NEW YORK — CBS’s pick to anchor the evening news, Scott Pelley, said Tuesday that he’ll bring his “60 Minutes” sensibility to the job and will do his most important work behind the scenes to try to pull the program out of its years-long ratings slump.
Pelley, who has been at CBS since 1989, was named Tuesday to replace Katie Couric and will start in his new role June 6.
He said he instantly agreed when asked to fill the anchor seat that had been occupied by Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer before Couric took over five years ago this fall. CBS has rarely been out of last place in the ratings over the past decade.
CBS hasn’t set an exit date for Couric, who is expected to start a daytime talk show at either ABC or CBS. Her contract expires June 4.
Pelley, 53, has been at “60 Minutes” since 2004, and he has won 14 Emmys and two Pea body awards.
Pelley said “60 Minutes” gets many letters from viewers who say that they’ve been following an issue for a while but never truly understood what was going on until the newsmagazine did a story on it. He hopes viewers have the same attitude about evening news stories.
Pelley will continue to do work for “60 Minutes,” which has landed an interview with President Barack Obama to air this weekend.
The Associated Press
