Sean McManus, who began working at ABC Sports in 1977 for Roone Arledge just before Arledge added the title of president, ABC News, can now say he is following in his mentor's footsteps, print by print. On Wednesday McManus, already the longtime head of CBS Sports, was named president of CBS News, succeeding the ineffective Andrew Heyward.
I have no idea if McManus (dad: Jim McKay) will do a good job, but certainly the double-president precedent is a good omen. After all, under Arledge ABC became an actual network news organization, developing "Nightline," "This Week With David Brinkley" and Peter Jennings-anchored "World News Tonight" under his enigmatic watch. By contrast, Heyward had Dan Rather, Rathergate, and problems with Dan Rather under his enigmatic (in a bad way) watch. That's the other thing McManus can take comfort from, looking back at Roone's run at ABC: There's nowhere to go but up.
Comments