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139-450: Lila Diane Sawyer ( / ˈ s ɔː j ər / ; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ABC World News Tonight , Good Morning America , 20/20 , and Primetime newsmagazine while at ABC News . During her tenure at CBS News , she hosted CBS Morning and was the first woman correspondent on 60 Minutes . Prior to her journalism career, she
278-608: A Republican politician and community leader. He was Kentucky's Jefferson County Judge/Executive when he was killed in a car accident on Louisville's Interstate 64 in 1969. E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park , in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor. Sawyer attended Seneca High School in the Buechel area of Louisville. She served as an editor-in-chief for her school yearbook, The Arrow , and participated in many artistic activities. She always felt, however, that she
417-568: A special prosecutor for Watergate in May. Cox obtained a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In the " Saturday Night Massacre " in October, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy William Ruckelshaus ; Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the order. The incident bolstered a growing public belief that Nixon had something to hide, but he continued to defend his innocence and said he
556-516: A television license fee , replacing them with promotions for different BBC News special programs. The program was replaced by Asia Business Report and Sport Today on June 14, 2011, but later returned to the channel on August 20, 2012. It was also available on the BBC's on-demand service BBC iPlayer for 28 days after its domestic broadcast. The program was replaced again by Asia Business Report and Sport Today on March 30, 2015. In Australia, WNT
695-428: A CBS News investigative-television newsmagazine . In 1989, she moved to ABC News to co-anchor Primetime Live newsmagazine with Sam Donaldson . She and Donaldson co-anchored Primetime Live from 1989 to 1998 and its successor, 20/20 Wednesday , from 1998 to 2000. Sawyer also co-anchored a Sunday edition of 20/20 with Barbara Walters from 1998 to 1999. On January 18, 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news as
834-545: A U.S. military hospital in Germany, before later being transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland for further treatment and released for outpatient treatment. Within a few months after Woodruff's accident, ABC News announced that Vargas was pregnant and due to give birth to her second child in late summer. For about a month, Good Morning America co-hosts Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer had alternated co-anchoring
973-504: A campaign for Jennings, "Trust Is Earned", in the wake of the Killian documents controversy at CBS and Brian Williams 's assumption of the NBC anchor chair. On July 19, 2006, ABC News announced that World News Tonight would have its name officially changed to World News with Charles Gibson . The network chose to make the, albeit minor, change to remove "Tonight" from the title to reflect
1112-584: A conversation taped on June 23 between the President and his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman , in which Nixon asked, "Who was the asshole that did that?" However, Nixon subsequently ordered Haldeman to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the source of the funding for the burglary. A few days later, Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler , described the event as "a third-rate burglary attempt". On August 29, at
1251-534: A correspondent on February 28, 2007. Some media analysts found the reasons for the appointment of Gibson as anchor to be merely a cover for ABC News's real intentions to bring stability to its flagship news program, which had seen its ratings slip, and to attract some older viewers away from the CBS Evening News with interim anchor Bob Schieffer . Indeed, the advertising campaign focused on Gibson's experience, calling him "Your Trusted Source", similar to
1390-518: A crook." He needed to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor; Bork, with Nixon's approval, chose Leon Jaworski to continue the investigation. On March 1, 1974, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of Nixon, who became known as the " Watergate Seven "— H. R. Haldeman , John Ehrlichman , John N. Mitchell , Charles Colson , Gordon C. Strachan , Robert Mardian , and Kenneth Parkinson —for conspiring to hinder
1529-631: A day on the 24-hour news network OSN News in MENA Region. Various cable companies in the Caribbean simulcast ABC World News Tonight from Miami-based WPLG . Similarly, cable companies in Canada simulcast the program with most airing from either Seattle-based KOMO , Boston-based WCVB , or Detroit-based WXYZ which operate as timeshift channels . In the United Kingdom, the program
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#17327868924081668-404: A distinguished public servant, my personal friend for 20 years, with no personal involvement whatever in this matter has been a close personal and professional associate of some of those who are involved in this case, he and I both felt that it was also necessary to name a new Attorney General. The Counsel to the President , John Dean, has also resigned. On the same day, April 30, Nixon appointed
1807-485: A feature appearing as the penultimate segment of each night's broadcast focusing on news stories that are trending on social media, pop culture and entertainment-related stories and viral videos . Another feature introduced during Sawyer's tenure was "Made in America", a feature segment reported by David Muir, chronicling enterprising American companies. On June 25, 2014, ABC News announced that Sawyer would step down as
1946-601: A flood of testimony from witnesses. In April, Nixon appeared on television to deny wrongdoing on his part and to announce the resignation of his aides. After it was revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, his administration refused to grant investigators access to the tapes , leading to a constitutional crisis . The televised Senate Watergate hearings by this point had garnered nationwide attention and public interest. Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as
2085-414: A focus on hard international news. World News at the time had a 60% female viewership, the highest of the three major network evening newscasts. On October 1, 2012, World News debuted a new logo, opening theme (which was composed by Hans Zimmer , replacing the longtime Bob Israel-composed theme), an updated set and new graphics package. The program also introduced a segment called the "Instant Index",
2224-462: A general-assignment reporter. She was promoted to political correspondent in February 1980 and featured on the weekday broadcasts of Morning with Charles Kuralt . When CBS expanded its morning news show from 60 to 90 minutes, Sawyer was announced as co-anchor on May 13, 1981, by the president of CBS News . With her debut on September 28, 1981, she put her own stamp on the broadcast. The ratings for
2363-677: A group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. , on June 17, 1972, and Nixon's later attempts to hide his administration's involvement. Following the arrest of the burglars, both the press and the Department of Justice connected
2502-511: A half-hour topical analysis of important stories (especially breaking developments in the Watergate scandal ) in the vein of CBS's 60 Minutes , which Reasoner himself co-moderated at two different times. Affiliates usually carried the program on Saturday evenings in the time slots where the main newscast aired on weeknights. The program, which had affiliate clearance problems and was thus unsuccessful in terms of ratings, ended in 1975, replaced by
2641-409: A half-hour. Harry Reasoner , formerly of CBS News and 60 Minutes , joined ABC News in 1970 to co-anchor ABC Evening News with Smith, beginning that December, replacing Reynolds. The ratings increased steadily, but still remained in third place, behind dominant CBS and NBC. In 1975, Howard K. Smith was moved to a commentator role, and Reasoner briefly assumed sole-anchor responsibilities until he
2780-534: A large sum of money, which he declined. The President announced the resignations in an address to the American people: Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my Presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. [...] Because Attorney General Kleindienst, though
2919-579: A new attorney general, Elliot Richardson , and gave him authority to designate a special counsel for the Watergate investigation who would be independent of the regular Justice Department hierarchy. In May 1973, Richardson named Archibald Cox to the position. On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 S.Res. 60 and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with Sam Ervin named chairman
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#17327868924083058-608: A new title card, reintroduced the long-time Bob Israel-composed opening theme (replacing the Hans Zimmer theme), and revealed an updated set and new graphics package. On October 26, 2023, World News Tonight began posting full broadcasts to ABC News' YouTube channel. ABC first attempted an early evening weekend newscast in July 1975, when it debuted a Saturday bulletin that was anchored by Ted Koppel and taken over by Tom Jarriel and Sylvia Chase in 1977. The broadcast, however,
3197-508: A news conference, Nixon stated that Dean had conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, when Dean had actually not conducted any investigations at all. Nixon furthermore said, "I can say categorically that ... no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident." On September 15, Nixon congratulated Dean, saying, "The way you've handled it, it seems to me, has been very skillful, because you—putting your fingers in
3336-416: A second "burglary" to take care of the situation. Sometime after midnight on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Watergate Complex security guard Frank Wills noticed tape covering the latches on some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape, believing it was not in itself suspicious. When he returned
3475-536: A secret Republican fund used to finance intelligence-gathering against the Democrats. On October 10, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post reported that the FBI had determined that the Watergate break-in was part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage on behalf of the Nixon re-election committee. Despite these revelations, Nixon's campaign was never seriously jeopardized; on November 7,
3614-409: A series of articles about the financial dealings of Charles "Bebe" Rebozo , a friend of Nixon. The administration and its supporters accused the media of making "wild accusations", putting too much emphasis on the story and of having a liberal bias against the administration. Nixon said in a May 1974 interview with supporter Baruch Korff that if he had followed the liberal policies that he thought
3753-484: A short time later and discovered that someone had re-taped the locks, he called the police. Police dispatched an unmarked police car with three plainclothes officers, Sgt. Paul W. Leeper, Officer John B. Barrett, and Officer Carl M. Shoffler, who were working the overnight shift; they were often referred to as the "bum squad" because they often dressed undercover as hippies and were on the lookout for drug deals and other street crimes. Alfred Baldwin, on " spotter " duty at
3892-492: A son from previous marriages. He died on November 19, 2014, at the age of 83. The "List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" in Forbes magazine reported that, between June 2005 and June 2008, Sawyer made approximately $ 12 million, solely from entertainment income. ABC World News Tonight ABC World News Tonight (titled ABC World News Tonight with David Muir for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014)
4031-415: A two-anchor format, when in early December 2005, ABC News announced that Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would be the new permanent co-anchors of World News Tonight , 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 live broadcast for
4170-663: A veteran crime reporter of the New York Daily News , tracked Mitchell to the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, and described Mitchell as "a beaten woman" with visible bruises. Mitchell reported that, during the week following the Watergate burglary, she had been held captive in a hotel in California, and that security guard Steve King ended her call to Thomas by pulling the phone cord from
4309-414: A way that was least likely to incriminate him and his presidency. Nixon created a new conspiracy—to effect a cover-up of the cover-up—which began in late March 1973 and became fully formed in May and June 1973, operating until his presidency ended on August 9, 1974." On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica read the court a letter from Watergate burglar James McCord , who alleged that perjury had been committed in
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4448-478: A wider web of crimes than the FBI first disclosed. All the secret meetings between Woodward and Felt took place at an underground parking garage in Rosslyn over a period from June 1972 to January 1973. Prior to resigning from the FBI on June 22, 1973, Felt also anonymously planted leaks about Watergate with Time magazine , The Washington Daily News and other publications. During this early period, most of
4587-626: Is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News , the news division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network in the United States. It is currently the most watched network newscast in the United States, with an average of 2 million more than its nearest rival, NBC Nightly News . Since 2014, the program's weekday broadcasts have been anchored by David Muir . As of February 6–7, 2021, Whit Johnson and Linsey Davis anchor
4726-637: The ABC Evening News that was distributed to various public television stations throughout the U.S., airing mostly in late-night timeslots five hours after the original ABC broadcast. This version was produced by WGBH , the Boston PBS station, which provided the captions and repackaged the broadcast with additional news stories – some of which were of special interest to the hearing impaired – as well as late-news developments, weather forecasts, and sports scores inserted in place of commercials. It
4865-612: The Eastern and 5:30 p.m. in the Central Time Zones . However ABC affiliates KGNS , KNOE-2 , WEEK-2 , and WNCF air ABC World News Tonight half-an-hour later on delay. WSB also airs it on a delay, the only ABC station in the Eastern Time Zone to do so. ABC began a nightly newscast in the summer of 1948, when H. R. Baukhage and Jim Gibbons hosted News and Views . This was succeeded by After
5004-578: The Howard Johnson's hotel across the street, was distracted watching the film Attack of the Puppet People on TV and did not observe the arrival of the police car in front of the Watergate building, nor did he see the plainclothes officers investigating the DNC's sixth floor suite of 29 offices. By the time Baldwin finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor and radioed the burglars, it
5143-708: The Old Executive Office Building . On Monday, July 16, in front of a live, televised audience, chief minority counsel Fred Thompson asked Butterfield whether he was "aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president". Butterfield's revelation of the taping system transformed the Watergate investigation. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes, as did the Senate, but Nixon refused to release them, citing his executive privilege as president, and ordered Cox to drop his subpoena. Cox refused. On October 20, 1973, after Cox,
5282-598: The President was re-elected in one of the biggest landslides in American political history. The connection between the break-in and the re-election committee was highlighted by media coverage—in particular, investigative coverage by The Washington Post , Time , and The New York Times . The coverage dramatically increased publicity and consequent political and legal repercussions. Relying heavily upon anonymous sources , Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of
5421-505: The Senate Watergate Committee concerning Nixon's involvement in the Watergate coverup, Sawyer and Larry Speakes were assigned to the staff of Nixon's lawyer J. Fred Buzhardt for a project to "prove" that Dean was lying. Speakes later claimed that he had come to the conclusion that Dean had not lied, and that he informed Sawyer, but they continued their efforts. Sawyer continued through Nixon's resignation from
5560-446: The Watergate scandal . In 2005, Deep Throat was identified as W. Mark Felt , but prior to that, Rabbi Baruch Korff – a longtime Nixon confidant and defender known as "Nixon's rabbi" – said on his deathbed that he believed Sawyer was Deep Throat. Sawyer laughed it off and became one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Woodward. When Sawyer came back to Washington, D.C., in 1978, she joined CBS News as
5699-514: The White House quickly went to work to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection. On September 15, 1972, a grand jury indicted the five office burglars, as well as Hunt and Liddy, for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge John Sirica officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973. Within hours of
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5838-412: The White House deputy press secretary . Initially, Sawyer wrote press releases and quickly graduated to other tasks like drafting some of President Richard Nixon 's public statements. Within a few months, she became an administrative assistant to White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler and eventually rose to become a staff assistant for U.S. President Richard Nixon. In 1973 when John Dean testified to
5977-639: The Deadlines in 1951 and All Star News in 1952. In the fall of 1953, John Daly began anchoring the then-15-minute John Daly and the News . Daly, who served as host of the CBS game show What's My Line? contemporaneously, anchored the newscast until 1960, with multiple hosts and formats succeeding him. Anchors of the program during the early 1960s, sometimes for short periods, included Alex Dreier , John Secondari , Fendall Winston Yerxa, Al Mann, Bill Shadel , and
6116-534: The Eastern and Central Time Zones, plus separate broadcasts for the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. In addition, a live webcast , World News Now (which, incidentally, carried the same title as ABC's overnight news program ), with a newsbrief and a preview of that evening's broadcast, was launched. The webcast aired live at 3:00 pm. Eastern Time on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com, and could be viewed throughout
6255-500: The FBI to halt its investigation. On the verge of being impeached, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. In all 48 people were found guilty of Watergate-related crimes, but Nixon was pardoned by his vice president and successor Gerald Ford on September 8. Public response to the Watergate disclosures had electoral ramifications: the Republican Party lost four seats in
6394-538: The Frog , athletes, the commander of the International Space Station , competitors Couric and Williams, and was capped off by U.S. President Barack Obama . Long-time ABC journalist and anchorwoman Diane Sawyer (who previously co-anchored Good Morning America with predecessor Gibson) began anchoring the broadcast, which amended its title to ABC World News , on December 21, 2009. On that date,
6533-571: The Global Top News) and later on World News , and in clip form during the English language educational program Kōryaku! ABC News Eigo (Strategies! ABC News English) until its end in March 2021. In Belize , Great Belize Television carries all editions of World News Tonight each weekday at 8:00 p.m. and weekends at 7:00 p.m. Fargo-based radio station WDAY-AM simulcasts
6672-473: The Howard Johnson's motel across the street from the Watergate complex. Room 419 was booked in the name of McCord's company. At the behest of Liddy and Hunt, McCord and his team of burglars prepared for their first Watergate break-in, which began on May 28. Two phones inside the DNC headquarters offices were said to have been wiretapped . One was Robert Spencer Oliver 's phone. At the time, Oliver
6811-472: The President (CRP) and former aide to John Ehrlichman , presented a campaign intelligence plan to CRP's acting chairman Jeb Stuart Magruder , Attorney General John Mitchell , and Presidential Counsel John Dean . The plot involved extensive illegal activities against the Democratic Party . According to Dean, this marked "the opening scene of the worst political scandal of the twentieth century and
6950-564: The Saturday and Sunday editions of the newscast respectively. The program has been anchored at various times by a number of other presenters since its debut in 1948. It also has used various titles, including ABC Evening News from 1968 to 1978, World News Tonight from 1978 to 2006, World News from 2006 to 2009, and ABC World News from 2009 to 2014. Since 2014, the program has been called ABC World News Tonight. The weeknight edition of ABC World News Tonight airs live at 6:30 p.m. in
7089-437: The Saturday and Sunday editions. Prior to 1975, the only network newscasts that ABC stations broadcast on weekends were 15-minute late-night updates on Saturdays and Sundays, known as ABC Weekend News and later, ABC News Weekend Report . The programs were fed to affiliates at 11:00 pm Eastern/10:00 pm Central and were seen in tandem with the stations' own late newscasts, although some stations opted to tape-delay
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#17327868924087228-602: The Saturday broadcast and Tom Llamas named anchor of the Sunday edition in February 2015. After Vega was named senior White House correspondent, Llamas was named sole weekend anchor in January 2017, as the practice of using separate anchors for the Saturday and Sunday editions ended once again. Llamas subsequently left in January 2021, to join NBC News . In February 2021, Whit Johnson and Linsey Davis were announced as anchors of
7367-575: The Senate and 48 seats in the House at the 1974 mid-term elections , and Ford's pardon of Nixon is widely agreed to have contributed to his election defeat in 1976 . A word combined with the suffix " -gate " has become widely used to name scandals, even outside the U.S., and especially in politics. On January 27, 1972, G. Gordon Liddy , Finance Counsel for the Committee for the Re-Election of
7506-495: The Sunday broadcast in 2011, ending the practice of using separate anchors for the Saturday and Sunday editions of the program, with ABC renaming both broadcasts as ABC World News with David Muir as a result. David Muir anchored the weekend program until he took over the weekday broadcast in September 2014. The program returned to using separate anchors for the weekend broadcasts afterward, with Cecilia Vega being named anchor of
7645-419: The Watergate investigation. The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator . The special prosecutor dissuaded them from an indictment of Nixon, arguing that a president can be indicted only after he leaves office. John Dean, Jeb Stuart Magruder , and other figures had already pleaded guilty. On April 5, 1974, Dwight Chapin , the former Nixon appointments secretary, was convicted of lying to
7784-426: The Watergate trial, and defendants had been pressured to remain silent. In an attempt to make them talk, Sirica gave Hunt and two burglars provisional sentences of up to 40 years. Urged by Nixon, on March 28, aide John Ehrlichman told Attorney General Richard Kleindienst that nobody in the White House had had prior knowledge of the burglary. On April 13, Magruder told U.S. attorneys that he had perjured himself during
7923-600: The accusations as political smears, and he won the election in a landslide in November. Further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led the Senate to establish a special Watergate Committee and the House of Representatives to grant its Judiciary Committee expanded authority in February 1973. The burglars received lengthy prison sentences that they were told would be reduced if they co-operated, which began
8062-470: The anchor chair at ABC World News in September 2014. She remained with ABC News to focus on creating specials and conducting high-profile interviews. Sawyer was in relationships with Frank Gannon, aide to President Richard Nixon , as well as American diplomat Richard Holbrooke , politician Bill Bradley , and actor Warren Beatty . On April 29, 1988, she married film and theatre director, producer, and actor Mike Nichols . Nichols had two daughters and
8201-489: The anchor chair at the CBS Evening News . However, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams reported that Gibson would become Woodruff's "temporary permanent replacement". Also starting in the spring of 2006, the West Coast editions of World News Tonight were scaled back because Vargas anchored the broadcast on her own at the time. In May 2006, Vargas announced her resignation from World News Tonight . Charles Gibson
8340-559: The bank records of a Miami company run by Watergate burglar Barker revealed an account controlled by him personally had deposited a check and then transferred it through the Federal Reserve Check Clearing System . The investigation by the FBI, which cleared Barker's bank of fiduciary malfeasance, led to the direct implication of members of the CRP, to whom the checks had been delivered. Those individuals were
8479-474: The beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency". Mitchell viewed the plan as unrealistic. Two months later, Mitchell approved a reduced version of the plan, which included burglarizing the Democratic National Committee 's (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C. to photograph campaign documents and install listening devices in telephones. Liddy has since insisted that he
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#17327868924088618-599: The break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and the White House. Woodward and Bernstein interviewed Judy Hoback Miller , the bookkeeper for Nixon's re-election campaign, who revealed to them information about the mishandling of funds and records being destroyed. Chief among the Post's anonymous sources was an individual whom Woodward and Bernstein had nicknamed Deep Throat ; 33 years later, in 2005,
8757-501: The burglars' arrests, the FBI discovered E. Howard Hunt 's name in Barker and Martínez's address books. Nixon administration officials were concerned because Hunt and Liddy were also involved in a separate secret activity known as the " White House Plumbers ", which was established to stop security " leaks " and investigate other sensitive security matters. Dean later testified that top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman ordered him to " deep six "
8896-402: The burglars' trial, and implicated John Dean and John Mitchell. John Dean believed that he, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman could go to the prosecutors, tell the truth, and save the presidency. Dean wanted to protect the president and have his four closest men take the fall for telling the truth. During the critical meeting between Dean and Nixon on April 15, 1973, Dean was totally unaware of
9035-423: The co-anchor of Good Morning America with Charles Gibson . The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner Today , NBC News ' morning program, sustained her in the position for nearly eleven years. In 2000, Sawyer returned as co-anchor of Primetime newsmagazine now called Primetime Thursday , with Gibson replacing Donaldson. Sawyer
9174-474: The committee bookkeeper and its treasurer, Hugh Sloan . As a private organization, the committee followed the normal business practice in allowing only duly authorized individuals to accept and endorse checks on behalf of the committee. No financial institution could accept or process a check on behalf of the committee unless a duly authorized individual endorsed it. The checks deposited into Barker's bank account were endorsed by Committee treasurer Hugh Sloan, who
9313-416: The contents of Howard Hunt's White House safe. Ehrlichman subsequently denied this. In the end, Dean and L. Patrick Gray , the FBI's acting director, (in separate operations) destroyed the evidence from Hunt's safe. Nixon's own reaction to the break-in, at least initially, was one of skepticism. Watergate prosecutor James Neal was sure that Nixon had not known in advance of the break-in. As evidence, he cited
9452-429: The dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there." Martha Mitchell was the wife of Nixon's Attorney General , John N. Mitchell , who had recently resigned his role so that he could become campaign manager for Nixon's Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP). John Mitchell was aware that Martha knew McCord, one of the Watergate burglars who had been arrested, and that upon finding out, she
9591-438: The end of her nightly broadcast with "I'll see you right back here tomorrow night." The show, like the competing evening newscasts, ended the year with ratings 14% below that of the preceding year. Until 2014 she was the anchor of ABC's flagship broadcast World News and the network's principal anchor for breaking-news coverage, election coverage, and special events. On June 25, 2014, it was announced that she would step down from
9730-737: The final interview and her essay comparing the music of the North and the South during the Civil War. From 1963 to 1965, Sawyer toured the country as America's Junior Miss to promote the Coca-Cola Pavilion at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair . She had dreaded travelling around the country as America's Junior Miss, but it taught her to think on her feet with poise and grace. Sawyer attended Wellesley College , graduating in 1967. Immediately after her graduation, Sawyer returned to Kentucky and
9869-521: The finance committee of the Committee to Reelect the President, the check was a 1972 campaign donation by Kenneth H. Dahlberg . This money (and several other checks which had been lawfully donated to the CRP) had been directly used to finance the burglary and wiretapping expenses, including hardware and supplies. Barker's multiple national and international businesses all had separate bank accounts, which he
10008-502: The fourth and final network evening newscast to begin broadcasting in HD . On September 2, 2009, ABC News announced that Gibson would retire from ABC News altogether on December 18, 2009, and that Sawyer would assume the anchor desk on December 21, 2009. Gibson's final broadcast ended with a video tribute that included all of the living former U.S. Presidents, former ABC anchors, actors and actresses, singers, comedians, Mickey Mouse , Kermit
10147-430: The funds via cashier's checks and money orders, resulted in the banks keeping the entire transaction records until October and November 1972. All five Watergate burglars were directly or indirectly tied to the 1972 CRP, thus causing Judge Sirica to suspect a conspiracy involving higher-echelon government officials. On September 29, 1972, the press reported that John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled
10286-580: The hearings. On Friday, July 13, during a preliminary interview, deputy minority counsel Donald Sanders asked White House assistant Alexander Butterfield if there was any type of recording system in the White House. Butterfield said he was reluctant to answer, but finally admitted there was a new system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the Oval Office , the Cabinet Room and others, as well as Nixon's private office in
10425-521: The inexperienced Jennings left the anchor chair and was reassigned by the news division as an international correspondent for the news program. The newly renamed ABC Evening News was hosted, in succession, by Bob Young (January 1968 to May 1968), and then by Frank Reynolds (May 1968 to December 1970), who was joined by Howard K. Smith in May 1969. The program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes in January 1967, nearly 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 years after both CBS and NBC had expanded their evening news programs to
10564-474: The informant was identified as Mark Felt , deputy director of the FBI during that period of the 1970s, something Woodward later confirmed. Felt met secretly with Woodward several times, telling him of Howard Hunt's involvement with the Watergate break-in, and that the White House staff regarded the stakes in Watergate as extremely high. Felt warned Woodward that the FBI wanted to know where he and other reporters were getting their information, as they were uncovering
10703-493: The media failed to understand the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 presidential election. Most outlets ignored or downplayed Woodward and Bernstein's scoops; the crosstown Washington Star-News and the Los Angeles Times even ran stories incorrectly discrediting the Post's articles. After the Post revealed that H.R. Haldeman had made payments from
10842-713: The media preferred, "Watergate would have been a blip." The media noted that most of the reporting turned out to be accurate; the competitive nature of the media guaranteed widespread coverage of the far-reaching political scandal. Rather than ending with the conviction and sentencing to prison of the five Watergate burglars on January 30, 1973, the investigation into the break-in and the Nixon Administration's involvement grew broader. "Nixon's conversations in late March and all of April 1973 revealed that not only did he know he needed to remove Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean to gain distance from them, but he had to do so in
10981-437: The media was polled at more than 40%. Nixon and top administration officials discussed using government agencies to "get" (or retaliate against) those they perceived as hostile media organizations. Such actions had been taken before. At the request of Nixon's White House in 1969, the FBI tapped the phones of five reporters. In 1971, the White House requested an audit of the tax return of the editor of Newsday , after he wrote
11120-557: The money found on those involved to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward , journalists from The Washington Post , pursued leads provided by a source they called " Deep Throat " (later identified as Mark Felt , associate director of the FBI ) and uncovered a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon dismissed
11259-469: The money to G. Gordon Liddy . Liddy, in turn, gave the money to Barker and attempted to hide its origin. Barker tried to disguise the funds by depositing them into accounts in banks outside of the United States. Unbeknownst to Barker, Liddy, and Sloan, the complete record of all such transactions was held for roughly six months. Barker's use of foreign banks in April and May 1972 to deposit checks and withdraw
11398-410: The national ratings, ABC News president Roone Arledge reformatted the program, relaunching it as World News Tonight in July 1978. Reynolds, who was demoted when the network hired Reasoner, returned as lead anchor, reporting from ABC News' Washington, D.C. bureau. Max Robinson – who became the first African American network news anchor upon his appointment on the program – anchored national news from
11537-471: The network updates until immediately before their regular sign-off time (rival CBS also offered a 15-minute Sunday night bulletin during the 1970s until 1997). Because of declining affiliate interest (in part because of the proliferation of 24-hour cable news channels such as CNN ) and low viewership, ABC discontinued the late-night weekend reports in September 1991. In addition, starting in 1973, weeknight co-anchor Harry Reasoner hosted The Reasoner Report ,
11676-784: The network's inaugural Saturday newscast (see above). Some former anchors of the weekend news broadcasts include Sam Donaldson (Sunday edition, 1979–1989), Kathleen Sullivan (Saturday edition, 1985–1987), Barry Serafin (Saturday edition, 1987–1988), Forrest Sawyer (Sunday edition, 1989–1993), Carole Simpson (Saturday edition, 1988–1993; Sunday edition, 1993–2003), Elizabeth Vargas (Saturday edition, 1997–2003; Sunday edition, 2003–2004), Jim Avila (Saturday edition, 2006–2007), Terry Moran (Saturday edition, 2004–2005), Bob Woodruff (Sunday edition, 2004–2005), Dan Harris (Sunday edition, 2006–2011) and David Muir (Saturday edition, 2007–2011; Saturday and Sunday editions, 2011–2014). Muir, who had taken over World News Saturday in 2007, took over
11815-471: 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 such as the September 11 attacks and the dawn of the new millennium. As a tribute to its late anchor, ABC continued to introduce the broadcast as World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in the week following his death. Gibson anchored the broadcast the first part of
11954-465: The news division's Chicago bureau. Peter Jennings, who also returned for a second stint, reported international headlines from the division's London bureau. Occasional contributions included special reports by Walters, who was credited as anchor of the special coverage desk from New York City and worldwide, and commentary by Smith, who was easing into eventual retirement. The program's distinct and easily identifiable theme (whose four-note musical signature
12093-601: The news division's Chief Anchor position that had traditionally been assigned to the anchor of World News . Following the departure of Diane Sawyer, the title of the program was also silently rebranded back to World News Tonight for the first time since 2006, albeit with "ABC" attached to the title. Primary substitutes are Stephanopoulos, Rebecca Jarvis , and Amy Robach . World News Tonight has broadcast from San Bernardino, Orlando, Paris, and Brussels after terrorist attacks, and from Dallas after five policemen were shot dead in July 2016 . In November 2016, World News Tonight
12232-439: The news program in the 6:00 p.m./5:00 p.m. timeslot 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 the program (or one half-hour afterward), instead of turning to CBS or NBC. Starting in 1973, before the advent of closed captioning , PBS began airing an open captioned version of
12371-468: The newscast with Vargas. During the spring of 2006, Vargas mostly anchored the broadcast alone, becoming the first de facto solo female evening news anchor. At the time, it was unknown what ABC News planned to do until Woodruff returned to the anchor chair, which appeared not to be within the near future, and when Vargas began her maternity leave. Rumors flew that Sawyer wanted to become the sole anchor of World News Tonight to beat Katie Couric 's switch to
12510-493: The next day. The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May 17 to August 7. The three major networks of the time agreed to take turns covering the hearings live, each network thus maintaining coverage of the hearings every third day, starting with ABC on May 17 and ending with NBC on August 7. An estimated 85% of Americans with television sets tuned into at least one portion of
12649-530: The presidency in 1974 and worked on the Nixon- Ford transition team in 1974–1975, after which she followed Nixon to California and helped him write RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon , published in 1978. She also helped prepare Nixon for his famous set of television interviews with journalist David Frost in 1977. Years later, Sawyer would be suspected of being Deep Throat , the source of leaks of classified information to journalist Bob Woodward during
12788-467: The president's depth of knowledge and involvement in the Watergate cover-up. It was during this meeting that Dean felt that he was being recorded. He wondered if this was due to the way Nixon was speaking, as if he were trying to prod attendees' recollections of earlier conversations about fundraising. Dean mentioned this observation while testifying to the Senate Committee on Watergate, exposing
12927-618: The program (the latter preemption situation commonly affects stations in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones); this is particularly common during fall, as the Saturday broadcast does not air at all from September through mid December due to ABC's college football coverage and during the winter and spring, when the Sunday broadcast is sometimes delayed or preempted due to overruns of the network's NBA telecasts . ABC News programs, including ABC World News Tonight , are shown for several hours
13066-439: The program debuted an updated set, new graphics during the introductory segment, along with a new announcer, Mike Rowe (then host of Discovery Channel 's Dirty Jobs ), who replaced longtime announcer Bill Rice. A new set for the program debuted on August 23, 2010. Substitute anchors for the program during Sawyer's tenure when she was away or on assignment, in addition to Vargas, included David Muir (who by that point, anchored
13205-517: The program until August 9, 1983, when ABC announced that Jennings became the sole anchor and senior editor of World News Tonight , which took effect September 5, and on that day, the program began broadcasting from New York City on a regular basis. Bill Owen would replace Bill Rice as announcer for a year. In September 1984, the program was renamed World News Tonight with Peter Jennings to reflect its sole anchor and senior editor. Robinson left ABC News in 1984, after stints of anchoring news briefs and
13344-509: The program was dedicated in memory of Jennings and looked back at his four-decade career in news. His death ended the era of the so-called "Big Three" anchors: Jennings, NBC's Tom Brokaw , and CBS's Dan Rather (the latter two had retired from their positions as the respective anchors of NBC Nightly News and the CBS Evening News within the year prior to Jennings's death). During his career, Jennings had reported from every major world capital and war zone, and from all 50 U.S. states, according to
13483-617: The program's expansion into the "24-hour space created by the digital world". In the February 2007 sweeps, World News with Charles Gibson achieved the number-one spot in the Nielsen ratings among the network evening news broadcasts, overtaking NBC Nightly News , marking ABC News' first victory since the week Jennings died in August 2005. World News with Charles Gibson won the May 2007 sweeps period decisively over NBC Nightly News , marking Gibson's second consecutive sweeps win and widening
13622-444: The program's lead in the evening news race. It was the first time that World News had won consecutive sweeps periods since 1996, the year ABC News ceded the ratings crown to NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw . NBC Nightly News retook first place in the November 2007 sweeps and the two programs remained in a tight race until the fall of 2008, when the NBC program established a consistent lead. On August 25, 2008, World News became
13761-591: The resignation of Attorney General Kleindienst, to ensure no one could claim that his innocent friendship with Haldeman and Ehrlichman could be construed as a conflict. He fired White House Counsel John Dean, who went on to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee and said that he believed and suspected the conversations in the Oval Office were being taped. This information became the bombshell that helped force Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached. Writing from prison for New West and New York magazines in 1977, Ehrlichman claimed Nixon had offered him
13900-507: The rest of the day after 4:00 pm. Eastern Time. On January 29, 2006, 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, Iraq (50 miles (80 km) north of Baghdad ). Both men incurred head injuries in the incident, even though they were both wearing body armor and helmets. Woodruff and Vogt were then evacuated to
14039-558: The secret fund, newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer failed to publish the information, but did publish the White House's denial of the story the following day. The White House also sought to isolate the Post's coverage by tirelessly attacking that newspaper while declining to criticize other damaging stories about the scandal from the New York Times and Time magazine . After it
14178-555: The serial numbers in sequence... a shortwave receiver that could pick up police calls, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns". The Post would later report that the actual amount of cash was $ 5,300. The following morning, Sunday, June 18, G. Gordon Liddy called Jeb Magruder in Los Angeles and informed him that "the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters, whom Howard Hunt recruited". Initially, Nixon's organization and
14317-473: The show was retitled Primetime , and Sawyer left the show at the end of 2006 when its format again changed, with a sub-series focus. Sawyer achieved worldwide acclaim after subjecting Mel Gibson to an intense television interrogation , after his 2006 DUI arrest. On September 2, 2009, Sawyer was announced as the successor to Charles Gibson, who retired as the anchor of ABC World News , on Friday, December 18, 2009. Sawyer left GMA on December 11, 2009, and
14456-496: The show were boosted upon Sawyer's arrival, but the improvement did not last and, after Kuralt left the show, he was replaced by Bill Kurtis . The ratings decreased further, and Sawyer asked to be reassigned in 1984. From 1982 to 1984, Sawyer was also seen with Kurtis on the CBS Early Morning News airing an hour earlier on most CBS affiliates. In 1984, she became the first female correspondent on 60 Minutes ,
14595-471: The special prosecutor, refused to drop the subpoena, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire him. Richardson resigned in protest rather than carry out the order. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, but Ruckelshaus also resigned rather than fire him. Nixon's search for someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox ended with Solicitor General Robert Bork . Though Bork said he believed Nixon's order
14734-530: The thread of what were taped conversations that would unravel the fabric of the conspiracy. Two days later, Dean told Nixon that he had been cooperating with the U.S. attorneys . On that same day, U.S. attorneys told Nixon that Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and other White House officials were implicated in the cover-up. On April 30, Nixon asked for the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, two of his most influential aides. They were both later indicted, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to prison. He asked for
14873-480: The three-person team of John Cameron Swayze (formerly of NBC), Bill Lawrence , and Bill Sheehan. In 1962, Ron Cochran was appointed as full-time anchor, staying with the program, entitled, “Ron Cochran with the News”, until 1965. After Cochran left the program, Peter Jennings , a Canadian journalist who was 26 years old at the time, was named anchor of the retitled Peter Jennings with the News . In December 1967,
15012-480: The time Sawyer left World News , the program was the No. 1 network evening newscast in all major key demographics and significantly closed the ratings gap with NBC Nightly News in total viewership. David Muir became the weekday anchor and managing editor of the program on September 1, 2014, while retaining his duties as co-anchor of 20/20 . At the same time, Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos assumed
15151-410: The wall. Mitchell made several attempts to escape via the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by a psychiatrist. Following conviction for his role in the Watergate burglary, in February 1975, McCord admitted that Mitchell had been "basically kidnapped", and corroborated her reports of the event. On June 19, 1972, the press reported that one of the Watergate burglars
15290-478: The week, playing a slow arrangement of the traditional theme music in memory of Jennings; Bob Woodruff anchored the final edition of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings on August 12, 2005. That night's broadcast ended with one of Jennings's favorite pieces of music instead of the traditional theme music. Beginning on August 15, 2005, the broadcast was introduced simply as World News Tonight and it remained that way until January 2006. The program would return to
15429-462: The weekday anchor of ABC World News ; Sawyer would be succeeded by the program's then weekend anchor, David Muir, effective September 2. On July 28, 2014, the program debuted a slightly updated set, which includes a new, larger monitor behind the anchor desk. Diane Sawyer ultimately decided to end her tenure as anchor of ABC World News nearly a week before Muir began as anchor of the weeknight editions on August 27, 2014, to spend time with family. By
15568-481: The weekday version of the program from local ABC affiliate WDAY / KBMY / WDAZ / KMCY . Watergate scandal#Resignation This is an accepted version of this page The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon which began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974. It revolved around members of
15707-514: The weekend edition, with Johnson anchoring on Saturday and Davis anchoring on Sunday. Some ABC affiliates air the Saturday and Sunday editions of World News Tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Central and Mountain)—one half-hour earlier than the weekday broadcasts. The weekend editions of World News Tonight may periodically be abbreviated or preempted outright due to sports telecasts that overrun into its timeslot or occasionally air immediately following
15846-456: The weekend editions of World News and served as a weekday correspondent), George Stephanopoulos , Cynthia McFadden , Dan Harris, Paula Faris and Byron Pitts (with the exception of McFadden, who left ABC News in August 2014, most of these anchors/correspondents have also served as substitutes following Muir's appointment as anchor of the program). The Sawyer tenure was marked by a shift towards more " news you can use " features, and less of
15985-768: The weekend editions of World News Tonight ; he died from complications 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 on until February 2007, it placed second behind its main rival, NBC Nightly News . In April 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 age 67. The August 8, 2005, edition of
16124-427: The word "Tonight" to the program title in the mid-1990s, further unifying it with the weekday editions, and in the mid-2000s, their respective names were shortened uniformly to World News Tonight to correspond with those broadcasts. However, the original names were restored on July 19, 2006, concurrent with the retitling of the weekday broadcasts, but the opening title sequence displayed the name as World News for both
16263-580: Was "not a crook". In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski issued a subpoena for the tapes again, but Nixon only released edited transcripts of them. In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be impeached for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. In one of the tapes, later known as "the smoking gun", he ordered aides to tell
16402-493: Was a Republican Party security aide. Former attorney general John Mitchell, who was then the head of the CRP, denied any involvement with the Watergate break-in. He also disavowed any knowledge whatsoever of the five burglars. On August 1, a $ 25,000 (approximately $ 182,000 in 2023 dollars) cashier's check was found to have been deposited in the US and Mexican bank accounts of one of the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker. Made out to
16541-589: Was a member of U.S. President Richard Nixon 's White House staff and assisted in his post-presidency memoirs. Presently she works for ABC News producing documentaries and interview specials. Sawyer was born in Glasgow, Kentucky , to Jean W. (née Dunagan), an elementary school teacher, and Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, a county judge. Her ancestry includes English, Irish, Scots-Irish, and German. She has an older sister, Linda. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville , where her father rose to local prominence as
16680-458: Was aired every morning at 10:30 am. AET on Sky News Australia until it was moved to SBS and SBS Viceland in July 2019. WNT previously broadcast on New Zealand-based TVNZ Duke . In Hong Kong, the program was broadcast live on TVB Pearl daily at 07:30 until 08:00 HKT until May 31, 2009, when it was replaced by NBC Nightly News . In Japan, it airs on NHK BS 1 as part of the weekday morning program Catch! Sekai no Top News (Catch
16819-455: Was already too late. The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez , Bernard Barker , James McCord , Eugenio Martínez , and Frank Sturgis . They were criminally charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. The Washington Post reported the day after the burglary that, "police found lock-picks and door jimmies, almost $ 2,300 in cash, most of it in $ 100 bills with
16958-445: Was authorized by the finance committee. However, once Sloan had endorsed a check made payable to the committee, he had a legal and fiduciary responsibility to see that the check was deposited only into the accounts named on the check. Sloan failed to do that. When confronted with the potential charge of federal bank fraud, he revealed that committee deputy director Jeb Magruder and finance director Maurice Stans had directed him to give
17097-632: Was duped by both Dean and at least two of his subordinates. This included former CIA officers E. Howard Hunt and James McCord , the latter of whom was serving as then-CRP Security Coordinator after John Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become the CRP chairman. In May, McCord assigned former FBI agent Alfred C. Baldwin III to carry out the wiretapping and monitor the telephone conversations afterward. On May 11, McCord arranged for Baldwin, whom investigative reporter Jim Hougan described as "somehow special and perhaps well known to McCord", to stay at
17236-541: Was employed as a weather forecaster for WLKY-TV in Louisville. In Sawyer's opinion, the weather was boring, so she would occasionally add quotes to keep it interesting. Finally, Sawyer was promoted to a general-assignment post, but this did not sustain her interest for long. In 1970, Sawyer moved to Washington, D.C. , and, unable to find work as a broadcast journalist , she interviewed for positions in government offices. She eventually became an assistant to Jerry Warren,
17375-600: Was eventually used on other ABC News programs) 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-watched network evening newscast. In April 1983, Reynolds became ill, leaving both Jennings and Robinson to co-anchor the broadcast until his planned return; however, Reynolds would die three months later on July 20, 1983, from bone cancer . A rotation of anchors hosted
17514-414: Was found to have attempted to use to disguise the true origin of the money being paid to the burglars. The donor's checks demonstrated the burglars' direct link to the finance committee of the CRP. Donations totaling $ 86,000 ($ 626,000 today) were made by individuals who believed they were making private donations by certified and cashier's checks for the president's re-election. Investigators' examination of
17653-448: Was in the shadow of her sister, Linda. Insecure and something of a loner as a teen, Diane found happiness, she later said, going off by herself or with a group of friends that called themselves "reincarnated transcendentalists " and read Emerson and Thoreau down by a creek. In her senior year of high school in 1963, she won the annual America's Junior Miss scholarship pageant representing Kentucky. She won by her strength of poise in
17792-476: Was learned that one of the convicted burglars had written to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level cover-up, the media shifted its focus. Time magazine described Nixon as undergoing "daily hell and very little trust". The distrust between the press and the Nixon administration was mutual and greater than usual due to lingering dissatisfaction with events from the Vietnam War . At the same time, public distrust of
17931-469: Was likely to speak to the media. In his opinion, her knowing McCord was likely to link the Watergate burglary to Nixon. John Mitchell instructed guards in her security detail not to let her contact the media. In June 1972, during a phone call with United Press International reporter Helen Thomas , Martha Mitchell informed Thomas that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP. The phone call ended abruptly. A few days later, Marcia Kramer ,
18070-473: Was not carried by many stations, and was cancelled in January 1979. Following the Saturday news cancellation, and after the flagship weeknight broadcast became World News Tonight , the program premiered World News Sunday on January 28, 1979, and expanded to a full seven days with the restoration of a Saturday newscast ( World News Saturday ) on January 5, 1985, years after NBC and CBS had each launched their own weekend evening news programs. These editions added
18209-573: Was originally titled The Captioned ABC Evening News , and later as The Captioned ABC News , and it was originally distributed by the Eastern Educational Network , before becoming a national program under PBS a year later. The practice continued until 1982, when real-time closed captioning was first introduced in the United States by the National Captioning Institute . Always the perennial third in
18348-486: Was paired with Barbara Walters , who became the first female network anchor when she joined the program on October 4, 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 . Even in areas with three full-time network affiliates, ABC stations often opted to broadcast
18487-609: Was scheduled to become the ABC World News anchor in January 2010. However, on December 1, 2009, The New York Times reported that, instead of moving to ABC World News in January 2010, Sawyer would start on December 21, 2009, three days after Gibson's departure. For over a year (2010–2011), with Katie Couric as then anchor of CBS Evening News , two of the three network news anchors on broadcast television were women. Ratings initially rose 8% after Sawyer's first four weeks, averaging 8.8 million viewers. She signed off at
18626-436: Was shown Tuesday through Fridays at 1:30 a.m. on BBC News , a channel that is frequently simulcast by BBC One at this time, meaning the program was broadcast on analogue terrestrial television in many parts of that country until the digital transition. The newscast was aired on a delay, in part because of the need to remove commercial advertisements, as the BBC's domestic channels operate as commercial-free services via
18765-504: Was the first to announce to Good Morning America viewers that the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In 2004, when the show's title was changed to its original name, Primetime Live , a new executive producer was hired, and the newsmagazine format was changed to investigative reporting with Sawyer rotating as the co-anchor with Chris Cuomo , Cynthia McFadden , and John Quiñones . In 2005,
18904-611: Was the most-watched network primetime newscast for the first time in 18 years. The last time World News held the top spot was during the 1998–99 season when Peter Jennings sat at the anchor's desk, according to Nielsen. World News Tonight was the most-watched network evening newscast for the week of March 30, 2015. This marked the first time in seven years that the program finished at No. 1, beating out NBC Nightly News in all categories. On August 10, 2020, World News Tonight marked 11 consecutive weeks as "America's Most-Watched Show". On September 8, 2020, World News Tonight debuted
19043-525: Was then named sole anchor of the program, effectively replacing Vargas and her injured co-anchor Woodruff. Vargas cited her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably because of her maternity leave, and her wish to spend more time with her new baby. She has since returned to co-anchor 20/20 and ABC News specials, and has served as a substitute anchor on World News Tonight under Gibson and his successors. Woodruff, although still recovering from his injuries, returned to World News Tonight as
19182-472: Was valid and appropriate, he considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as a man who did the President's bidding to save my job". Bork carried out the presidential order and dismissed the special prosecutor. These actions met considerable public criticism. Responding to the allegations of possible wrongdoing, in front of 400 Associated Press managing editors at Disney's Contemporary Resort , on November 17, 1973, Nixon emphatically stated, "Well, I am not
19321-544: Was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen. The other phone belonged to DNC chairman Larry O'Brien . The FBI found no evidence that O'Brien's phone was bugged; however, it was determined that an effective listening device was installed in Oliver's phone. While successful with installing the listening devices, the committee agents soon determined that they needed repairs. They plotted
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