A second woman will anchor one of the big three newscasts as of December. ABC news has announced that Diance Sawyer, one of the senior women at the network, will replace Charlie Gibson.  Gibson said he is retiring from the chair once held by Peter Jennings and even for a short time by Bob Woodruff (injured in Iraq) and Elizabeth Vargas (who stepped down following pregnancy and the birth of her second child). ABC News President David Westin said he has left the door open for Gibson to remain involved in the network news division. In a statement, he added the following:

She has interviewed every President since President George H. W. Bush up to and including President Obama. She has handled an array of breaking news special events, including on 9/11 and, most recently, the presidential election. She has done distinguished documentaries on topics as varied as North Korea, the plight of women in Afghanistan and in prisons here at home, and poverty in Camden, New Jersey, and in Appalachia.

We are fortunate to have a journalist of Diane's proven ability and passion to step into the important position of anchor for World News. She will continue with her documentaries in her new role.

Sawyer, known as a consumate television journalist, has been anchoring Good Morning, America,  And will now do what Katie Couric did at CBS, move from a morning position to the evening news time slot.  While this is a first time women will outnumber men in the big three slots on network news, women journalists are ubiquitous in local news and on cable's morning and primetime news programming.

The Women's Media Center, an activist non-profit focused on how women are portrayed in media and women's issues touted the announcement. The Center's President and former New York TV anchorwoman Carol Jenkins says, she "considers the appointment of Diane Sawyer as anchor of ABC’s World News a watershed moment in the presence of women in media. Here at WMC we always say that women are 51% of the population—and that we should not be afraid to ask for 51% of the jobs in media. At this point women hold only 3% of the “clout” positions in media. Anchoring a network evening news program certainly adds to the power quotient. We’re on our way."