It Is “Far Too Premature” To Speculate On The Next Anchor Of WNT…

“Industry sources said that ‘Good Morning America’ co-anchor Charlie Gibson was among the likely candidates to succeed Peter Jennings in the anchor chair at ‘World News Tonight,'” The Hollywood Reporter surmises. (Can we please not use the word “succeed,” though?)

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told the trade mag: “It is far too premature for us to even think about that. Charlie and Elizabeth [Vargas] will continue to anchor the broadcast.” The spokesman stressed that ABC will not name a new anchor for an indeterminate amount of time.

> The newscast will retain the title “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” for the near future, Variety says.

> Also: “Moving Mr. Gibson from the morning shift to the evening would be fraught with risk, not least from a business perspective,” the NYT notes.