CBS Evening News

The CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS.

The future

Rather retired from the Evening News on March 9, 2005, at 7:00 eastern time, exactly 24 years after succeeding Cronkite. Rather retired sooner than he wished after an internal investigation at CBS found that he violated journalistic rules in a report regarding George W Bush's National Guard record in the midst of the 2004 Presidential Election. Though he wished to retire after 25 years, many speculated that CBS forced him out because of his poor ratings and the public outrage CBS faced over the 60 Minutes report by Rather. He was succeeded on an interim basis by longtime CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer. Schieffer has hosted the CBS News public affairs program Face the Nation, based in Washington, DC, since 1991.

Related Topics:
March 9 - 2005 - CBS - George W Bush - National Guard - 2004 Presidential Election - 60 Minutes - Bob Schieffer

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As of Rather's retirement, nothing is certain about how long Schieffer will host the broadcast, or whether it will retain its current shape or instead adopt some kind of multiple-host or other alternative format.

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Under Rather in the years leading up to his retirement, the show trailed its rivals at ABC and NBC by a fairly large margin. John Roberts, the White House correspondent for the network and Scott Pelley, his predecessor in that position, were often mentioned as possible successors to Rather when he retires.

Related Topics:
John Roberts - White House - Scott Pelley

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There was some talk within CBS, however, that the Evening News would fade away after Rather's retirement. However, this has not proven true. Many of the network's affiliates have long wanted to have its timeslot for local programming, and others argue that nightly national news shows are becoming outmoded in the age of round-the-clock cable news and the Internet. However, even today, the ratings of the "big 3" network evening news programs totaled together equal ten times the ratings of the highest rated cable television news program.

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