Photo: REX USA/Broadway World/Rex.After nearly five years as ABC's World News anchor, Diane Sawyer announced today she's stepping down. As of September 2, the network's weekend anchor David Muir will fill Sawyer's seat, along with Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos.
"After wonderful years at World News I decided it is time to move to a new full-time role at ABC News," Sawyer announced. ABC's President James Goldston elaborated on the statement saying she'll be shifting her focus to work on "new programming tackling big issues and extraordinary interviews."
Sawyer took over the position in December of 2009 after several years on Good Morning America. At that time, she and Katie Couric were the only women anchoring primetime news shows, with Couric at CBS News. Since then, Sawyer has helped to steadily improve the show's ratings.
In her new role, she says she'll be "dedicated to enterprise reporting, innovative approaches to breaking news, and new ways of thinking about big issues and events around the world." With Muir in the anchor seat, ABC hopes to bolster a newer, more youthful audience. Sawyer's departure, however, means the nightly news is, once again, a male-dominated field. Here's to hoping another female broadcast journalist is working her way up the ranks.
(USA TODAY)