Variety‘s Brian Steinberg speaks to “CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley and Executive Producer Steve Capus about propelling the third-place CBS broadcast up the ratings ranks. Last week, the program saw the most younger viewer growth among the evening newscasts.
At one time, Capus oversaw – among many other things – the nation’s most-watched evening newscast, NBC’s “Nightly News” with Brian Williams, as president of NBC News between 2005 and 2013. . Now he has come aboard CBS News as an executive editor, as well as the new overseer of the evening newscast. His new mission? He wants to boost “Evening News” out of its third-place roost, without abandoning CBS’ old-school reliance on in-depth reporting, despite a competitor, ABC, that has made strides by featuring a faster-paced program. Part of Capus’ job “is to help us get up to number two, and on to number one,” says Scott Pelley, the anchor and managing editor of the broadcast, in an interview held in his office in the “CBS Evening News” studio.
And Capus says the program will succeed without gimmicks.
“Any time there is a transition there is an opportunity where perhaps people might sample and see what’s out there,” says Capus. “Right now, it’s up to all of us to make sure we have the strongest offering that we can. We are not going to do crazy stunts. We are not going to put Scott on the air without a tie hanging upside down in front of the monitor. We will stay true to who we are.”
More from Capus Friday in the TVNewser series, “Behind the TV Scenes.”