“CBS Evening News” executive producer Pat Shevlin is the subject of a lengthy profile in the quarterly magazine of her alma mater, Wellesley College. Shevlin talks about her first glimmer of interest in the news business (after the assassination of John F. Kennedy), how she was hired at CBS (persistence helped) and her goal of being more accessible than previous “Evening News” EPs. The piece also details her relationship with the program’s anchor, Scott Pelley:
[Photo credit: Richard Howard/Wellesley magazine]In the world of network evening news programs, all of which carry the name of the anchor, Scott Pelley and Pat Shevlin are twinned. CBS News chairman Jeff Fager named Scott Pelley anchor and paired Pat Shevlin with him. For Pelley, it’s a match made in collegial heaven. “We have just meshed perfectly. We share the same values, the same ideals,” he says. “I just cannot imagine a better partner to run this broadcast with. I really wouldn’t want to do this with anybody else.”
Shevlin has also helped him develop his anchoring skills. “She’s my coach,” he says. This is a new role for Pelley. He continues, “I’ve been a correspondent, but I never anchored a local newscast. She taught me how to do it.” More importantly, he says, “In the heat of battle, she’s a cool breeze; she calms everybody down, and calms me down.”
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