Scott Pelley

Scott Pelley’s removal from the CBS Evening News anchor chair, a shift in the works for months and confirmed May 31, reveals not only frustration at the perpetual third-place broadcast news division but also questions facing the continued viability of nightly half-hour newscasts.

Scott Pelley is back from his reporting trip for 60 Minutes and will finish up his anchor and managing editor role at CBS Evening News a week from Friday.

Mark Plotkin: “Pelley needs to be commended and celebrated for his six years as anchor. He never backed down or backed away from giving to us the news — straight and true. CBS might change their nightly anchor but they should never abdicate their duty to tell us what is really happening.”

Two people familiar with the situation confirmed reports on Wednesday that CBS is expected to announce Pelley’s departure shortly. The CBS show is a distant third to ABC and NBC in the evening news rankings, and despite some critical success, has not been able to close the gap. Pelley is expected to return to 60 Minutes.

The CBS anchor has set himself apart in covering the Trump administration by abandoning careful neutrality in favor of pointed truth-telling.

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley is emerging as a blunt evaluator of President Donald Trump. After Trump’s claim of underreported terrorist attacks last month, Pelley said on his newscast that “it has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality.” The one-liners are sharp in a way that’s unusual for the evening news, and they set Pelley apart from his rivals.

ABC’s David Muir, CBS’s Scott Pelley and NBC’s Lester Holt sat down last week in New York with Variety for a candid conversation about the news business. Among their observations: Pelley: “Our job is unchanged. Find the facts, present the truth, let the audience know what our process is.” Muir: “I think one of the challenges we’re facing right now is that what the president says is often different from what his staff members will tell us.” Holt: “Sometimes I think about our short attention spans these days, it’s like the evening news shows were kind of ahead of their game. Now, 30 minutes is actually a pretty good time.”

While CBS denies it, multiple sources tell the New York Post that the network is planning to move Scott Pelley over to 60 Minutes — where he is already an anchor — full time, and replace him on the network’s flagship news broadcast.

CBS News said its evening-news anchor, Scott Pelley, would lead the broadcast from Florida in order to provide on-the-ground perspective on the effects of  Hurricane Matthew, a signal that the storm and potential damage resulting from it are likely to take more command of an already busy news cycle.

Scott Pelley says he’s been hearing predictions that the network evening newscast is doomed ever since he arrived at CBS 27 years ago. So he’s feeling pretty good about the fact that the CBS Evening News has actually gained viewers since he became anchor on June 6, 2011, taking over for Katie Couric, who left the network. He shares a few thoughts on why the format made famous by Walter Cronkite and the Huntley-Brinkley Report is holding its own at a time when viewers have plenty of other choices for video news.

ABC’s David Muir and NBC’s Brian Williams-less newscasts are currently battling for first place, but CBS is gaining on its rivals with a 21% jump in ratings over the past four years.

They gambled, and it paid off. On the day President Obama announced he would move forward with talks aimed at normalizing relations with Cuba, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley stunned many observers when he appeared — looking crisp in a suit and tie — in Havana, the only evening news anchor on the island Wednesday night.

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley gave his fellow journalists a scolding this weekend while accepting an award from Quinnipiac University, urging his colleagues to quit worrying about being “first” to publish a story and to avoid using social networking sites for information, as they are solely “gossip.” “This has been a bad few months for journalism,” he lamented. “We’re getting the big stories wrong over and over again.”

Scott Pelley and the CBS Evening News still have a way to go, but the trend line is positive. His newscast has averaged 6.03 million viewers a night during the past year, up from 5.72 million for the previous year, according to the Nielsen Co.

Katie Couric’s last night on the CBS Evening News will be May 19. She made the announcement on Friday’s broadcast. Substitute anchors are likely to rotate in the chair until Scott Pelley takes over as the permanent anchor on June 6.

The veteran CBS News correspondent will take over from Katie Couric as anchor and managing editor on June 6. He will continue to report for 60 Minutes.

Acknowledging what everybody already knows, Katie Couric wiil announce this week that she will not be renewing her five-year contract to anchor the CBS Evening News. In line to replace her is Scott Pelley, a correspondent on 60 Minutes.CBS executives are interviewing candidates to be the executive producer of Mr. Pelley’s newscast, two of the people with knowledge of the plan said.

Scott Pelley, a veteran journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent, is the choice of CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager. Fager, who became chairman in February, took the position on the condition he could decide who takes the desk.