Front-Runner for CBS Anchor Is ‘60 Minutes’ Reporter (Scott Pelley)

[alp227]

...Mr. Pelley is in line to succeed Katie Couric as anchor of the “CBS Evening News.” While the network maintains that there are other candidates, it is “Scott’s to lose,” one CBS executive said on condition of anonymity last week.

Some of Mr. Pelley’s colleagues privately worry that the “Evening News” could be construed as a demotion for him. That worry shows just how much the job has changed, but it belies an opportunity for Mr. Pelley and his biggest backer, Jeff Fager, who was named the chairman of CBS News in February. Mr. Fager appears intent to remove the word “beleaguered” from descriptions of his news division, and replacing an outsider, Ms. Couric, with Mr. Pelley could be part of the reconstruction.

Andrew Tyndall, who publishes a newsletter about the network newscasts, said Mr. Fager’s “ascension at CBS News is clearly a return to the division’s tradition of loyalty and promotion from within.”

Mr. Pelley, 53, has worked at CBS News for most of his professional life. Dan Rather, a friend of his who anchored the “Evening News” from 1981 to 2005, called him a “true believer in the CBS legend, history and myth.”

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/business/media/12anchor.html

In 60 Minutes, Pelley has pushed the "missing nuclear weapons in Iraq" talking point in an interview with Saddam Hussein's interrogator and gave a softball interview to President George W. Bush in 2007. (More Media Matters criticisms of Pelley.) On the other hand, Pelley has done great stories about the All-American Canal and Faisal Abdul Rauf and a wonderful interview with retired Sup Ct Justice John Paul Stevens. So I wonder if I'll start watching CBS Evening News on the weekdays now?

[KeepItReal]

1. Here's a suggestion: Bring back Dan Rather

I'll TiVo that show.

[alp227]

2. even if Rather is hitting 80? n/t

[KeepItReal]

4. You haven't seen him lately? Dan is still on point.

eom

[alp227]

5. i've never seen his cable news show but will find it on DVD/online

and when he was doing evening news I was too young to even give a damn

[Marie Marie]

3. My vote is for Mike Malloy

Now that would be worth watching. The simultaneous explosion of right wing brains would be awesome, especially in high def.