Pelley out, Mason temporarily in as CBS News anchor

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS' effort to brand itself as the home of hard-edged newscasts has been a success in the morning, not so much in the evening — and "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley paid the price for it with his job.

The network announced Wednesday that Pelley will return full-time to "60 Minutes," the flagship newsmagazine where he divided his time in the six years since he replaced Katie Couric as evening news anchor. Twenty-year CBS veteran Anthony Mason will fill in on the evening news until a permanent successor is chosen.

The transition has already been a little messy: CBS had intended to announce it next week, but when workers began packing Pelley's belongings at his evening news office into boxes Tuesday night, word of his departure spread.

With its influence diminished at the turn of the decade, CBS News sought to mold its newscasts in the meatier image of "60 Minutes." It named the newsmagazine's most influential correspondent, Pelley, as evening anchor and installed the team of Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell at the newly named "CBS This Morning."

The strategy has worked beyond the network's dreams in the morning. Once invisible, CBS is now competitive with ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today" show — still third but gaining fast. Pelley won respect and some early ratings success in the evening. But he was never truly competitive with ABC and NBC, and lately has slid further behind.

Pelley's onscreen demeanor — "strict and steeling, disavowing both charm and irony" — was appropriate for the nation's mood in the wake of last decade's financial crisis, said news consultant Andrew Tyndall, who studies the content of evening newscasts. But it has proven less so for the Trump era. Despite a heightened interest in news that has propelled cable personalities like Rachel Maddow to new heights in recent months, the evening newscasts haven't benefited. Collectively, the three networks reach 24.2 million each night, down 4 percent from last year, the Nielsen company said.