When we wanted to know what had happened in the world while we worked, we sat down to dinner with Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings or Dan Rather.
For the last 21 years, the three anchors have been a mainstay of news and information. Now, Brokaw is set to leave Wednesday, Rather in the spring.
The departures signal a shift in TV news.
“The evening newscasts are the platform for these tremendous authority figures to tell us the truth, or the accepted truth of what’s going on in the world,” said Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday” on the Fox News Channel. “You’re never going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle.”
In 1980, when CNN toddled onto the national stage, 75 percent of America’s TV sets was tuned to nightly newscasts. Last year, 20 percent of TV sets were tuned to nightly newscasts by ABC, CBS and NBC.
“We are far less the absolute gatekeepers than we were in the past,” Jennings said of himself and his fellow anchors.
The top-rated Brokaw, 64, vacates his chair Wednesday at “NBC Nightly News,” where he has anchored since 1982.
Third-place Rather, 73, announced last week he is stepping down as anchor of “CBS Evening News.” He’ll sign off March 9, the anniversary of his ascension to Cronkite’s throne in 1981.
That will leave Jennings, 66, as the industry dean. Since 1983, the Canadian-born Jennings has been the lone anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
Musical chairs
NBC News stars Matt Lauer (“Today”), 46, and Tim Russert (“Meet the Press”), 54, are reportedly among those on CBS’ wish list to replace Dan Rather. Newsweek reports that both men were approached by the rival network, though their responses are not revealed.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Chris Courtney ([email protected])