Anthony Mason will step in as interim anchor of the "CBS Evening News" as Scott Pelley moves to "60 Minutes" as a full-time correspondent, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Mason, 60, is a senior national correspondent for the network and the co-anchor of the Saturday edition of "CBS This Morning." An announcement is expected Wednesday, according to one of the two people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
CBS News executives have wanted to move Pelley out of the anchor chair to a full-time role at "60 Minutes" for some time, but nothing formal has been announced. A permanent replacement has not been chosen.
But Pelley had the contents of his "CBS Evening News" office packed Monday while he was off on assignment for "60 Minutes," which led to reports late Tuesday that he is out.
Though CBS has not officially confirmed the move, Pelley's packing up of his "CBS Evening News" office in Manhattan _ putting pressure on the network to name an interim replacement rather than keeping him on until it could find a permanent successor _ probably was a way of expressing his unhappiness with the change. He also has an office at "60 Minutes" in another building across the street.
Pelley, 59, had been anchor of the "CBS Evening News" since June 2011, when he replaced Katie Couric. He has been with CBS since 1989 and has been a "60 Minutes" correspondent since 2004.
Although Pelley has built on the audience he inherited from Couric, his broadcast has lagged behind "NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt" and "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" in the ratings throughout its run. The program's competitive position has been a source of frustration for CBS executives, which has led to speculation in recent months that Pelley would be replaced.
In the May sweeps ratings period measured by Nielsen, "ABC World News" averaged 7.59 million viewers a night and "NBC Nightly News" averaged 7.56 million. Pelley's broadcast averaged 6.1 million.
