Anchors are losing their staying power
They just don’t make network news anchors with much of a shelf life anymore.
In the old days — actually, right up until around 2005 — the evening news anchor gig was considered the apex of a TV journalism career. Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather were lavishly compensated, globetrotting stars. They each spent so many decades bringing the news of the day into Americans’ living rooms that they were considered family.
The three had a collective experience of 69 years as the mostwatched newsmen in the world. Before them, Walter Cronkite logged almost 20 years as anchor of the “CBS Evening News.”
Cronkite was dubbed, for good reason, “the most trusted man in America.” He was a comforting guide for viewers through countless major events — from the moon landings to the murders of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King Jr.
Much has changed since these men left their hugely influential perches. Their successors’ reigns have been short-lived, with the notable exception of “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams.
So it was a little sad to hear last week that Diane Sawyer is stepping down as the face of ABC News’ flagship telecast, “World News” — just a few months short of hitting the five-year mark.
She’s not alone among the relative newcomers in giving up the gig. Before her, Charlie Gibson lasted only three years, from 2006 to 2009. His predecessors, Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas, held the co-anchoring job for a mere three months. That’s because Woodruff was seriously injured while reporting in Iraq; and Vargas announced she was pregnant. On the same network, Peter Jennings had the job for 22 years, until his death in 2005.
Like Sawyer, Katie Couric also served over at CBS as the “Evening News” anchor for around five years. Before being run out of CBS in shame for a sloppy “60 Minutes” report, her predecessor, Dan Rather, spent 24 years in that role.
There’s no one explanation as to why the anchors sail off into the sunset so quickly now. But certainly there’s a changed media landscape. Viewers have so many news sources available, from cable to thousands of news-oriented websites. Nobody’s required to wait until the dinner hour to hear headlines.
Egos could be at work here too. Couric, who excelled as a morning-show host on “Today,” never seemed comfortable in the limited role she had behind the anchor desk. Why stick around when things aren’t going so well?
And Sawyer? She didn’t give much of a reason for stepping down, other than noting there are projects she’d like to do at ABC News. It looks like Sawyer will be a natural successor to Barbara Walters when it comes to delivering the big “gets” and prime-time specials.
Meanwhile, over at NBC, the survivor Williams gets a hat tip.
He may not be “the most trusted man in America” — that era seems well over by now — but Williams has been in the anchor seat for about a decade. That’s enough time to make NBC’s anchor the most seasoned on the scene.