Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC Television
DAVID Muir, who takes over from Diane Sawyer as anchor of ABC's 'World News Tonight' on Tuesday, says there's no way he's inheriting a relic of TV's past.
On the contrary, he says, the network evening news is a ticket to the future.
'I've heard people say it's a dinosaur,' says Muir, 40, who has risen through the ABC ranks for a decade. 'I think the 6:30 news is more important than ever.
'After you've been bombarded with news all day, this is where we put it all together and let you see it all for what it really is.'
It's a package, he suggests, that doesn't compete with 24/7 news, but complements it.
Constant news is just a fact of life today, says Muir, who often spends his commercial breaks responding to posts on Twitter.
'At ABC, all the walls in news have come down,' he says. 'You don't hold something any more to break it on the broadcast. You post it on abc.com and then we take the story forward.'
It's time-consuming, he admits, but as a newsman he likes it.
Ida Mae Astute/ABC
'I can report from the field with a tiny camera and a laptop,' he says. 'We're more nimble now.'
He hopes this flexibility will enable him to escape one of the nagging side effects of being a primary news anchor: spending less time actually covering stories.
'I think ABC knows I want to continue to report,' he says. 'I also would like to anchor from the location of major stories. I've seen over the years that you tell the story better if you're there.
'I remember being in New Orleans after Katrina hearing people calling, 'Help me,' and wanting to slide down in the seat of my car, because it felt like I was invading their suffering.
'But I also know that our being there gave them a voice.'
He does have 'wonderful' family and friends, Muir says, but he admits he's rarely off the job.
'A huge part of my life is my job,' he says, 'and that's the highest compliment you can pay to any job. I'm so privileged to sit where Diane Sawyer and Peter Jennings sat.'
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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