CBS News execs are scrambling because there is no obvious replacement for ousted “CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley, according to Page Six at The NYPost.
While Anthony Mason has been named as the interim stand-in, he is unlikely to get the big job on a permanent basis, sources say, and there’s a race to replace Pelley.
CBS insiders say Norah O’Donnell has the gravitas for the job, but news chiefs are reluctant to take her out of “CBS This Morning,” which she hosts alongside Charlie Rose and Gayle King, because the show is doing so well it could soon overtake NBC’s “Today” in overall ratings.
CBS News chiefs had been in talks with Willie Geist last year, but insiders said he wanted too much money to leave NBC. Other TV insiders say CNN’s Jake Tapper could have been up for the role as he “had been making it clear that he’s ready for something bigger.” But Tapper, as well as Anderson Cooper, who’s reported for “60 Minutes,” have long-term contracts with CNN.
CBS News doesn’t really need to get the new evening anchor into the chair until September for the fall-ratings push.
The decision to ax Pelley “deeply unpopular” with CBS News staff, according to The Post.
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