ABC News has named Linsey Davis and Whit Johnson the new weekend anchors for the network’s flagship evening newscast, World News Tonight. Johnson will anchor on Saturdays, with Davis anchoring on Sundays.
“Linsey and Whit are both familiar faces at the World News Tonight desk, having filled in on the weekends and for David [Muir] during the week,” ABC News president James Goldston wrote to staff in a memo Monday morning.
“Linsey has had an impressive rise at ABC News as a result of her unflinching interview prowess, her versatility and experience. Last year she was named anchor of ABC News Live’s first-ever streaming evening newscast in primetime, which has surged in viewership by over 200 percent since launch a year ago,” Goldston wrote.
“Whit is an award-winning and distinguished journalist who has done a tremendous job both in the field and at the anchor desk since joining ABC News in 2018,” he added. “As one of our lead reporters on COVID-19, he has been on the front lines of covering the pandemic keeping our viewers up to date over the last year.”
Davis and Johnson succeed Tom Llamas, who is leaving ABC News reportedly to join NBC News.
“It has been an honor to work here. I am the son of immigrants, and because of that, I have never taken for granted the opportunity or the responsibility to sit at this desk and bring you the truth,” Llamas said Sunday on the program, in announcing his departure from ABC.
