It’s no secret — to the satisfaction of innumerable CBS’ers — that the past year has marked a return to the network’s hard news roots. The evolution began in February of 2011, when Jeff Fager became news chairman, and David Rhodes division president.
Just a few months later, Scott Pelley was named anchor of the CBS Evening News. A revamped CBS This Morning debuted six months later.
TVNewser caught up with veteran White House correspondent Bill Plante in Chicago as he covered his 12th presidential election night. Plante, who has been with CBS since 1964, is among those pleased with the newsier focus.
“Needless to say, the morale of the whole news operation has been sky-high since Jeff and David took over,” Plante tells us. “It’s represented a new focus on news. And that really excited the people who came into this business to do news.
“And we do a lot more hard news than we used to, both in the morning and evening. And that makes those of us who’ve been in this business a long time really happy.”
Plante has covered every presidential election going back to 1968, and says the political beat is never dull. “Politics is about people and power, and how they relate with one another to achieve it, and what they do with it.
“It’s fascinating to watch. It never ceases to be interesting.”
(Photo: Alissa Krinsky)