It was sad to see the messy ending of Scott Pelley’s six year run as Anchor and Managing Editor of the CBS Evening News last week. Pelley went out with class and dignity thanking the people of CBS News for all their hard work, and saying he knows it will continue. Pelley will devote his considerable reporting skills to 60 Minutes. The whole affair seemed to be handled poorly. Leaks started months ago that Pelley was out. There were stories about he and CBS News President David Rhodes not getting along. Reports Rhodes didn’t like Pelley’s style. Pelley’s office being cleaned out while he was on assignment in Syria possibly at Pelley’s own request. There is much we don’t know. Having dealt with anchors during my career, some can require full time management. Pelley is an old school, hard news reporter in the CBS tradition of Edward R. Morrow, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Mike Wallace. His newscast were serious and tough, and he did some of the best reporting himself on the big stories. The person who is picked to replace Pelley will have a big seat to fill at a critical time for journalism and the country.
News organizations are faced with some of the greatest challenges in history. An unqualified president, a divided society, terrorism, the diminishing of American leadership around the world, and fear and anger over health care and the economy. The list could go on. But what compounds the problem for journalists is the availability of thousands of sources of news and information. While more should be better, some of it is twisted disinformation that many believe because it’s the version of the truth they want to hear. Truth and facts are not causalities we can afford. Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Watergate story with Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, has said, “The lowest form of popular culture-lack of information, misinformation, disinformation and a contempt for truth or reality of people’s lives-has overrun real journalism.” That’s a scary thought, but an accurate description of the times in which we live.
Politico.com has just run a story about the rivalry between the Executive Editors of the New York Times Dean Baquet and the Washington Post’s Marty Baron. It’s talks about their relationship and how they’re constantly in competition to beat each other on the big story. They are leading the charge in the newspaper business which many thought dead in the digital age. But they have adapted to use the new tools to keep pursuing the truth. Having worked at CBS owned stations for most of my career, I think CBS News has always been the leader in broadcast journalism. The anchor of the Evening News is also the Managing Editor who shapes the newscast and makes editorial decisions. He or she is the face of CBS News similar to Baquet and Baron at their papers, but much more visible.
This is the third tenure of the CBS News anchor that didn’t end well. Dan Rather was forced to resign over the George Bush National Guard story. Katie Couric’s five year run did accomplish braking the tradition of all male network anchors, but just seemed to fade away. In television it’s about the ratings, The CBS Evening News is third, and has been since the Rather years. Pelley improved the ratings, but CBS is still number three. That is not likely to change in this splintered media world. But about 20 million people watch the broadcasts of the three network’s evening newscasts. That’s more than cable by far. The ratings pay the bills and determine who keeps their job. The anchor has the pressure of being the leader, and has to be able to report under the fire of the world around them with calm and accuracy. They are the face of the mission. But, it’s the mission that must survive.
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