Scott Pelley Named New CBS Evening News Anchor
NEW YORK (CBS) - Scott Pelley, one the most experienced reporters in broadcast journalism, has been named anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News," it was announced Tuesday by CBS News Chairman and "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager and David Rhodes, the President of CBS News.
The broadcast will be renamed "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley," and he will take the anchor desk effective on June 6. The program is seen on CBS4 from 6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. weeknights.
Pelley will continue to report stories for "60 Minutes."
"Scott has it all. He has the experience, the credibility and he is among the very best reporters ever to work at CBS News," said Fager. "In more than two decades at CBS News, he has distinguished himself at every level, right up to his current role at '60 Minutes,' where his work has been incomparable. We like to think of CBS News as the 'reporter's network' and I can't think of anybody in this business better suited for the anchor chair than Scott."
"Scott is the ideal journalist to lead this broadcast. We're very proud to have him guiding this news organization's reporting each and every evening," said Rhodes. "He has a body of work few in the business can claim and will help us grow CBS News now and in the future."
"I am delighted to join the terrific team at the 'CBS Evening News,'" said Pelley. "It's a privilege to work alongside the most gifted and talented journalists in the industry."
Few reporters have made as wide and as deep a mark on a news organization as Pelley has at CBS News, where he's covered everything from breaking national news stories to politics to wars and served as the network's chief White House correspondent.
Since he brought that experience to "60 Minutes" in 2004, half of all the major awards won by the broadcast have been for stories reported by Pelley.
SEE MORE DETAILS OF PELLEY'S CAREER AT CBS NEWS
Last month, his story about homeless school children in the Orlando area inspired an unprecedented outpouring of response that included a local church group's pledge of $5.6 million. Other stories also raised awareness and charitable responses. He profiled the residents of Wilmington, Ohio, who were left stranded when the town's largest employer, DHL, shut down its domestic operation. He reported on the "99ers," the unemployed who ran through 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and still found themselves jobless and desperate. In addition, he reported on "Stand Down," an annual encampment in San Diego to help homeless veterans, and did a Peabody-award-winning segment about Remote Area Medical, a volunteer medical organization that treats thousands of uninsured Americans.
Before becoming chief White House correspondent, Pelley was assigned to the 1992 presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. Prior to that, he served as a CBS News correspondent based in Dallas, where he covered many of the biggest domestic stories, including the Oklahoma City bombing and the trial of Timothy McVeigh. He also reported on the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Los Angeles Northridge earthquake, the Branch Davidian raid near Waco, Texas, Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo and NASA's shuttle missions. Pelley joined CBS News as a reporter based in New York in 1989.
Prior to his time at CBS News, Pelley was a producer/reporter for WFAA-TV Dallas/Fort Worth (1982-89), KXAS-TV Dallas/Fort Worth (1978-81) and KSEL-TV Lubbock, Texas (1975-78). He began his journalism career at the age of 15 as a copyboy at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper.
All told, Pelley and his team's distinguished body of work have received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton, two George Foster Peabody awards, 14 national Emmy awards, five Edward R. Murrow awards, a George Polk and a Loeb award, as well as honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Writers Guild of America. Twenty-one of those awards have been earned for his work over the past five years on "60 Minutes."
Scott Pelley was born in San Antonio, Texas, and attended journalism school at Texas Tech University. He and his wife, Jane Boone Pelley, have a son and a daughter.
