9/2/2009

in

Gibson will retire at year's end and Sawyer will take the anchor-chair in January.

Tom Helberg

Charles Gibson will retire as news anchor on ABC's "World News" at the end of the year and will be replaced by Diane Sawyer beginning in January, ABC News said Wednesday.  
  
[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN02295420090902) reports that Gibson, 66, had planned to retire at the end of 2007 but unforeseen events prompted him to stay. Gibson was named anchor after the death of Peter Jennings and wartime injury of Bob Woodruff in 2006. He has been with ABC News for 35 years and plans to occasionally contribute to the network.  
  
Sawyer's promotion means that, with Katie Couric at CBS, two of the three leading anchors for broadcast networks will be women.  
  
Sawyer, most recently a host of ABC's "Good Morning America" show, became the first woman to co-anchor CBS's "60 Minutes" before moving to ABC in 1989.  
  
ABC had no announcement on who fill Sawyer's spot on "Good Morning America."