Schieffer picked to replace Rather

CBS News on Wednesday tapped veteran Washington newsman Bob Schieffer as the temporary replacement for retiring anchor Dan Rather, who will leave “CBS Evening News” next month.

Schieffer, 67, will start as anchor March 10, the day after Rather’s final telecast. The network declined to specify how long Schieffer will serve, but said in a news release that it would be a “short transition period until the new format of the broadcast is launched.”

Last month, CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves told reporters that the network was eyeing potentially revolutionary changes in the “Evening News,” including the possibility of multiple anchors in different cities.

Executives are still working on those plans, sources said, and won’t be ready to put them in place by the time Rather exits. But one person familiar with the situation said the network wants to have the reformatted “Evening News” mapped out no later than May, when the fall schedule will be presented to advertisers.

The issue is particularly critical to local CBS stations, which rely on “Evening News” to help drive viewers to lucrative local newscasts.

“We’re not discussing the timeline” for rolling out the revamped “Evening News,” CBS News Senior Vice President Marcy McGinnis said in an interview. “We’re considering lots of different things.”

Rumors of an interim role for Schieffer -- who has served as a frequent Rather substitute over the years -- had been persistent since Rather announced his retirement in November.

Schieffer, who joined CBS News in 1969, has hosted “Face the Nation,” CBS’ Sunday morning political talk show, for 14 years. He will continue hosting that show while serving as interim anchor, McGinnis said.

A native Texan, Schieffer in October moderated the third and final debate between President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John F. Kerry. He also has written a bestselling book, “This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV.”

“Schieffer was just kind of the logical choice for this,” McGinnis said. “He’s a face the American public knows, and he’s a great journalist and broadcaster.” Schieffer also has made it known, she added, that he’s not interested in having a permanent role as “Evening News” anchor.

That presumably insulates him from the internal jockeying over Rather’s potential replacements. CBS News has been in turmoil following a scandal over a “60 Minutes Wednesday” report last September that questioned President Bush’s military service. Rather served as correspondent on the report and vigorously defended its accuracy, even after critics raised questions about the veracity of memos attributed to one of Bush’s former commanders.

In early January, an independent panel issued a report that lambasted the network for “myopic zeal” in pursuing the Bush story and failing to vet the memos properly. CBS dismissed four senior staffers involved in preparing the original story.