Russ Mitchell, CBS News’ current weekend anchor, is departing the network to become managing editor of the main local newscasts for the NBC’s Cleveland, Ohio affiliate.
Mitchell, who anchors the CBS Evening News weekend editions and The Early Show on Saturday, is the national correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning.
“I’ve been looking to get back to local TV for a while,” Mitchell told Journal-isms, “where I can be part of the editing process, and where I can live and work and my family could live.
“I talked to a number of stations around the country, and none was the right fit for us. This is the right fit personally and professionally.”
Mitchell’s departure for WKYC, where he will anchor the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts and have the title Managing Editor Evening News effective Jan. 16, comes on the heels of CNN weekend anchor T.J. Holmes’ move to BET.
Mitchell, Holmes and NBC’s Lester Holt have become familiar figures to network news watchers on weekends.
In addition to being the face associated with dispatches from around the world, including armed conflict in Bosnia, Mitchell anchored the network’s coverage of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Mitchell had been talked about as a possible replacement for Katie Couric, who was CBS News managing editor. 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, however, won the job.