Rumors flying over Rather's successor
Anchor race begins
Nov 24, 2004
NEW YORK -- Now the race begins.
With Dan Rather's departure, speculation as to who will replace him as the anchor of "CBS Evening News" has kicked into high gear. Insiders say that chief White House correspondent John Roberts and "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley are on a short list, with the polished, anchor-chair comfortable Roberts the favorite.
The announcement about Rather's retirement had no word about a replacement for what is one of three top jobs in TV journalism. While it will be the second network anchor slot open in four months -- after 20-plus years of Rather, Brokaw and Jennings -- it's the only one without a clear path for succession.
When the 64-year-old Brokaw announced 18 months ago that he would leave Dec. 1, 2004, NBC News stepped up and immediately announced Brian Williams as the anchor-in-waiting for the "NBC Nightly News." Ever since then, Williams has been balancing high-visibility reporting assignments and a heavy pace of public appearances in advance of his ascension.
CBS News president Andrew Heyward said Tuesday night that it was by design.
"Today is Dan's day. Dan made this announcement, he decided on the timing," Heyward said. "This [four-month period] allows us time to effect an ordely transition."
Heyward declined comment about possible candidates.
"We will look outside and inside ... for the best person," he said.
Sandy Socolow, who was Walter Cronkite's executive producer at the "CBS Evening News" and served for a year in the same post with Rather, said the announcement of Rather's succession was announced on Valentine's Day 1980.
"People forget that Rather's succession was announced a year before he actually took over," Socolow said.
"It's not the way that CBS would have wanted it. The reason is that there's obviously no candidate for succession," said Robert Zelnick, former ABC News correspondent and chairman of the journalism department at Boston University. "John Roberts and Scott Pelley are both talented, good journalists, but you don't see either one of them as the inevitable successor to Rather nor is there anyone in mind that is the inevitable successor."
Zelnick said that some network beats are better than others in leading to anchor positions, including the White House and perhaps Capitol Hill. But there are other factors as well.
"You're pretty well aware of who's where in the pecking order at the network, and it's not the type of thing you jockey for," Zelnick said. "It's more like being tapped."
Deborah Potter, a former CBS and CNN correspondent who now runs the NewsLab, expressed surprise that there was no succession plan.
"Walter Cronkite didn't just up and say he was going to leave and there was no succession plan," Potter said. "In the past, the succession was certainly figured out before the Big Guy left."
That was certainly the case when Cronkite retired, with Rather famously -- and controversially -- besting the smooth, urbane Roger Mudd. Mudd was so peeved about being denied the anchor's chair that he left the network, later to be paired unsuccessfully with NBC's Tom Brokaw before Brokaw became a solo act on "NBC Nightly News."
Whether that will happen with Roberts or Pelley or an unnamed contender remains to be seen.
Speaking in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Brokaw said he understood what the pressures were on Williams and Rather's eventual successor. He said that there will always be speculation in the press and he advised his successors not to read any of it.
"Give Brian a fair chance at doing this job for more than 20 minutes and then make judgments about whether or not the broadcast is successful or he is," Brokaw said. "And I have every confidence that he will be successful and the broadcast will be, too."
And while the network news anchor job is no doubt weaker than it was two decades ago, the Big Three still reach 30 million viewers every weeknight. And that's nothing to sneeze at, analysts say.
"It's still probably one of the most prestigious jobs in the industry," said Brad Adgate, senior vp research at Horizon Media in New York. "CBS News has built a reputation for broadcast news. It's the network of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite and now Dan Rather. There's certainly a lot of people who very much like that position despite the ratings erosion."
In any event, Zelnick said Rather's successor will not have the kind of impact that network news anchors have had in the past.
"There's not ever going to be another Walter Cronkite at the network because there's not ever going to be another network that enjoyed the pre-eminence of CBS News in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s," he said.
With Dan Rather's departure, speculation as to who will replace him as the anchor of "CBS Evening News" has kicked into high gear. Insiders say that chief White House correspondent John Roberts and "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley are on a short list, with the polished, anchor-chair comfortable Roberts the favorite.
The announcement about Rather's retirement had no word about a replacement for what is one of three top jobs in TV journalism. While it will be the second network anchor slot open in four months -- after 20-plus years of Rather, Brokaw and Jennings -- it's the only one without a clear path for succession.
When the 64-year-old Brokaw announced 18 months ago that he would leave Dec. 1, 2004, NBC News stepped up and immediately announced Brian Williams as the anchor-in-waiting for the "NBC Nightly News." Ever since then, Williams has been balancing high-visibility reporting assignments and a heavy pace of public appearances in advance of his ascension.
CBS News president Andrew Heyward said Tuesday night that it was by design.
"Today is Dan's day. Dan made this announcement, he decided on the timing," Heyward said. "This [four-month period] allows us time to effect an ordely transition."
Heyward declined comment about possible candidates.
"We will look outside and inside ... for the best person," he said.
Sandy Socolow, who was Walter Cronkite's executive producer at the "CBS Evening News" and served for a year in the same post with Rather, said the announcement of Rather's succession was announced on Valentine's Day 1980.
"People forget that Rather's succession was announced a year before he actually took over," Socolow said.
"It's not the way that CBS would have wanted it. The reason is that there's obviously no candidate for succession," said Robert Zelnick, former ABC News correspondent and chairman of the journalism department at Boston University. "John Roberts and Scott Pelley are both talented, good journalists, but you don't see either one of them as the inevitable successor to Rather nor is there anyone in mind that is the inevitable successor."
Zelnick said that some network beats are better than others in leading to anchor positions, including the White House and perhaps Capitol Hill. But there are other factors as well.
"You're pretty well aware of who's where in the pecking order at the network, and it's not the type of thing you jockey for," Zelnick said. "It's more like being tapped."
Deborah Potter, a former CBS and CNN correspondent who now runs the NewsLab, expressed surprise that there was no succession plan.
"Walter Cronkite didn't just up and say he was going to leave and there was no succession plan," Potter said. "In the past, the succession was certainly figured out before the Big Guy left."
That was certainly the case when Cronkite retired, with Rather famously -- and controversially -- besting the smooth, urbane Roger Mudd. Mudd was so peeved about being denied the anchor's chair that he left the network, later to be paired unsuccessfully with NBC's Tom Brokaw before Brokaw became a solo act on "NBC Nightly News."
Whether that will happen with Roberts or Pelley or an unnamed contender remains to be seen.
Speaking in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Brokaw said he understood what the pressures were on Williams and Rather's eventual successor. He said that there will always be speculation in the press and he advised his successors not to read any of it.
"Give Brian a fair chance at doing this job for more than 20 minutes and then make judgments about whether or not the broadcast is successful or he is," Brokaw said. "And I have every confidence that he will be successful and the broadcast will be, too."
And while the network news anchor job is no doubt weaker than it was two decades ago, the Big Three still reach 30 million viewers every weeknight. And that's nothing to sneeze at, analysts say.
"It's still probably one of the most prestigious jobs in the industry," said Brad Adgate, senior vp research at Horizon Media in New York. "CBS News has built a reputation for broadcast news. It's the network of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite and now Dan Rather. There's certainly a lot of people who very much like that position despite the ratings erosion."
In any event, Zelnick said Rather's successor will not have the kind of impact that network news anchors have had in the past.
"There's not ever going to be another Walter Cronkite at the network because there's not ever going to be another network that enjoyed the pre-eminence of CBS News in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s," he said.
Share on LinkedIn
