The World News

World News
World News with Charles Gibson (previously known as World News Tonight, often called ABC World News Tonight, also often abbreviated as WNT, and known as World News on weekend editions) is the flagship news program of the American Broadcasting Company in the United States. Currently, the weekday editions are hosted by Charles Gibson, Saturdays by David Muir, and Sundays by Dan Harris.

ABC first began a nightly newscast in fall 1953 with John Charles Daly as anchor of the then-15-minute John Charles Daly and the News. Daly, who also hosted the CBS game show What's My Line? contemporaneously, anchored the news until 1960 with multiple hosts and formats succeeding him. Anchors during the early 1960s included John Cameron Swayze (formerly of NBC), Howard K. Smith, Bill Lawrence, Bill Shadel, Fendall Winston Yerxa, Bill Sheehan and Edward P. Morgan. This lasted until 1962, when Ron Cochran was made full-time anchor, serving until 1964. Then, in 1965, a 26-year-old Canadian, Peter Jennings, was named anchor of Peter Jennings with the News.

In 1967, the inexperienced Jennings left the anchor chair and was reassigned as an international correspondent for the news program. ABC News was hosted, in succession, by Bob Young (October 1967 to May 1968), Frank Reynolds (May 1968 to May 1969), and, eventually, Reynolds and Howard K. Smith (May 1969 to December 1970). The program did not expand from 15 to 30 minutes until 1967, some years after CBS and NBC had expanded their evening news programs.
Reasoner, Smith, and Walters
Harry Reasoner, formerly of CBS News and 60 Minutes, joined ABC in 1970 to co-anchor ABC Evening News with Smith, beginning in December, replacing Reynolds. In 1976, Smith was moved to commentator, and Reasoner briefly assumed sole anchor responsibilities until his pairing with Barbara Walters, the first female network anchor, this pairing began in 1976. Ratings for the nightly news broadcast declined shortly thereafter, possibly due in part to the lack of chemistry between Reasoner and Walters. Reasoner would eventually return to CBS and 60 Minutes, while Walters became a regular on the newsmagazine 20/20.
First News" strategy, 1960s–1982
Because ABC had nowhere near the number of affiliates as the other two major networks and, thus, especially in smaller markets, was sometimes carried by a station primarily affiliated with another network, ABC chose to feed its evening newscast to its affiliates at 6 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Central, one half-hour ahead of CBS and NBC. Even in areas with three full-time affiliates, ABC stations often opted to broadcast the news at 6/5 in order to entice viewers by presenting the day's national and international news first, thus making it more likely that they would stay tuned to the station's local newscast immediately following (or a half hour afterward), instead of turning to CBS or NBC. In some markets, especially in the Eastern time zone, it was not unusual for the ABC affiliate to air its local newscast at 5:30, followed by the network news at 6, then syndicated sitcom reruns or game shows from 6:30 to 7:30 (or 8, after the Prime Time Access Rule went into effect in 1971).

As the youngest and least-viewed of the networks, ABC employed the strategy to get a foothold on the American public's consciousness, although stations were quite free to tape-delay the feed in order to run it against the other two networks, or, in some larger markets especially, at 7/6 p.m. Eventually, though, by 1982, when all markets obtained full-time ABC affiliates and the evening newscast began winning the ratings, the network discontinued the practice and started feeding the news to stations at the conventional time of 6:30 (Eastern/Pacific)/5:30 (Central/Mountain), on weeknights. However, the weekend editions still air live at 6/5 p.m.
World News Tonight: The early years 1978–1983
Always the perennial third in the national ratings, ABC News president Roone Arledge reformatted the program, relaunching it as World News Tonight on July 10, 1978. Frank Reynolds, demoted when the network hired Reasoner, returned as lead anchor, reporting from Washington, D.C. Max Robinson, the first African American network news anchor, anchored national news from Chicago, and, also returning for a second stint, Jennings, reporting international headlines from London. Occasional contributions included special reports by Barbara Walters who was credited as anchor of the special coverage desk from New York and world wide and commentary by Howard K. Smith, who was easing into eventual retirement. The program’s distinct and easily identifiable theme was written by Bob Israel. Ratings slowly climbed to the point where World News Tonight eventually beat both NBC Nightly News and the CBS Evening News, marking the first time ever that ABC had the most popular network evening newscast.

Also during this time, WNT aired an open-captioned version on various public television stations throughout the United States, produced by Boston station WGBH-TV. In place of commercials, WGBH inserted additional news stories, some of which were of special interest to deaf people, as well as late news developments, weather forecasts and sports scores. This version aired mostly in late-night hours, several hours after the original newscast.


World News with Peter Jennings: 1983–2005
In April 1983, Frank Reynolds became ill, leaving both Jennings and Robinson to co-anchor the broadcast until he planned to return; he never did and succumbed to bone cancer on July 20. A rotation of anchors hosted the program until August 9, 1983, when Peter Jennings became the sole anchor and senior editor of World News Tonight. The program began emanating from New York on a regular basis in September 1983 at which time Bill Owen replaced Bill Rice as announcer for a year. In September 1984, the program was renamed World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in order to reflect its sole anchor and senior editor. Robinson left ABC News in 1984, after stints of hosting news briefs and anchoring weekend editions of World News Tonight; he died of AIDS in 1988.

With Jennings as lead anchor, World News Tonight was the most-watched national newscast from February 27, 1989, to November 1, 1996, but from then until February 2007, it was in second place behind its main rival, NBC Nightly News.

On April 5, 2005, Jennings announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and, as before, other ABC News anchors, mostly consisting of 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas and Good Morning America co-anchor Charles Gibson, filled in for him. Jennings died of lung cancer on August 7, 2005, at his apartment in New York City at the age of 67.

The August 8, 2005, edition of the program was dedicated to Jennings' memory and four-decade career in news. His death ended the era of the so-called Big Three anchors: Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. During his career, Jennings had reported from every major world capital and war zone, and from all 50 U.S. states, according to the network. Jennings was known for his ability to calmly portray events as they were happening and for his coverage of many major world events.

Further information: Peter_Jennings#Leaving_the_chair

World News Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff: January 2006–May 2006
On December 5, 2005, ABC announced Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would be the new permanent co-anchors starting January 3, 2006, replacing Jennings. People in the news industry looked at the choice of Vargas and Woodruff by ABC News as the start of a new era in network television news.

The broadcast was produced live three times per day: the regular Eastern/Central Time zone live broadcast, plus separate broadcasts for the Mountain and Pacific time zones. In addition, a live webcast, World News Now, with a newsbrief and a preview of that evening's broadcast, was added. The webcast currently airs live at 3 p.m. ET on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com and can be viewed throughout the rest of the day after 4 p.m. Eastern.

On January 29, 2006, Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were injured by a road-side bomb while riding in an Iraqi military convoy. Both underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Balad (50 miles north of Baghdad). It was reported that both men suffered head injuries, even though they were both wearing body armor and helmets. Both men were evacuated to a U.S military hospital in Germany on January 30, 2006. Woodruff and Vogt were later transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in the U.S. for further treatment and released for outpatient treatment.

On February 10, 2006 ABC announced that Elizabeth Vargas was pregnant and due to give birth in late summer.

For about a month, Good Morning America co-hosts Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer had taken turns co-anchoring the newscast with Elizabeth Vargas. From about March 2006 to May 2006, Elizabeth Vargas had been anchoring the broadcast alone, becoming the first de facto solo female evening news solo anchor. At the time, it was unknown what ABC News planned to do until Bob Woodruff returned to the anchor chair, which appeared to be nowhere in the near future, and when Vargas began her maternity leave. Rumors flew that Diane Sawyer wanted to become the sole anchor of WNT in order to beat Katie Couric's switch to the CBS anchor chair.[2] However, the New York Post's Cindy Adams reported that Charles Gibson would become Bob Woodruff's "Temporary Permanent Replacement".[3]

Starting around March 2006, the West Coast editions of WNT were scaled back due to the fact that Elizabeth Vargas anchored the broadcast on her own at the time.
World News networks.