Following Diane Sawyer’s sign-off last night, the first promo to air teased what’s ahead on tonight’s show. Eagle-eyed viewers also noticed something different. As of today, ABC’s flagship broadcast is known as “World News Tonight.”
The broadcast had long been called “World News Tonight,” but ABC dropped the “Tonight” in 2006 during Charles Gibson’s time as anchor. At the time, ABC News president David Westin explained, “Our flagship evening news broadcast has evolved well beyond thirty minutes on television. As we continue to expand ABC News and ‘World News’ into the 24-hour space created by the digital world, it makes sense for that reality to be reflected in the title of the broadcast.”
There’s no explanation this time for the change. The Twitter account for the show @abcworldnews already includes the new graphic and the Facebook link has been changed from World News to ABC World News Tonight. David Muir’s name will be added to the title when he officially takes over as anchor next Tuesday. “World News Tonight” gets a new EP in the coming weeks as Almin Karamehmedovic moves over from “Nightline.”