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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- CBS News President Andrew Heyward, who during the past year has overseen one of the organization's most difficult periods, will resign from the network at the end of 2005, CBS News said Wednesday.
Heyward, a 24-year CBS News veteran whose contract expires at the end of the year, will be replaced by Sean McManus, who has been president of CBS Sports since 1996, according to CBS. McManus is to have responsibility for both divisions effective Nov. 7.
Under Heyward, the news division raked in numerous awards but faced ratings challenges and was tainted by a discredited 2004 report on President Bush's National Guard service.
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Said McManus: "The business is changing and the challenges are many. I'm confident that, while maintaining the standards and values of this great organization, we can build upon its legacy and become even more successful, competitive and relevant to the viewers and the nation we serve."
McManus' ascendancy marks the second time one of the original Big Three networks has tapped a top sports executive to run its news division. The late Roone Arledge became head of ABC News in 1977 after building ABC Sports into an innovator and powerhouse. He led both the news and sports divisions until 1986.
"Sean is a superb executive, a great leader and a fierce competitor whose pedigree for excellence in live-event programming is well-known," Moonves said in an internal memo to CBS employees. "Under his leadership, CBS Sports has moved over the past decade into the Number One position in its field, and the quality of what we put on the air is the very best in the business."
On McManus' watch, CBS regained rights to NFL telecasts, and negotiated extensions of the network's agreements with the NCAA, the PGA Tour, the U.S. Tennis Association, among other deals.
"The logic of giving it to a sports guy rather than to a journalist," said Andrew Tyndall, an analyst of network newscasts, "is that sports divisions are very good at logistics -- satellites, going live with stuff, putting on a show."
This was probably a major consideration for Moonves, Tyndall theorized, because CBS News has been downsizing its budgets for some time, while seeking ways to get the most of its limited resources.
'60 Minutes Wednesday' report
While CBS News garnered 57 Emmy Awards, 13 Peabody Awards and numerous other honors during Heyward's nearly 10-year tenure as its leader, many observers will see his departure as the final fallout from a disputed "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on Bush's military service, which led the network to fire one employee and ask three others to resign.
The report, which aired Sept. 8, 2004, at the height of the presidential campaign, alleged that Bush was given preferential treatment during his tenure in the National Guard. It showed several documents that were said to contain new information about his service, but CBS News was subsequently unable to prove the authenticity of those documents. At first, the division stood by the report, but it apologized later in the month.
As the report became a hot topic on countless Web logs and radio talk shows, CBS News asked a panel led by former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi to conduct an investigation into the story.
In January, Senior Vice President Betsy West; Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday"; and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy were asked to resign. Mary Mapes, the producer of the report, was terminated.
Some complained that Heyward and "60 Minutes Wednesday" anchor Dan Rather should have been forced out at the time, but Moonves agreed with the independent panel's conclusion that Heyward had issued several warnings to Howard and West about authenticating the documents concerning Bush's National Guard service and that those warnings had been ignored.
Heyward, Moonves said, was the executive best-suited to lead the division during that "challenging time."
Rather stepped down from his longtime role as anchor and managing editor of "The CBS Evening News" in March. The telecast has consistently ranked last among the three network evening news programs for many years.
"60 Minutes Wednesday" was canceled before the 2005-06 season.
Viacom's Class B shares rose 5 cents to close at $31.09.
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Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heyward-to-step-down-as-president-of-cbs-news