Charles Gibson

Charles "Charlie" deWolf Gibson (born March 9, 1943) is the anchor of World News with Charles Gibson, the ABC network's flagship evening newscast.

He became anchor on May 29, 2006, when the program was known as ABC World News Tonight. He also anchors the 5 p.m. EST Information Network weekday newscast on ABC News Radio. Under Gibson's leadership, ABC World News beat NBC Nightly News for the first time in several years. The two programs have now been in a dead heat, taking turns at the top among household viewers and the 25–54 age group prized by advertisers.

Gibson previously co-anchored ABC's Good Morning America for a span of nineteen years; first from February 1987 to May 1998, then again from January 1999 to June 2006.

On September 2, 2009, ABC News announced that Gibson will step down from ABC World News in January 2010, turning the broadcast over to Diane Sawyer.


Education and early career

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Gibson moved to Washington, D.C., when he was 12. He attended the Sidwell Friends School, a private college-preparatory school in Washington. In 1965, Gibson graduated from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was news director for the university radio station, WPRB-FM and a member of Princeton Tower Club. He now serves on Princeton's Board of Trustees. Originally, Gibson planned to go into law, but he was turned down by many institutions as it was determined his grades were not sufficient for top-tier law school work. Gibson joined the RKO Radio Network in 1966 as a producer, but then switched gears given the Vietnam War, joining the U.S. Coast Guard and working as a reporter/anchor for WLVA (now WSET) in Lynchburg, Virginia as one of five employees. He then moved to WMAL-TV (now WJLA) in 1970, and took a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1973 before joining ABC in 1975.


ABC News

During the 1970s and 1980s, Gibson covered the House of Representatives and the White House for ABC News. Prior to anchoring ABC's morning show, Gibson worked as a reporter for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He sometimes co-anchored World News when Peter Jennings was reporting on location. He also occasionally substituted for Ted Koppel on Nightline. In 1998-1999, he was a co-anchor on the Monday edition of 20/20 with Connie Chung. On October 8, 2004, he moderated the second presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry.

As moderator for the April 16, 2008, Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which was televised by ABC, Gibson along with co-moderator George Stephanopoulos was criticized in the The Washington Post and other media outlets for his selection of insubstantial, "gotcha"-style questions.

His interview on September 11, 2008, with Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, was her first after being named John McCain's running mate. This interview received criticism of bias from conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, specifically surrounding her hesitance in answering a question he posed about the Bush Doctrine. Gibson has said in a subsequent interview with Michael Kay on the YES Network's Centerstage program that he simply imagined what questions he'd ask Joe Biden under the same circumstance and asked them of Palin. As it turned out, he had asked identical questions of McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in earlier debates and interviews in the spring of 2008.


Personal life

Gibson's wife Arlene is an educator who recently retired as Head of School at the Spence School in New York City. She has also held positions at other schools in New York and New Jersey, and was the head of the middle school at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore in the 1980s. She is a trustee at her alma mater, Bryn Mawr College.

Gibson has two daughters, Jessica and Katherine. On March 14, 2006, Jessica gave birth to Gibson's first grandchild.

On May 17, 2006, Gibson delivered the commencement address at Monmouth University's Class of 2006 graduation ceremony held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey. He was also presented with an honorary doctorate in humane letters.

On June 17, 2007, Gibson delivered the commencement address to the class of 2007 at Union College's 213th graduation ceremonies. Gibson received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony, as well as a framed copy of his father's 1923 College yearbook entry. His father, Burdett, grew up in Schenectady, New York and graduated from the College in 1923. Gibson contributed an estimated $75,000 to Union College to help create the Burdett Gibson Class of 1923 Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to a deserving student in need.

Gibson donated $85,000 to Shenandoah University in Winchester at the request of his high school girlfriend, Dolores Pearse. She wanted him to establish the Pearse Gibson II Music Scholarship Fund in memory of his brother, who died in early 2006.


Retirement

At the end of the year 2009, Gibson is planning to retire and is being replaced by Diane Sawyer at the beginning of January 2010. His comforting presence made him an instant ratings hit at "World News" at a time the other networks had much younger anchors. But NBC's Brian Williams eventually passed him by and has been leading in the ratings for the past year, with "World News" a solid second.