RELATED: President Obama To ABC’s Diane Sawyer: I Want Second Term ‘Badly’

After telling Sawyer that he hasn’t watched the Republican debates (sigh, what a lucky guy), she brought up Gingrich’s comment and Obama was quick to respond:

“First of all, I don’t put people on food stamps. People become eligible for food stamps. Second of all, the initial expansion of food-stamp eligibility happened under my Republican predecessor, not under me. Number three, when you have a disastrous economic crash that results in 8 million people losing their jobs, more people are going to need more support from government.”

Obama didn’t, however, want to get into the beliefs of some that Gingrich’s comment and others of its kind was racially tinged.

Sawyer brought up complaints by some constituents who were wondering why all his work on jobs hadn’t come sooner and he disagreed with the notion that they hadn’t, telling her that “we’ve done a lot in three years” before talking up the auto industry. She asked him if he had any regrets and he admitted that of course he’d made mistakes (“Look, I make a mistake every hour, every day”), but that it was a learning position.

Damn, Mr. President! What are you thinking admitting to being human during a campaign year! RNC, get your sound bites here.

The full interview will air tonight on ABC World News. Watch a clip of it below:

(h/t Breitbart.tv)

As the nation’s news networks focus on the extraordinary battle on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling and the economy, ABC has dispatched David Muir to Africa, where he’s become the first American broadcast network reporter inside Somalia, a country devastated by famine. “I can’t stop thinking about the mother who, after walking that journey from Somalia to Kenya, told me she and her children had not eaten in five days,” Muir told Mediaite from Mogadishu, where he’ll report for tonight’s ABC World News.

Muir is traveling with a military convoy; soldiers in Mogadishu are working to keep the city safe enough for food and aid to get to those who need it. As Muir reports, the U.N. now says the severity of the crisis in Somalia makes it by far the “most serious food emergency in the world.” It is believed tens of thousands have already died in Somalia and hundreds of thousands are on the verge of starvation. It’s a massive international story that’s found a place in ABC’s coverage despite the dominance of the debt fight. “While much of the country debates the debt, as we rightly should, I’m grateful ABC News has devoted as much time as we have to reporting on the worst famine in a generation,” Muir told us.

So who’s working against getting food to starving families? Among others, al Qaeda. Muir witnessed Al Qaeda-backed forces try to block food aid from reaching Somalia this weekend when his convoy came under fire.

Watch Muir’s report on the link to terror here, from ABC News:

A report by chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross on tonight’s ABC World News suggests the Department of Homeland Security has become concerned of potential attacks by insiders at American utility plants–chemical facilities, oil refineries and even nuclear plants. The threat presents al Qaeda with what Ross describes as its best opportunity for a massive attack on U.S. to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. “The only way you can actually kill the large scale number of Americans that [bin Laden] literally was calculating was through the use of this critical infrastructure,” former DHS chief of staff Chad Sweet tells ABC News.

ABC quotes from a terror alert issued Tuesday:

A new terror alert from the Department of Homeland Security…titled Insider Threat to Utilities, warns “violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions,” and that “outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees” for damaging physical and cyber attacks.

“Based on the reliable reporting of previous incidents, we have high confidence in our judgment that insiders and their actions pose a significant threat to the infrastructure and information systems of U.S. facilities,” the bulletin reads in part. “Past events and reporting also provide high confidence in our judgment that insider information on sites, infrastructure, networks, and personnel is valuable to our adversaries and may increase the impact of any attack on the utilities infrastructure.”

Ross quotes former White House counter-terrorism advisor and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke as saying such an attack, by someone with the right access, would not be difficult to coordinate:

“There are a lot of very sensitive facilities where someone can get a job on the inside, get access to a control room, flip a switch, which causes an electric power grid to short circuit, causes a pipeline to explode,” Clarke said.

Watch it here, from ABC News:

On the heels of ABC’s huge audience–nearly 15 million viewers–for Diane Sawyer‘s exclusive interview with kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard comes word the interview, which was previewed on Sawyer’s ABC World News, boosted ABC’s evening newscast into a first place finish ahead of NBC Nightly News. On Thursday night, World News beat Nightly by 106,000 total viewers (7.656 million vs. 7.550 million), and helped drive World News to its best weekly performance in six weeks.

Compared to a year ago, World News has grown its total viewing audience for twenty consecutive weeks, leading many ABC News insiders to believe their goal of passing long-dominant Nightly News is not far off. Last week’s ratings put the gap between the two evening newscasts at its smallest point in nearly a year.

CBS, meanwhile, with new anchor Scott Pelley, remains well behind in third place, with an average total audience of 5.625 million viewers.

In an investigation first aired tonight on ABC World News–and to be continued on Nightline–ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross talks to a former patient who sought help from a Christian counseling clinic owned by Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus. The patient tells ABC News he was advised prayer could help free him of homosexual urges and that he could become “re-oriented.”

“[One counselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay,” said Andrew Ramirez, who was 17-years-old at the time he sought help from Bachmann & Associates in suburban Minneapolis in 2004. “And God would forgive me if I were straight.”

The patient’s account conflicts with statements made by Marcus Bachmann, who ABC reports has disputed the clinic attempts to treat homosexuality. Claims to the contrary have been reported in The Nation and elsewhere, but ABC airs undercover video shot by a gay rights advocacy group last month, showing a counselor telling a patient that “with prayer and effort” he could learn to be attracted to women.

“We’re very proud of our business and all job creators in the U.S.,” Michele Bachmann told a reporter when asked about the clinic Monday.

Watch it here, from ABC News:

Comedian Harry Shearer, who has a fetish of some kind for watching news anchors and reporters as they prepare to go on camera, has posted a clip of ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer as she prepped to anchor World News from tornado-devastated Joplin, MO. The eight-minute video shows Sawyer standing amid the ruins of a neighborhood–it’s cold, with rain and lightning, Sawyer and her crew sheltered by a small tent as soaked and exhausted ABC News folk set shots, lights, and try to communicate with producers in New York as the network prepares to tell the country a massive, emotional story.

Shearer headlines the video “I have nothing,” which refers to a comment Sawyer makes about having no scripts, no teleprompter, and at one point, not even IFB–the earpiece-fed link that allows Sawyer to have direct contact with her show producers in the control room in New York, as well as to hear the voices of reporters around the globe as she speaks with them. In TV, telling producers you have nothing is very important information. Sawyer displays no hints of diva-dom. Instead, she asks for clarification on facts of the storm, and says she has no clear idea how the critical top of the newscast is going to flow. All this, of course, in the minutes before that newscast goes live. To a reporter like myself, who’s done a lot of television liveshots in all kinds of conditions, Sawyer seems positively Zen in her calm. But what’s funny about that? Nothing.

Have a look and then we’ll discuss. Video from My Damn Channel:

To Shearer, “I have nothing” becomes a snarky way of suggesting Sawyer’s got a lot of nerve saying she has nothing when all around her, people have lost everything. TVNewser quotes Shearer saying his outrageously boring video “is a portrait of a fly-in anchor covering a disaster. Diane may be Diane, but this is pretty much what you get when you send high-priced anchor talent into a place where everything has fallen apart and nothing works. The quote, ‘I have nothing,’ of course, should more appropriately be coming from a tornado victim.’”

This is what you get? You mean somebody doing their job? What does Sawyer’s salary have to do with anything? Sawyer doesn’t act entitled in the least. She’s hardly focused on herself, telling the crew that if it’s dangerous to stay in their location, they should all leave. She never talks down to anyone, and even as time runs out and she’s not seen a key script involving a camera move and a live interview, she suggests it might be wiser to do the multi-element segment on tape–or at least practice it–rather than have it crash on live TV. Yes, Diane is Diane, and she never loses her cool. She’s not just high-priced talent in this case, she’s highly experienced talent. She’s the kind of person who can calmly work amid the frenzy of photographers, field producers and others all talking to her at once–while producers back in New York are talking into her ear (when the IFB connection is functioning, of course). She’s calm, clear, and authoritative to each and every one of them.

“A fly-in anchor covering a disaster” suggests a Ron Burgundy being Gulfstreamed and limo’d to the scene, asking for a makeup trailer, a cocktail, and reservations for dinner. Sawyer, as we’ve reported, is a real reporter, who doesn’t “fly-in” but rather digs in, arriving at a story and getting to work. In this case, Sawyer had arrived in Joplin early that morning and spent the entire day reporting. Again, nothing funny about that. But when she gets to the network’s live location, with its frenetic energy, it’s far easier to poke fun. After all, look! She’s putting on makeup! She’s brushing her hair!

To the gotcha gang at Gawker, Sawyer seems “confused and frightened” Are you kidding me? She doesn’t even flinch when lightning bolts crash. Oh, but wait. She does put a shawl around her shoulders at one point, and I guess to Gawker’s John Cook, shawl=frail=frightened. Of course. Cook sees “an anxious, tentative, and confounded Sawyer huddling in a shawl against oncoming storms with the destroyed suburbs at her back as her crew frantically attempts put together a broadcast. It’s a short Beckett play, about America, called ‘I Have Nothing.’”

Oh, FFS, really? I’ve done local news liveshots where I wasn’t really clear what we were about to do and my pulse was pounding in my ears to the point I couldn’t see straight. I can’t imagine being in Joplin with lousy communications, no scripts to pre-read, no idea what was happening first, and knowing hey, it’s a huge story and this isn’t a show you can mess up. Oh. And millions will be watching. I don’t see an “anxious” or “confounded” person when I watch the video. I see steel.

What Shearer doesn’t show you is the final product. When Sawyer finally went live, she still didn’t have scripts or a teleprompter. She ad-libbed the entire newscast. And she made it look effortless. And to me, that’s not really funny. It’s just impressive as hell.

But what do I know? I’m not Harry Shearer, sitting at home on the couch watching satellite feeds of journalists actually out there working in lousy conditions–just hoping they’ll laugh at a victim or shout at a member of the crew or ask for more powder on their face.

Want to see the glamorous day Diane Sawyer had “flying in” to Joplin? Here’s some perspective, from ABC News:

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski appeared on ABC World News Tuesday in a story about women fighting for equal pay, telling ABC’s Claire Shipman “I got a sense of what all the guys where making on the set, and I looked around one morning and I realized I was the lowest paid on the set and in one case by far.”

Brzezinski, who’s written about her in-house fight for equal pay in a book, “Knowing Your Value,” prevailed without going to court. The Morning Joe co-host used tough negotiations–and a threat to jump ship. But she warns women it’s a risky move. “Only do an ultimatum if you’re ready to walk. And I was.”

In the ABC story, which features several successful women who realized to their surprise they were making significantly less money than their workplace equals, Brzezinski said women worry about offending bosses–and men don’t.
“I think we apologize too much,” Brzezinski told ABC News. “We worry about about if we’re liked by our employers. Let me just tell you men don’t worry about these things. They go in and negotiate for themselves.”

Watch it here, from ABC News:

Much of the speculation has focused on Scott Pelley, the CBS lifer who’s a correspondent at 60 Minutes. Pelley’s a nice guy, a good reporter and would surely do a fine job as an evening news anchor.

But the question for CBS now shouldn’t really be “who gets Katie’s job,” but rather, “why should anybody get that job?” The concept of the network evening newscast is dated at best—a throwback to time last century when there were only three television networks and the anchors were titanic figures.

Times have changed. The audience for the evening news has aged—as evidenced by NBC’s plans this week to pitch the NBC Nightly News to advertisers as a kind of bargain, admitting that yes, 2/3 of the ads on Nightly are medicines or “personal care” products that appeal to an older demographic, but the network says those viewers tend to watch TV live, and they stick around through the commercials. Great for advertisers!

In other words, network evening news viewers don’t watch television the way people do today. We DVR, we download, we stream, we time shift, and many of us only see commercials when we watch programming on Hulu or at the top of a DVD that won’t let us skip ahead to the menu.

So in that landscape, why stick with the CBS Evening News? The only reasons I can think of are these: first, it’s a tradition. It connects us to the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, and for that reason, it’s hard to argue killing it. But that’s merely an emotional reaction, not a business one.

The second reason to keep a third network newscast is an even bigger concern: if CBS folds the tent on the Evening News, that’s surrendering some ever more rare news real estate on a network—without a cable channel—that just doesn’t have much news product to cut.

You can imagine a post-Couric and post-Evening News world where the local news on CBS stations would be followed not by a third-rated network newscast, but a somewhat better rated game show or yet another entertainment magazine. So we give up Bob Schieffer and Lara Logan and get Snooki and Lindsay Lohan.

That sounds like a seriously bad deal–even if the economics make sense.

And yet, it’s really hard to argue for the CBS Evening News. If Scott Pelley takes the job, the newscast will likely continue to struggle in the ratings—hobbled, as Couric herself argues this week to The New York Times, by poor lead-ins from local CBS stations that also have ratings issues.

So what’s the answer?

I’d urge CBS to kill the CBS Evening News, but hold on to that news real estate. Instead of putting another anchor into a newscast that doesn’t compete but keeps doing the same thing, why not experiment? Offer an alternative to ABC’s World News and NBC Nightly News—and to the high volume politics and opinion on cable news at that hour.

What if CBS took a page from its own amazing history and transformed the 6:30 half hour into a modern See It Now, with a truly gifted journalist taking thirty minutes five nights a week to delve deeply—and aggressively—into the most controversial and important topics we face as a country? A real reporter given a platform not to become yet another TV blowhard, but rather, to be willing to chose serious and important over sensational and meaningless.

The original See It Now, hosted by Murrow, took viewers to talk to soldiers in Korea at Christmas, and fearlessly took on the Red Scare in the form of Joe McCarthy. It was never a ratings powerhouse, but it racked up journalism’s highest honors and it created the legend that was CBS News. 60 Minutes (Pelley’s home) grew out of See It Now, and surely there are people at CBS today who could create a show worthy to bear the See It Now name.

With the lowest of expectations, CBS would have little immediate pressure to deliver ratings, but could do something entirely unexpected: create something new (and old) and something important. Something, arguably, that younger viewers and non-evening-news watching viewers might set their DVRs for, to watch later in the evening. (Yes, call me nuts, but I still believe there’s an appetite out there–maybe not a huge one, but at least as big as that of the current CBS Evening News–for serious reporting on important stuff)

Who could take the Murrow role? Who has the courage, the smarts, the reporting chops and the passion to make See It Now must-see-TV in 2011?

Well, I’d argue that’s a much better question for CBS than who should replace Katie Couric as anchor of the CBS Evening News.

For the first quarter of 2011, in the key demo of adults 25-54, the CBS Evening News averaged 1.98 million viewers, compared to ABC World News‘ 2.43 million and NBC Nightly News‘ 2.94 million.

At NBC, the first quarter numbers mean another first-place finish, though the ratings dropped from a year ago, when NBC had high ratings as the network carried the Olympics. ABC, meanwhile, with a continued aggressive push including high profile interviews and travel by anchor Diane Sawyer, was the only network evening newscast to gain viewers year-to-year, and posted its largest first quarter audience since 2008. The network also saw double-digit ratings increases versus the fourth quarter 2010.

That Sawyer would be the first network news anchor on the ground in Japan–and that she’d spend all of her time reporting, not simply shooting standups and preparing to “front” the newscast–comes as no surprise to her colleagues at ABC. “I think she’d rather be out there chasing the story,” David Muir, anchor of World News Weekend and a correspondent who’s traveled the globe with Sawyer, told Mediaite. “It’s just in her blood.”

Sawyer’s unique combination of experience and energy has injected ABC’s evening newscast with a new intensity, and has led to some of ABC’s best ratings in years. “Diane has been here a year, and she has put her stamp on the broadcast,” said Jon Banner, executive producer of World News. “We are leading, not following.”

For Sawyer, whose career speaks volumes, and who has simply nothing left to prove to anyone, working tirelessly is just part of her DNA. “Diane Sawyer is the human embodiment of curiosity,” ABC News president Ben Sherwood tells Mediaite. “Anchoring our coverage in New York or reporting from the quake zone in Japan, she has a unique ability to fuse information, insight and emotion, giving viewers a compelling and complete picture of what’s happening in the world and why it matters. Diane is a truth seeker, relentless in her pursuit of what’s interesting and important. Once more, she has shown these qualities since she landed in Japan on Saturday night. And these are the very strengths that distinguish ABC News every day.”

Sawyer moved into the World News anchor chair after a series of turnovers–and makeovers–since the death of ABC’s Peter Jennings; Charlie Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff had all been there, but nobody had closed the gap with longtime evening news leader NBC Nightly News. Could Sawyer’s star power as one of the most accomplished–and best known–journalists anywhere make the difference?

“One of the challenges when you’ve had as many transitions as we’ve had is holding the core audience,” said Banner. How could ABC keep their loyal viewers satisfied, while also presenting something compelling to other viewers who sample the newscast? The answer became embodied by Sawyer herself: “Show them how far you’re willing to go to get them the story,” said Banner.

>>>>Next – How Sawyer’s beat reporter chops help her in the anchor chair.

Muir had been anchoring the Saturday broadcasts, with Dan Harris serving as anchor of World News Sunday. Harris was named co-anchor for GMA Weekend last fall and continued to anchor the Sunday program until a permanent replacement was named.

ABC World News executive producer Jon Banner “David breathes clarity and wisdom into all his reporting. His original voice and his ability to reach far beyond the headlines into heart of a story follows in the great tradition of Diane, Charlie and Peter. I’m excited for David to put his singular stamp on the weekend newscasts and to further deepen his connection to our audience.”

Here’s Sherwood’s memo:

From: Sherwood, Ben
To: ABC News ALL
Subject: David Muir

I am delighted to announce that David Muir will become the sole anchor of the weekend editions of “World News.” To reflect this change, the weekend broadcasts will now be called “World News with David Muir.”

David is a gifted reporter and storyteller with immense creativity, versatility and dedication to our audience. His recent reporting from Cairo illustrates his passion for journalism and his exceptional abilities in the field. As he demonstrated last month when news broke of the mass shootings in Tucson, David is a trusted and reassuring presence at the anchor desk.

In addition to his newly expanded role at “World News,” David will continue as a correspondent contributing to all ABC News broadcasts and platforms.

Please join me in congratulating David and wishing him the very best.

NBC execs point out that the ratings for Nightly were bigger than the viewership of some primetime shows, including ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (11.182 million viewers) and The Bachelor (9.660 million).

Williams anchored the broadcast from Cairo on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and from Amman, Jordan on Thursday.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer, meanwhile, was not in the region, but her ABC World News also hit a longtime ratings high. World News was second among the network evening newscasts with 9.82 million viewers, its largest audience in nearly four years.

Sawyer anchored in New York, with Christiane Amanpour and David Muir leading ABC’s forces in Egypt.

ABC’s decision led The New York Times‘ Alessandra Stanley to question the value of having main anchors on the scene, compared to experienced international correspondents like Amanpour:

The ABC anchor Diane Sawyer stayed in New York and let Ms. Amanpour do what she does best. The NBC anchor Brian Williams had rushed to Cairo, followed by Katie Couric of CBS. They worked hard, but in that volatile setting, the network anchors didn’t have much to do; the best reporting was provided by well-connected veterans like Richard Engel on NBC and Lara Logan of CBS. After pro-Mubarak mobs began going after journalists — Ms. Couric was jostled while trying to report live on Wednesday from Tahrir Square — she and Mr. Williams left the country, quite wisely. On Friday Ms. Couric and Mr. Williams were both back in New York.

At CBS, Katie Couric also traveled to Cairo, and her CBS Evening News placed third overall with 7.35 million viewers, but that also represented a jump for Evening News, with its largest audience since the week ending January 30, 2009 (when the broadcast delivered 7.74 million viewers).

Last night, Rumsfeld told Sawyer that he approached then-President George W. Bush, asking to be allowed to resign. He shared he felt the proof of abuse by U.S. soldiers were “such a stain on our country.” You’ll recall that, at the time, six U.S. general stepped forward to very publicly call for Rumsfeld’s resignation – a fact Sawyer brings up. “All those?” said Rumsfeld, reacting to Sawyer’s question about “all those generals” stepping forward. “There were a handful of them. Come on.”

Rumsfeld also responded to claims that he was “terrifying” to subordinates:

Oh, the poor people; I terrified them! My goodness. Come on. These are people with stars on their shoulders. They’re people who are patriots. They’re people who’ve fought battles. And they weren’t terrified or intimidated. My goodness gracious.

I ask tough questions; there’s no question about it. And if someone doesn’t know the answer, it’s not fun for them.

Watch video of the segment, courtesy ABC:

Watch it here from ABC News:

Says Alabama’s Representative-elect Mo Brooks:

If there’s a balanced budget Constitutional amendment that is tied to the debt ceiling, I will vote to increase the debt limit under those conditions. But we have to make progress. This unsustainable deficit that we are incurring is the greatest national security threat that American faces.

And, as new House Speaker John Boehner put it to The New Yorker, this is an “adult moment” for the Republican majority. Representative-elect Paul Gosar of Arizona, also a Republican, is inclined to agree. He tells Sawyer that he likes this idea of “the adult moment” because “adults sit down and talk about budgets. They look at them and say, ‘OK, I’m in the hole and here’s how I get out of the hole.”

He adds, concerning a possible raise of the debt limit:

This is something that has been growing over time and it’s not going to be cured right away. We have to look at what created this problem and set benchmarks. I’m not willing to look at [voting for the Continuing Resolution] unless I see benchmarks and I’m given some concessions as to when those benchmarks will be met.

Representative-elect Vicky Hartzler of Missouri has an idea to cut down on expenses: restore all spending levels to 2008 and learning how to say no – even if it means cuts in farm subsidies for her home state. The government, contends Hartzler, has to learn to say “no.” For her, doing the adult thing means doing the hard thing.

Mike Grimm of New York agrees, adding that “the pain should be shared by everyone.”

Another important discussion: incoming Tea Partiers’ complicated relationship with Washington. They are now a part of the system with which they’ve grown increasingly frustrated and disillusioned. How do they maintain their “outsider” status while working the system from the inside?

Grimm explains:

It’s much bigger than the Tea Party. The Tea Party seems to be the face of the average American that’s not involved in politics. They want us to work together. A one-party system doesn’t work.

And Kentucky’s Rand Paul, whose name has become firmly intertwined with the Tea Party movement, says he, at least, plans to work closely with President Obama and his administration, stressing a civil discourse. And what do others think of the “Tea Partier” label? Now that the campaigning and elections are over and done with, it appears those associated with the movement are trying to distance themselves from it, ostensibly to present an air of cooperation and civility – and a happier, friendlier image of your neighborhood Republican congressperson.

Explained Marlin Stutzman of Indiana: “We are all human beings first. I’m a conservative, but I’m not mad about it. I can do it with a smile on my face.”

When asked about the sense that everyone has “come to storm the castle” in Washington, Lee replied that he agreed: “The idea behind the Tea Party movement is neither partisan nor is it angry.”

Image

The Brian Williams-led newscast dominated the key ratings metric of adults 25-54, beating ABC’s World News by 424,000 viewers and the CBS Evening News by 756,000.

Nightly completes a sweep of ratings victories–in terms of total viewers–to thirteen consecutive quarterly wins. Among adults 25-54, Nightly‘s fought ABC’s resurgent World News and won 19 of the last 21 quarters (though there have been at least five ties).

First up was Holder. The Attorney General appeared on Good Morning America today where he had some dire predictions about our safety. Limbaugh was much more incensed, however, by Holder’s claims that he was most worried about home-grown terrorism. “This is the language of authoritative statists,” Limbaugh claimed, while comparing Holder’s fears of radical websites creating American-based terrorists to Hugo Chavez. “This is the language of dictators.” In fact, Limbaugh wondered when was the last time a website run by Americans has ever led to terrorists. He failed to mention that Holder was speaking about Anwar Al Awlaki, who was born in America, ran a popular blog, made popular YouTube videos, and preached to not one but three of the 9/11 hijackers. He’d be a good example. Either that or Eric Holder just hates Americans.

Limbaugh had a better time attacking Napolitano’s World News appearance because, really, most people should know how many days there are in a year. Like most, he was curious as to which day was the 365th that Homeland Security wouldn’t be spending protecting us. Of course, Limbaugh got his special personal twist by noting that it couldn’t be Ramadan because that’s “like a month.” Nice.

Check out the clip from The Rush Limbaugh Show below:

(h/t)

According to NBC, Nightly has beaten ABC by over 1.4 million viewers for three consecutive weeks, and has been the top rated evening newscast for 62 weeks in a row.

Over at ABC, execs point out that World News was the only evening newscast to grow total viewers and viewers 25-54. Also, Diane Sawyer and crew reported from China–and while overseas trips often result in ratings dips, World News had its best showing since March.

While Kurtz immediately admits Sawyer’s six months as anchor “have not changed the newscast’s second-place status,” he writes that the show now has more edge–attempting to dig deeper and create more of a conversation:

By pushing her reporters to brandish documents on the air and investigate e-mail questions from viewers, by complaining about official intransigence, she is forging what a top ABC executive calls an “advocacy” program.

“We’ve done quite a bit of making room for the extra thought — allowing ourselves to tell you the one thing we found fascinating,” Sawyer says. “It’s become a real conversation we’re having with you, that we would have if we were sitting in your living room. I think it gives us some freedom to be ourselves.”

Executive Producer Jon Banner calls her the “most curious” person he’s seen in a long time.

Kurtz touts Sawyer’s hard work ethic and stamina: she interviews Michael Hastings for 25 minutes “even though it will at most yield a sound bite for the newscast.” Her days don’t end until 1 or 2am even though she’s up by 7am. Nearly everyone, Kurtz writes, “has a story about her stamina.”

Since becoming anchor, Sawyer “has held onto nearly all of Gibson’s audience,” but Banner says it is disappointing that some people still only associate her with Good Morning America:

She has averaged 7.6 million viewers, compared with 8.8 million for Brian Williams’s NBC Nightly News and 5.8 million for Couric’s CBS Evening News. “I am deeply frustrated by that,” Banner says, adding that promotion has been so meager that he meets people who still think Sawyer is co-hosting Good Morning America, “I more than anything want to get back into first place. It’s something she deserves.” In the past month, Sawyer has reduced NBC’s lead to 710,000 viewers.

ABC’s ratings may not be jumping, but Kurtz makes it clear that Sawyer is here to stay and remarks on how journalism energizes her: after seven trips so far as anchor, she “needs to be at the scene of a story ‘and know what it smells like.’”

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/online/howard-kurtz-diane-sawyer-gives-world-news-more-edge/feed/ 2 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pres-obama-greets-diane-sawyer-with-a-kiss/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pres-obama-greets-diane-sawyer-with-a-kiss/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:50:31 +0000 Steve Krakauer http://www.mediaite.com/?p=77014 Barack Obama, ahead of his first State of the Union speech Wednesday. It was a big interview for Diane Sawyer - but it was jarring and a little odd to see Pres. Obama greet her with a kiss.]]> ABC News had an exclusive interview with Pres. Barack Obama, ahead of his first State of the Union speech Wednesday.

It was a big interview for Diane Sawyer – but it was jarring and a little odd to see Pres. Obama greet her with a kiss.

The interview had some newsy takeaways – most notably this soundbite: “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.” Also, “I can guarantee that the worst thing we could do would be to raise taxes when the economy is still this weak.”

But before the interview aired, ABC decided to edit b-roll of the initial greeting, where the President comes up to Sawyer, gives her a kiss on the cheek followed by a semi-awkward smiling exchange with his hand on her arm. This was pre-interview – and aired in Sawyer’s set-up. But this was a big moment for Sawyer, certainly her biggest since becoming the World News anchor last month, and it came across slightly un-anchor-like. And we all know the track record of evening news anchors with the President – remember Brian Williams‘ “bow” from last year?

Are we making too much out of nothing? It was quick, and obviously the interview was truly news-making. But are questions of double standards raised when we see this type of greeting between President and Big 3 news anchor, or any reporter, especially as the Big 3 news anchors are now two-thirds women?

Judge for yourself. Here’s the kiss, and below is video of the most newsy part of the actual interview:

> Update: I went back and looked at two recent interviews, with Katie Couric and Savannah Guthrie. Both started with Pres. Obama and interviewer already seated, so the greeting was not shown.

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]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pres-obama-greets-diane-sawyer-with-a-kiss/feed/ 28 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/network-reporter-of-the-decade-by-air-time-andrea-mitchell/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/network-reporter-of-the-decade-by-air-time-andrea-mitchell/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:14:46 +0000 Steve Krakauer http://www.mediaite.com/?p=66246 Which reporter logged the most minutes of air time during from 2000-2009?

The honor goes to Andrea Mitchell of NBC, according to the invaluable resource that is Andrew Tyndall‘s TyndallReport.com. Here’s a full breakdown.

Michell currently serves as Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for NBC, as well as anchor of the 1pmET Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC. Tyndall reports she had 2,416 minutes of air time on the NBC Nightly News – an astonishing figure. Right behind are her colleagues Robert Bazell, with 2,328 and Pete Williams, with 2,280.

Here are the top 10:

NBC Andrea Mitchell Diplomatic 2416
NBC Robert Bazell Medicine 2328
NBC Pete Williams Justice 2280
CBS David Martin Pentagon 2096
NBC David Gregory White House 2082
NBC Lisa Myers Capitol/Investigative 2069
CBS Jim Axelrod White House 1960
NBC Jim Miklaszewski Pentagon 1829
NBC Anne Thompson Domestic/Environment 1758
CBS Anthony Mason Economy 1697

One thing this shows is NBC and CBS have kept their reporters on the beat for longer than ABC News and ABC World News, which has seen far more turnover (with Dan Harris coming in at #11).

When looking at the top stories of the decade on the evening newscasts, ABC comes up again. The #1 story by far covered by each network was the war in Iraq (invasion, combat all added together). CBS spent 2,329 minutes on the story, followed by NBC with 2,149 and ABC with 1,967. It’s hard to find which stories ABC made up the slightly less time it had covering the Iraq War story. They spent more time on Pres. Obama’s 2008 campaign, Tornadoes and TARP, but only very marginally.

Either way, it’s fun to look at – check out TyndallReport.com for more.

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]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/network-reporter-of-the-decade-by-air-time-andrea-mitchell/feed/ 1 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/snap-judgment-breaking-down-diane-sawyers-first-week-world-news-ratings/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/snap-judgment-breaking-down-diane-sawyers-first-week-world-news-ratings/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:21:08 +0000 Steve Krakauer http://www.mediaite.com/?p=62730 Diane Sawyer has been the anchor of ABC's World News for just over one week, and the first week ratings are in. It's obviously very early, but here's a breakdown of the good, the bad and what the future may hold.]]> Diane Sawyer has been the anchor of ABC’s World News for just over one week, and the first week ratings are in.

It’s obviously very early, but here’s a breakdown of the good, the bad and what the future may hold.

Sawyer’s broadcast was up slightly week-to-week in total viewers and down slightly in the A25-54 demographic. Compared to the rest of the line-up, the difference between the three broadcasts was about the same. The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams averaged 9,370,000 total viewers compared to 8,560,000 for ABC and 6,160,000 for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. In the demo, NBC led with 2,840,000, ABC was 2nd with 2,270,000 and CBS averaged 1,830,000. For Sawyer’s first broadcast, the show was up significantly in total viewers, averaging 8,970,000. Last week also marked the largest total viewer advantage by ABC over 3rd place CBS in 11 months.

(One note: all three broadcast show ratings are based on a Monday-Wednesday average.)

Compared to Charlie Gibson‘s final week at the helm of World News, all three broadcasts had almost the exact same ratings in both categories. But when looking at the week prior, when it was no one’s last or first, all three broadcasts were way up. And compared to the same week last year, NBC was up in 2009 while the other programs declined significantly in both categories.

Still, it’s hard to get a good gauge on how the ratings will eventually settle because of the time of the year. This was done purposely by ABC – they wanted a low-key launch, and they certainly got it. Like Good Morning America getting used to George Stephanopoulos on the couch, any improvement (or decline), will take months to see. We know that Sawyer’s presence didn’t cause the ratings to crater – but it didn’t exactly show an immediate increase either.

As we enter 2010, we’ll have a better idea about how Sawyer’s approach to the broadcast impacts Williams and Couric, if at all.

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]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/snap-judgment-breaking-down-diane-sawyers-first-week-world-news-ratings/feed/ 2 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/abc-news-ahmadinejad-translator-an-iranian-jewish-stand-up-comic/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/abc-news-ahmadinejad-translator-an-iranian-jewish-stand-up-comic/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:54:47 +0000 Sean L. McCarthy http://www.mediaite.com/?p=60763 Diane Sawyer made her full-time debut behind the anchor desk Monday night for ABC World News, and shared an exclusive sit-down interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But that voice you heard in English calling Sawyer a "respectable lady?" That was Jewish-Iranian stand-up comedian, New York City's Dan Ahdoot.]]> Millions of Americans tuned in (and millions more around the world saw clips) as Diane Sawyer made her full-time debut behind the anchor desk Monday night for World News with Diane Sawyer and shared an exclusive sit-down interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They heard Sawyer level harsh accusations at Ahmadinejad about Iran’s nuclear program, its treatment of its citizens as well as of three American hikers arrested after they crossed the border. They also heard Ahmadinejad refer to Sawyer as “respectable lady.” But what most people don’t know is that the voice they heard translating Ahmadinejad belonged to a stand-up comedian, New York City’s Dan Ahdoot.

Ahdoot has joked for years about his own status as an Iranian Jew. And he told me last night about being part of a landmark broadcast and interview.

Tell me how you got the gig? Do you offer Iranian translations for TV stations or other people as a side gig? And why did you decide to give him an accent? I know how you talk for real! I got the gig completely randomly. They never use comedians or voice-over actors, for that matter. They only use translators. However, the translators sounded really menacing, and they weren’t into it. So there’s a producer at ABC News who used to produce comedy shows at a bar in the East Village 10 years ago. She remembered seeing me at the Boston Comedy Club at a bringer night! And she remembered I was Iranian. So she looked me up, and I was in the studios the next day. It was their idea to have me do an Iranian accent and I was totally cool with it. All of those years of making jokes about my parents finally paid off.  

And did you know that your plum gig was going to be watched by even more people since it aired on Diane Sawyer’s first night in the nightly news anchor chair? I didn’t know until it was about to air that it was her debut. The funny part is that we had my mom on the phone doing last-minute translations for some questionable phrases. For example, she was the one who helped with the “respectable lady” line he says that has gotten so much press! It was such a bizarre scenario, but definitely my favorite credit so far…Sorry Leno ;)

You can watch Ahdoot’s appearance from October on The Jay Leno Show, plus other details here. And here is the ABC News interview between Diane Sawyer and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as seen on Nightline, with translations by Dan Ahdoot (here’s the shorter World News version):

After a career as a newspaper reporter, Sean L. McCarthy launched The Comic’s Comic and has established it as a leading source for comedy news in the industry. This post was reprinted from an earlier post on that site.

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/abc-news-ahmadinejad-translator-an-iranian-jewish-stand-up-comic/feed/ 2 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/diane-sawyer-in-a-word-smooth/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/diane-sawyer-in-a-word-smooth/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:53:53 +0000 Rachel Sklar http://www.mediaite.com/?p=60028 I’ve said this before, but Diane Sawyer is smooth. Her voice is smooth. Her hair is smooth. Her segues are smooth. She’s even smoother than a smoothie, because those often have seeds, and seeds would never dare sully the smoothness that is Diane Sawyer.

So I am not at all surprised that last night’s transition to new ABC World News-anchordom went so smoothly. It’s not like she hasn’t done it before, she has — all of it, actually. She’s done the hard-hitting interviews (hello, Mahmoud!) and the chatting with correspondents and the personal — but completely professional — nod at the end, with a compeltely appropriate smile, easily transitioned into her anchorly sign-off.

There were new graphics, of course, marking the (once) sea-change of the handoff from anchor to anchor — yes this is ABC World News with Diane Sawyer — but it was so less jarring than it has ever been. Perhaps because it seems like Diane has always been there (in some capacity, she almost has) and perhaps, as Twitter snobs may say, who takes that chair (or that chair) no longer matters (as much)…or perhaps it’s because Diane Sawyer is such a pro, and is so damn smooth. Whatever it was, last night’s transition went off, well, smoothly.

Here’s the video of her opening and closing, with a little chat with her GMA replacement George Stephanopoulos in between.

Also, there was something else important about Diane Sawyer’s taking over the anchor chair last night…let’s see, what was it again…oh yes, I remember:

Haaaaaaa. Hat tip: Danny Shea at HuffPo, in a front page for the ages.

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/diane-sawyer-in-a-word-smooth/feed/ 7 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/soundbite-at-least-now-all-the-evening-news-anchors-are-attractive/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/soundbite-at-least-now-all-the-evening-news-anchors-are-attractive/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:54:38 +0000 Steve Krakauer http://www.mediaite.com/?p=60068 New York Times TV Critic Alessandra Stanley's takeaway from the move is that Diane Sawyer taking over for Charlie Gibson means she, Katie Couric and Brian Williams are now "evenly matched in looks and take-charge personality." Also, from earlier in the column: "Ms. Sawyer appears to have the same high-octane drive and ambition as Brian Williams and Katie Couric." But wait - looks?!]]>

“…Brian Williams has spent much of his tenure at “NBC Nightly News” as a young Turk competing against two older, avuncular and laid-back newsmen, Mr. Gibson and Bob Schieffer of CBS, who filled in after Mr. Rather left his post ahead of schedule. With Ms. Sawyer’s arrival, the three network anchors are evenly matched in looks and take-charge personality.

– The New York Times‘ TV Critic Alessandra Stanley weighs in on the debut of Diane Sawyer.

Stanley’s takeaway from the move is that Sawyer taking over for Charlie Gibson means she, Katie Couric and Brian Williams are now “evenly matched in looks and take-charge personality.” Also, from earlier in the column: “Ms. Sawyer appears to have the same high-octane drive and ambition as Brian Williams and Katie Couric.”

Besides the clear shots at Gibson – what, was he just sitting in the anchor seat half-asleep every night? – the drive and take-charge personality could be argued for each anchor. But what exactly does “evenly matched in looks” even mean? But more importantly, how would (and should) it ever be relevant?

Much of Stanley’s piece was spent praising Sawyer on her interview with Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which was the centerpiece of her debut show. Stanley took it to the next step, writing that the first night suggests Sawyer “seems intent on exotic travel and big ‘gets.’”

There also seems to be one clearly incorrect part of the column (which follows the path of her reputation). Stanley writes Brian Williams “has spent much of his tenure…competing against two older, avuncular and laid-back newsmen, Mr. Gibson and Bob Schieffer of CBS.”

This is there to make the point about the ‘new breed’ of anchors, now that Gibson is gone. But this characterization of Williams’ competition doesn’t add up. Williams took over NBC Nightly News in December 2004. He competed against Dan Rather at CBS until March 2005, then Schieffer after that. But only until August 2006, when Couric took the chair. So Williams has spent much of his tenure competing against Couric, and not one of those “older, avuncular” types.

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]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/soundbite-at-least-now-all-the-evening-news-anchors-are-attractive/feed/ 7 http://www.mediaite.com/online/charlie-gibsons-sign-off/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/charlie-gibsons-sign-off/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:53:42 +0000 Rachel Sklar http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59176 Friday was now-former ABC World News anchor Charlie Gibson‘s last day as anchor, and his sign-off was pretty pitch-perfect, with just the right combination of journalistic gravitas (“Objectivity is not universally in favor in our business these days, but it is critically important. It is what we strive for each night”) and clearly-felt sentiment (“It has been a privilege and an honor to be here working with reporters, producers and staff for whom I have unbounded respect”). Gibson, as per usual, kept it calm and steady, though hearing him talk about it being hard to leave and then realizing just how long he’d been with ABC (“the past third of a century,” as he put it) gave it an extra dimension behind his newsman’s poker face. It was a succinct but warm sign-off, as befits an occupant of a network anchor chair.

Afterward came warm messages of farewell from a who’s who of characters including President Barack Obama plus all living former presidents; John McCain and Hillary Clinton; ABC family members Jimmy Kimmel and Mickey Mouse; Wynton Marsalis, Julie Andrews (!), Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin; Whoopi Golberg talking about how smooth a dancer Gibson is (see, I wasn’t that far off!); former GMA colleagues David Hartman, Joan Lunden and Spencer Christian; Astronaut & International Space Station Commander Jeff Williams beaming his message in from space (awesome); Jack Hanna, Mia Hamm, some Washington Redskins and novelist Pat Conroy; Katie Couric and Brian Williams; some shouty Muppets, and fellow “newsfrog” Kermit, who was the penultimate well-wisher before President Obama. Green is Gravitas!

The full tribute is below:

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/online/charlie-gibsons-sign-off/feed/ 1 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fare-thee-well-charlie-gibson-were-gonna-miss-him-a-lot/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fare-thee-well-charlie-gibson-were-gonna-miss-him-a-lot/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:09:45 +0000 Rachel Sklar http://www.mediaite.com/?p=58889 Charlie Gibson's final broadcast at ABC World News after three and a half years of leading his network's flagship news program out of its most tenuous and uncertain time — and into an even more uncertain one for the entire news profession. On Monday, his colleague Diane Sawyer will take over, and the ABC evening news will go on, as it always has. But looking back, there's probably no way it could have happened without Gibson, steady and calm at the center, an anchor in the true sense of the word. ]]> Tonight is Charlie Gibson‘s last broadcast as the anchor of ABC World News. Even though it’s going quietly, it’s the end of an era. When Peter Jennings revealed he was stepping down from the anchor chair, he was the last of the Big Three to do so — Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw had both left their posts the previous year, and Jennings signaled the end of their shared era but it was not yet apparent that the primacy of the evening news was an era that had passed. It was only in the bumpy succession that it became clear that keeping that half-hour of news relevant and essential viewing for millions of Americans — then and still the biggest combined audience for news around — was going to be a challenge. NBC had had a smooth transition from Brokaw to Brian Williams, and CBS had stablilized with Bob Schieffer after Dan Rather’s abrupt departure.

At ABC, though, there was turmoil. After Jennings stepped down in April 2005, and then after his death in August of that year, there was no succession plan and ABC News president David Westin dragged his feet on making a decision, even though Gibson had been the reliable fill-in for Jennings. Finally, in December 2005, Westin decided to make Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchors of World News. But in January 2006 on a trip to Iraq, Woodruff was gravely injured, scuttling that plan. After some more turmoil and a very wobbly tenure for all concerned, including Gibson’s on-air partner at GMA, Diane Sawyer, Gibson was officially made the anchor of ABC World News (then still “World News Tonight”) and took over the chair.

Why must a discussion of Gibson’s tenure always begin with that wobbly start? Because of what came after it: Stability. Charlie Gibson in that anchor chair was a steady, dependable rock — exactly what was needed at World News after such a rough ride, and really the only thing that could have kept things on an even keel in the 6:30 p.m. hour. Then, steadily and surely, he started gaining on NBC.

The evening news glare had turned to Katie Couric taking over at CBS in September 2006, and that upheaval over there represented a chance for Gibson and his team to entrench and slowly gain. Which is exactly what they did, creeping up against then-leader NBC and giving Williams & Co. a real run for their money, tussling for first throughout 2007 and ending that year neck and neck. Though NBC eventually pulled back ahead, Gibson had surprised people: Slow and steady could, it seemed, win the race.

Gibson has shown that slow and steadiness throughout his tenure — and now that he’s going, we realize that that is what is going with him. Eric Deggans today called him “the last old-school TV anchorman,” and while I’m not quite sure that’s correct — whatever his extracurriculars, Brian Williams is still very rooted in that tradition, and I think Diane Sawyer is as well (and also let’s not forget that Brokaw started at the Today show, too) — Gibson is the last one who seems to have just been an anchorman. He didn’t blog. He rarely gave interviews. He didn’t do the late-show circuit. He wasn’t interested in doing anything extra, unless that ‘extra’ meant, say, moderating a primary debate.

Deggans seems to think that’s a good thing, rather unkindly calling Williams a “frustrated stand up comic and calling Couric a “fixture” in “tabloid news or the online world” which makes the first sound like her fault and the second sound like it’s just as tawdry. I have written in the past that I thought Gibson could have and should have engaged with his audience more, and in the hindsight looking back on this decade it’s hard to argue that limiting yourself to just one platform was a winning — or visionary — strategy. But to Gibson, his half-hour was the only half-hour that mattered, and spoke for itself. And, surely, steadily, reliably, he led it for these past three and a half years — a short tenure for an anchorman, but for the guy who held it all together when it was about to fall apart, it was long enough.

Yesterday on Office Hours, ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross reflected on Gibson and the World News he inherited and came to represent. “He was a reporter’s reporter – he knew what we went through to get our stories,” said Ross. “I tell you, I’ve been blessed since I came here from NBC 15 years ago to work first with Peter Jennings then Bob and Elizabeth, Charlie and now Diane – you think you work hard until you’re around these people. It’s just a reminder, the best people are the hardest workers.” Said Ross simply of Gibson’s departure: “We’re gonna miss him a lot.”

That seemed to be the theme tonight as his final episode drew to a close, and a video rolled with well-wishes from a whole host of characters from people who he’d interviewed, famous people who would miss him at 6:30, from his competitors Williams and Couric, from President Barack Obama, and, oddly, from a few muppets and Kermit The Frog in a nod to silliness that Gibson rarely allowed himself. And then the camera pulled back to show Gibson surrounded by his staffers applauding. Gibson beamed, turned to face them, clapped back to them, beamed some more, shuffled the papers on his desk, and looked down, acknowledging but not grandstanding, because the broadcast was over and that was how he did his job.

And then it was over, and there was a commercial for Diane Sawyer, leading ABC World News on Monday, because the news doesn’t wait and that’s how it goes. And it will probably be a seamless transition, and Sawyer will lead the broadcast into yet another new era, into the next century with its whole new set of rules.

But looking back, there’s no way she — or any of them — could have done it without Gibson, steady and calm at the center, an anchor in the true sense of the word.

Charlie Gibson leaves ABC News today as the last old school network TV anchorman [The Feed]
Charlie Gibson’s “World News” & ABC News Career Remembered [HuffPo]
Four Little Words That Can Return Charlie Gibson To Ratings Victory [ETP]

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fare-thee-well-charlie-gibson-were-gonna-miss-him-a-lot/feed/ 6 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/george-stephanopoulos-becomes-lead-contender-for-gma-job/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/george-stephanopoulos-becomes-lead-contender-for-gma-job/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:37:56 +0000 Steve Krakauer http://www.mediaite.com/?p=36773 Good Morning America are now focused on one name as the lead candidate - George Stephanopoulos. While a spokesperson for ABC says no decision is close to being made, TV insiders say the This Week anchor has become the lead contender for the job. But there may be more to the story.]]> The rumblings about the soon-to-be vacant anchor seat at ABC’s Good Morning America are now focused on one name as the lead candidate – George Stephanopoulos.

While a spokesperson for ABC says no decision is close to being made, TV insiders say the This Week anchor has become the lead contender for the job. But there may be more to the story.

Insiders at ABC say Stephanopoulos has expressed concerns about doing the 8am hour as well, which is generally reserved for lighter news. If ABC makes the 7am hour more politically focused to suit Stephanopoulos’ strengths, the 8am hour could get a different tone entirely, maybe even with a different host. One potential name that has arisen is soap star Cameron Mathison, who has guest hosted the show before, although we hear it’s very unlikely he would be named to a permanent anchor role.

An ABC News spokesperson tells Mediaite, “It doesn’t surprise me that those who don’t know anything are talking a lot, and those who do know aren’t.”

Stephanopoulos has been raising his profile at the network, and was named last week as the primary replacement on World News when Diane Sawyer takes over in January (which is the role she currently occupies). He has also been making more frequent appearances on cable news juggernaut Fox News, which has allowed him to gain greater exposure to the FNC audience as well as shows FNC as a welcome outlet to a member of the mainstream media.

ABC is still on the timetable it originally laid out for making the decision, and made clear from the start no decision is slated to come until December.

When we were placing odds on the position last month after it was announced Diane Sawyer takes over as anchor of World News we gave Stephanopoulos 15:1 odds to win the job, since, “He’s got a great gig as anchor of ABC’s Sunday show This Week, and is consistently edging closer to first-place NBC’s Meet the Press.” But if he can keep the This Week gig as well, this could be a win-win for ABC. Now we’re putting those odds much higher – in the words of one top TV insider “it’s 90% certain.” Another name that has to be on the short list would be Chris Cuomo, currently an anchor at GMA who remains well-regarded there and could be due for an expanded role.

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]]> http://www.mediaite.com/tv/george-stephanopoulos-becomes-lead-contender-for-gma-job/feed/ 3 http://www.mediaite.com/tv/charlie-gibson-to-leave-abc-world-news-diane-sawyer-woman-to-replace-him/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/charlie-gibson-to-leave-abc-world-news-diane-sawyer-woman-to-replace-him/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:11:18 +0000 Rachel Sklar http://www.mediaite.com/?p=19351 Tom Brokaw. Dan Rather. Peter Jennings. These names were huge pillars of the news ecosystem, and their departures were big stories — as well as the fraught issue of who had the gravitas to step into their anchorly shoes. Oh, how things have changed. Today, the news that Charlie Gibson is leaving ABC's World News after only a few years in the top spot is definitely news, but is shaking no foundations. It's also not at all surprising who is replacing him: Diane Sawyer. Well, except that she's a woman.]]> Remember when an anchor stepping down was a huge deal? Tom Brokaw. Dan Rather. Peter Jennings. These names were huge pillars of the news ecosystem, and their departures were big stories — as well as the fraught issue of who had the gravitas, the experience, the journalistic, anchorly heft to step into their enormous shoes.

The last transition was just a few years ago, but oh how things have changed. Today, the news that Charlie Gibson is leaving ABC’s World News after only a few years in the top spot is definitely news, but is shaking no foundations. It’s also not at all surprising who is replacing him: Diane Sawyer.

And why should it? Sawyer’s got a track record a mile long. She’s an accomplished journalists, well-known to ABC viewers over the year, a longtime partner of Gibson and equal to him in stature at the network, as well as in the upper echelons of that news ecosystem.

Well, for one thing, Sawyer’s a woman.

A woman!

Remember when that was a big deal? Cast your mind back to 2006. Katie Couric had just been announced as the successor to Dan Rather (or, really, Bob Schieffer), and the entire media community was in a tizzy. What would she wear? Would her hairstyle change? Would we still get to see those famous legs? I’m serious; this was the subject of legitimate debate in legitimate news outlets. The coverage of Couric’s ascension to the top spot at CBS, at its core, was about how viewers would react to a pretty, perky woman delivering their nightly half-hour news round-up.

Over at ABC, Sawyer was not impervious to that trend. The spring of 2005 had seen a spate of Katie-vs-Diane stories over the GMA/Today Show ratings, and after Bob Woodruff‘s terrible accident in Iraq ended the pairing of he and Elizabeth Vargas leading the broadcast in early 2006, both Gibson and Sawyer quietly started maneuvering for the anchor position.

According to Howard Kurtz in Reality Show, his book chronicling the anchor wars, Sawyer and Gibson were in contact about the ascension possibilities, as partners on GMA for eight years prior, but there were definite backroom goings-on as well. There was more: Sawyer also felt the added weight of the Couric treatment, very much aware of how the media would treat them as competitors:

It would be like every movie that featured two women battling it out. Women made great copy, that was the way the popular culture worked… She did not want her evening news tenure to be viewed through that prism. If she went to Darfur, the stories would be all about how she was trying to demonstrate that she was more interested in the plight of refugees than Couric was. She would be cast in a catfight.

We all know what happened: Gibson took over the ABC anchor chair. Couric took over at CBS. Sawyer remained at GMA, ever valuable to the network. Come January, she’ll finally be making that switch from morning to evening, to one of the hallowed Big Three anchor chairs.

Why bring all this up now? Things seem so different now, don’t they? Katie Couric has been on the job for three years now, and when it comes to waving scalps, Sarah Palin‘s is a pretty decent one to have claimed. Gibson’s depature from the chair is news, certainly, but as previously mentioned it won’t rate the kind of wall-to-wall coverage of the Brokaw-Williams handover, so carefully brokered and so seamlessly managed back in December 2004. New media upstarts enjoy dancing on the grave of the nightly news almost as much as they do that of newspapers. 20+ million viewers though the Big Three claim each night, there’s no doubt that the timeslot is not the big dog it once was.

Things are different — but that’s why it’s worth noting. Katie Couric’s been leading the CBS Evening News for three years and it’s still on the air (albeit with diminished ratings share). Charlie Gibson, for all his XY-chromosome-ness, never did manage to permanently unseat Brian Williams from that top spot. And in truth, there could not be a more perfect replacement for Gibson at ABC than Diane Sawyer, whose reporting chops, professionalism, longevity and on-air authority make her the ideal for a seamless transition.

But — looking ahead, there will be stories about how it’s BriWi vs. The Girls, and real data there, too, about whether or not viewers are switching over. There will be catfight stories, especially if ABC and CBS start getting close in the ratings or double-dealing for big-time exclusives. There will be assessments of Sawyer’s wardrobe choices and hairstyle, comparisons with the choices Couric makes and has made (here’s a potential headline: Will Diane Sawyer Cut Her Hair? Katie Did!). Looking ahead is made somewhat easier by looking back, and the fact that those articles about Couric’s wardrobe may have been in 2006, but chatter about Hillary Clinton‘s pantsuits and Sarah Palin’s Naughty Monkey pumps are decidedly more recent.

Looking ahead, those will be the stories — but so, too, will be the story of how a longtime ABC stalwart with an award-winning career took over one of the most important posts, still, in news — and the whole thing didn’t fall apart. That’s the thing about progress. It just sort of happens.

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