Scott Pelley will take over Katie Couric’s chair at the CBS Evening News, the network confirmed in a statement Tuesday. Pelley will begin anchoring the broadcast (which will be renamed the CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley) on June 6.
Pelley has been the favorite for the position since Couric announced her departure last week, and many news outlets are categorizing CBS’s decision to appoint Pelley as “playing it safe.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Pelley said that he thinks the CBS Evening News has promise. “We’ve got enormous strength,” he said. “What the broadcast needs is a little bit of leadership. The correspondents and producers need to understand that we’re going to be about original reporting and about bringing unique insight into the news, so that we add value for the viewers.”
Since 2004, Pelley has been a reporter on 60 Minutes, and CBS said that he would continue to cover stories for the program.
