The CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer
We met back in 1988. I was a young, idealistic, local television news producer in
Portland, Oregon
. He was 22 years my seniorâÂ?¦a dashing national affairs correspondent, covering President Reagan’s re-election campaign. Somebody told him that I had a crush on him, making our brief encounter all the more memorable for me. He was kind, warm, witty, smart, self-effacing and gentlemanly. Everything he seems to be when you see him on TV. And I loved him for it.
Eighteen years later, I’m no longer a TV news producer; having dropped out of the rat race, exhausted from fighting with my bosses over the direction TV news was taking. And my crush? He stuck it out, and is now sitting in a network anchor chair, charming viewers while saving “the house that Murrow built.”
This is my open love letter to Bob Schieffer, who has been the “temporary” anchor of the CBS Evening News for a year now.
My relationship with Bob goes way back. I grew up a Cronkite viewer and a believer in the journalistic ethical standards set by Edward R. Murrow. Although Dan Rather was put in the anchor chair following Cronkite, I could count on seeing Bob every Sunday night (since 1973) when he anchored the CBS Sunday Night News. During the week, I put up with Rather, in order to see the solid reporting of Schieffer, who is one of only a few journalists to have covered all four major beats in the nation’s capital – the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and Capitol Hill.
In the 80’s and 90’s, CBS News fell on hard times. Its decline was well documented in the media, assisted by the bizarre behavior of its chief anchor. Its ratings dropped into a distant third place. I abandoned CBS News too, venturing off to work for other network affiliates, and getting my nightly news fix from
Jennings
or Brokaw. But on Sundays, I always came back to Bob.
When Rather finally retired last year in the wake of his badly botched National Guard story, Bob was named “interim” weekday anchor. The CBS Evening News saw its “lowest viewer tally on record” that week, according to Variety. “My job is to give everyone a chance to catch their breath and step back from all this and get back to work,” Bob said at the time. “I hope I can help in getting us to refocus on being a news organization.”
Over the past year, there have been major changes in the executive ranks of CBS’ news division. The new bosses have gone back to basics by returning the network to its hard news roots. On-air, the most noticeable change is the less anchor-centric format, which showcases CBS’ young, talented pool of reporters. It also suits Bob’s style, which comes through every night with personally-penned scripts like the newscast lede he wrote about Vice President Cheney’s hunting accident: “The question was being asked at gas stations, in offices, restaurants, all across today. And the question was: ‘Did I hear that right? The vice president shot someone?”
In increasing numbers, viewers are beginning to appreciate the man I’ve admired for years. The CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer has gained about 183-thousand viewers over the past year according to the Nielson ratings, putting it on the heels of ABC’s beleaguered World News Tonight. “No one is more surprised about it than I am,” Schieffer modestly says about the resuscitation of CBS News. The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz even called him “Television’s Aging Rock Star.”
Despite all this, CBS reportedly continues trying to lure Katie Couric over from NBC when her contract expires in May. And what about Bob? “Had this happened 10 years ago, I’d be fighting for this job,” he says. “Doing it under these circumstances is perfect for me. I don’t want to do it forever.”
If CBS has any brains at all, it will beg Bob to stay around a while longer. I know I would. But then again, I’ve loved him for years. And I’m not ready to let him go just yet.
