12/2/2009

in

Diane Sawyer will be leaving "Good Morning America" and taking over "World News"

Allison Manchel

ABC announced today that Diane Sawyer will be leaving "Good Morning America" at the end of next week because she will be taking over the anchor chair from Charles Gibson on "World News" on December 21. ABC has not yet released who will replace Sawyer on the morning show.  
  
"Good Morning America" is ABC news division's most profitable program. Employees expect that George Stephanopoulos will take over her spot. Stephanopoulos is currently the anchor of "This Week."  
  
In an interview with [LA Times](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-abc2-2009dec02,0,4486400.story), Jeffrey Schneider, the spokesman for ABC, said "ABC management made it crystal clear that the process would take four months and we are about three-fourths of the way through that process," so the decision-making process was right on track.  
  
Gibson announced in September that he would retire at the end of the year, and it was announced on Tuesday in a blog written by Jon Banner, the executive producer of "World News," that his last show will be on December 18.  
  
Sawyer will be the shows fourth anchor in five years. Although she is still working on "Good Morning America" she has also been busy meeting with producers of "World News" to make sure she has an impact on the program.