunday edition. Previous anchors have included Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, and Katie Couric.

The program's Monday through Friday editions air live at 6:30 PM in the Eastern and 5:30 PM in the Central Time Zones, and are tape delayed for the Mountain Time Zone. A separate "Western Edition", featuring updated segments to provide coverage of breaking news stories, airs live at 6:30 p.m. in the Pacific Time Zone and on tape delay in the Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zones.[2]

Anchors

Douglas Edwards (1948–1962)

CBS began broadcasting news programs on Saturday evenings in the mid-1940s, which expanded to two nights a week in 1947. On May 3, 1948, the network debuted a weeknightly newscast, CBS Television News, which originally aired as a 15-minute broadcast each weeknight at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time; first anchored by Douglas Edwards, it was the first regularly scheduled network television news program to use an anchor.

The network also broadcast a recap of the week's news stories on a Sunday night program titled Newsweek in Review, which was later retitled The Week in Review and the show was moved to Saturdays. In 1950, the nightly newscast was renamed Douglas Edwards with the News; the following year, it became the first news program to be broadcast on both coasts, through the installation of a new coaxial cable connection, prompting Edwards to use the greeting "Good evening everyone, coast to coast" to begin each broadcast.[3]

On November 30, 1956, the program became the first to use the new technology of videotape to time delay the broadcast (which originated in New York City) for the western United States.[4]

Walter Cronkite (1962–1981)

A title card still from the April 4, 1968 edition of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, the evening of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..

Walter Cronkite became anchor of the program titled Walter Cronkite with the News on April 16, 1962. On September 2, 1963, the program, retitled CBS Evening News, became the first half-hour weeknight news broadcast of network television and was moved to 6:30 p.m. Eastern time (the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC expanded to 30 minutes exactly one week later on September 9, 1963). As before, some affiliates (including flagship owned-and-operated station WCBS-TV in New York City) had the option of carrying a later edition, this time scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. NBC also allowed this practice for the Huntley-Brinkley Report, with ABC later following it for the ABC Evening News (now ABC World News Tonight). The networks ended this practice after 1971, although some affiliates – mostly in larger markets – continued to carry the national newscasts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on a half-hour tape delay.

The CBS Evening News was first transmitted in color as a one-evening test broadcast on August 19, 1965,[5] before permanently switching to the format on January 31, 1966.[6] Cronkite's prime time special report, Who, What, When, Where, Why, broadcast on February 27, 1968, ended with his declaration that the United States could only hope for a stalemate in Vietnam. It is often credited with influencing Lyndon Johnson's decision to drop out of the race for President. "If I've lost Walter Cronkite ... [I]'ve lost Middle America", he stated.[7]

Under Cronkite, the newscast began what would eventually become an 18-year period of dominating the ratings among the network evening news programs.[8] In the process, Cronkite became "the most trusted man in America" according to a Gallup Poll, a status that had first been fostered in November 1963 through his coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[9]

In late-1972, Cronkite prodded the show's producers to feature two nights of lengthy explanation on 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. The second half of the report was aired the following Monday, but only for eight minutes.[10]

Dan Rather (1981–1993)

Cronkite was replaced as anchor of the program the Monday after his retirement, March 9, 1981, by then 49-year-old Dan Rather, who had been with CBS News as a correspondent since the early 1960s and later became a correspondent for the network's newsmagazine 60 Minutes. Concerns about excessive liberalism in the media were frequently leveled at Rather, the CBS Evening News, CBS News and CBS in general.[11][12][13] Some of these concerns dated from Rather's position as White House correspondent for the network's news division 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.[14] Rather apologized for his behavior in statements the following day.

On September 1, 1986, amidst a brewing battle among 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, Rather said the masculine noun for the Spanish word for "courage," "coraje" (the primary translation for "courage" in Spanish is "valor"). In the face of media attention and pleas from his staff, Rather abandoned the signoff on September 8.[15]

On September 11, 1987, Rather marched off-camera in anger just before a remote broadcast of the program when it appeared that CBS Sports' coverage of a U.S. Open tennis semifinal match between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil was going to overrun into time allotted for his program.[16] Rather was in Miami covering the visit to the city by Pope John Paul II. When the tennis match ended sooner than expected at 6:32 p.m. Eastern Time, 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 apologized for the outburst the next day. By 1990, the CBS Evening News was in third place behind ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.[8]

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.[17]

Dan Rather and Connie Chung (1993–1995)

On June 1, 1993, CBS News correspondent Connie Chung began co-anchoring the broadcast with Dan Rather. Chung normally co-anchored in the studio with Rather, but sometimes one of them 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.[18] Chung's last broadcast as co-anchor was on May 18, 1995.

Dan Rather (1995–2005)

Rather interviews an IOM worker at the Sultan Iskandar Muda Air Force Base in Indonesia on January 3, 2005, following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

The newscast returned to a solo anchor format on May 19, 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 segment featured on a September 2004 broadcast of 60 Minutes Wednesday questioning President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard record.[19][20] Conservative activists 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 the Evening News, Rather remained with CBS News 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.[21]

Bob Schieffer (2005–2006)

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 structure, or instead adopt some kind of multiple host or alternative format. Under Rather in the years leading up to his retirement, the CBS Evening News 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.[22] 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 were unrehearsed as part of an effort to make the language on the broadcast sound more "natural".[23] Viewership levels increased over this period, with the program being the only network evening 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 of the program in January 2006.

Schieffer led the CBS Evening News to become the #2 evening news broadcast, ahead of ABC's World News Tonight. The death of anchor Peter Jennings in 2005 coupled with the adoption of a dual-anchor format on World News Tonight and life-threatening injuries suffered by Bob Woodruff when an Iraqi military convoy he rode in hit a road-side bomb, leaving Elizabeth Vargas as sole anchor, in January 2006 put the ABC News division in flux. When Charles Gibson was appointed as anchor of World News Tonight, ABC regained stability and momentum to regain the #2 spot. Bob Schieffer's final broadcast of the CBS Evening News 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.

Katie Couric (2006–2011)

The CBS Evening News logo used from September 2006 to May 2009.

On December 1, 2005, it was reported that Katie Couric, co-anchor of NBC's Today, was considering an offer by CBS to anchor the Evening News. Couric officially signed a contract to become anchor of the CBS Evening News on April 1, 2006, and formally announced of the April 5, 2006 edition of Today that she would be leaving the show and NBC News after a 15-year run as the morning show's co-anchor.[24] Ratings during Couric's period as anchor fluctuated, seemingly improving at times, but also posting historic lows rivaling those dating back to at least the 1991–92 season.[25]

Couric began working at CBS News in July 2006. During her first broadcast as anchor on September 5, 2006, a new graphics package and set, and a new theme composed by Academy Award-winning composer James Horner were introduced. Similar graphics and music would be introduced on other CBS News programs 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. Following Cronkite's death months earlier, actor Morgan Freeman recorded a new voice-over for the title sequence, which debuted on January 4, 2010. The program also debuted a new feature called "freeSpeech" in which different Americans, ranging from well-known national figures to average people, would provide news commentary.[26] After overwhelmingly negative reaction, the segment was discontinued.

On March 8, 2007, The New York Times reported that the program's executive producer Rome Hartman was being replaced by television news veteran Rick Kaplan. Hartman left as executive producer on March 7. Kaplan came to the 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 – which was subsequently removed from the cbsnews.com website after the situation came to light – that began, "I still remember when I got my first library card, browsing through the stacks for my favorite books."[27]

Katie Couric in November 2007.

Much of the rest of the script was stolen from the Journal article. Zaslow said at the time that CBS had "been very gracious and apologetic, and we at the Journal appreciate it."[28] In a case of 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.[29][30] The producer responsible for Couric's piece, Melissa McNamara, was fired hours after the Journal contacted CBS News to complain.[28][31] The network promised changes in its procedures.[32]

On July 28, 2008, the CBS Evening News became the third network evening newscast to begin broadcasting in high definition (behind NBC Nightly News and PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer).[33]

On August 27, 2008, Mediabistro wrote a piece about the Big Three network newscasts, praising Couric's Evening News for extensive reporting that had, in its opinion, content better than its rivals.[34] Another critic from MarketWatch praised Couric's work and said that people should watch out for her in 2009.[35] 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. Shales 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, the 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 Couric's do seem to be in order, despite her critics' claims".[36]

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.[37] In 2011, the program was the recipient of both an Emmy for Outstanding Continuing Coverage and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Video News Series for foreign correspondent Terry McCarthy's feature story "Afghan Bomb Squad".[38][39]

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 featured a look influenced by the graphics that CBS used during the 2008 presidential election coverage.[40]

On April 3, 2011, the Associated Press reported that Couric would be leaving the Evening News when her contract expired in June. Couric later confirmed her departure to People magazine, citing a desire for "a format that will allow (her) to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling."[41] On May 13, 2011, Couric announced that the following Thursday, May 19, would be her last broadcast.

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.[42]

Scott Pelley (2011–present)

Website banner of the Evening News

In an April 2011 article, The New York Times reported that 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was considered to be the front-runner to replace Couric as anchor of the program.[43]

On May 3, 2011, CBS confirmed that Pelley would replace Couric as anchor for the CBS Evening News in June. Harry Smith served as the interim anchor until Pelley's tenure started on June 6, 2011.[44][45][46] The graphics were subtly updated, the American flag background on the news set (which had been 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 composed by Trivers-Myers Music that was used during the Rather era.

Pelley has refocused the program towards hard news and away from the soft news and infotainment features of the early "Katie Couric" era. Story selection has focused more on foreign policy, Washington politics, and economic subjects.[47] The program's audience viewership began to grow immediately, closing the gap between the CBS Evening News and its competitors by one million viewers within a year, although the CBS program remains in third place among the network evening newscasts.[48]

Weekend editions

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The CBS Evening News expanded to weekend evenings in February 1966, originally anchored by Roger Mudd. The Sunday edition of the program was dropped in September 1971, when CBS began airing 60 Minutes in the 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (5:00 p.m. Central) slot in order to help affiliates fulfill requirements imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Prime Time Access Rule. The Sunday edition returned in January 1976, when the network moved 60 Minutes one hour later to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, where that program remains to this day (outside of sports programming overruns that shift it to a later time).

From 2011-2014 the CBS Evening News was the only remaining network evening newscast that used separate anchors for its Saturday and Sunday editions (NBC Nightly News previously used separate anchors for both weekend broadcasts until John Seigenthaler was appointed anchor of both the Saturday and Sunday editions in 1993, while ABC's World News Tonight maintained separate anchors for its weekend editions until then Saturday anchor David Muir also assumed anchor duties on the program's Sunday edition in 2011). More recently, Russ Mitchell served as the weekend anchor for the CBS Evening News until December 2011, when he announced his resignation from CBS News to take a lead anchor position with NBC affiliate WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio. The following year, Mitchell was replaced on the weekend editions by Jim Axelrod on Saturdays and Jeff Glor on Sundays. In September 2014 after David Muir was appointed weeknight anchor of World News Tonight, ABC named separate anchors for their weekend newscasts. In June 2015, when Lester Holt became lead anchor of NBC Nightly News, NBC also assigned different anchors for the weekend edition of their newscasts. As a result, CBS, ABC, and NBC now have separate anchors for the weekend editions of evening news programming.

Weekend editions of the CBS Evening News are occasionally abbreviated (with segments and stories originally scheduled to be featured on the broadcast that night excised to account for the decreased running time) or preempted outright due to sporting events (such as golf tournament broadcasts, and college football and basketball coverage) that overrun into the program's timeslot (6:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, 5:30 p.m. in other time zones – though most CBS affiliates, especially those in the Central and Mountain Time Zones, air the Sunday edition one half-hour earlier than the Monday through Saturday broadcasts, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific and 5:00 p.m. elsewhere). However, if the program is pre-empted that evening, an anchor will deliver updates during a break in the action in the event of a major developing news story.

Western edition

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. CBS introduced a Western edition of the program in 1979, which was anchored by Terry Drinkwater[49] with staff based in its Los Angeles bureau being placed on standby for updates to the main CBS Evening News broadcast each weeknight; this lasted until September 1985, when CBS News instituted layoffs at the Los Angeles bureau following a successful fending off of a takeover attempt of the network by Ted Turner.[50] The program eventually resumed production of the Western edition from its New York City studios (which may also be produced from remote locations where the program is broadcast when warranted).

Anchors

  • Scott Pelley – weeknight anchor (2011–present)
  • Jim Axelrod – Saturday anchor (2012–present); national correspondent
  • Jeff Glor – Sunday anchor (2012–present); special correspondent

Radio

An audio simulcast of the CBS Evening News airs weekdays on some CBS Radio stations. Most stations (such as WCBS (AM) in New York City, KNX in Los Angeles and KYW-AM in Philadelphia) carry only the first eight to ten minutes of the broadcast, before resuming regular programming, with stations in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones carrying it ahead of the program's broadcast on local CBS stations. WBZ (AM) in Boston and WNEW in Washington, D.C. are among the few that simulcast the full half-hour broadcast from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

International broadcasts

Sky News broadcasts the CBS Evening News in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia at 2:30 and 5:30 a.m. GMT. In Australia, the program is shown daily on Sky News Australia at 11:30 a.m.; in New Zealand, Sky News broadcasts the program live at 1:30 p.m. local time. The program is broadcast on the American Network in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. In Japan, the CBS Evening News is shown on BS-TBS as part of that network's morning news programme.[51]

The Evening News was broadcast live on ATV World in Hong Kong daily until January 1, 2009. Belize's Tropical Vision Limited occasionally airs the program as a substitute for its airing of the NBC Nightly News on Saturdays and occasionally during the week.

References

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  2. Alagot, Calvin "CBS Evening News Gives The West Coast Some Love", "LA Weekly", 04 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
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  18. MediaWeek article from April 26, 1997[full citation needed]
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  51. BS-TBS News[dead link]

External links