newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Scott Pelley has spent 22 years at CBS, covering the White House, and major national stories from the Oklahoma City bombing to the Sept. 11 attacks. He’s been with “60 Minutes” since 2004.

He has some well-known supporters. The co-author of "Heat & Light: Advice for the Next Generation of Journalists,” along with veteran CBS newsman Mike Wallace, Beth Knobel told the Christian Science Monitor, “When I asked Wallace who we should interview for the book, he said Scott Pelley was the finest journalist in the business.”

Pelley said he wants to bring “60 Minutes” like “sensibilities” to the "CBS Evening News," when he becomes its anchor and managing editor, replacing Katie Couric, beginning June 6. He plans to put his own mark on the newscast, with increased emphasis on aggressive, original reporting.

CBS News reports he has covered such stories as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the mass murder in Tucson that wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Pelley’s interviews have included President George Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, which was the first time a current Federal Reserve Chairman had allowed an interview in decades.

Pelley also spoke to Mike Williams, chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon who survived the explosion that led to the Gulf oil crisis. Pelley’s report won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia award.

The nightly newscasts on the three major networks still bring in over 23 million viewers on a combined average. CBS News has been in third place since before the arrival of Couric.

Pelley told the Huffington Post, “We want to win. Period. Full stop.”