ABC - TITLE OF WORLD NEWS TONIGHT SHORTENED SO IS GIBSON'S TIME ON IT

TITLE OF WORLD NEWS TONIGHT SHORTENED SO IS GIBSON'S TIME ON IT

On the same day that ABC announced that its signature evening newscast World News Tonight will be shortened to just World News, Charles Gibson, the program's anchor, called for ABC executives to provide greater support for, well, world news. Speaking by satellite from Cyprus to television critics gathered in Pasadena, CA for their semiannual tour, Gibson said, "What's really important is that we do maintain people around the world and coverage around the world and bureaus around the world. ... To all the ABC executives in the room, it's really important." Gibson said that by sending anchors to major international hotspots, networks call attention to the importance of the events they are covering. At the same time, he added, "I'm very mindful that the people who regularly cover the beat know it best, and I don't want to do anything in terms of anchor travel to preempt the prerogative of the people that know it best." Later in the day, Gibson himself was preempted by technical problems as the live network feed from the Middle East failed after the first 20 minutes of the World News telecast. Nightline anchor Terry Moran was quickly summoned to fill in.

20/07/2006