John F. Kennedy became the primary source by which people were kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination. In fact, television started to come of age before the assassination. On September 2, 1963, Kennedy helped inaugurate network television's first half-hour nightly evening newscast according to an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Walter Cronkite. Newspapers were kept as souvenirs rather than sources of updated information. In this sense his assassination was the first major TV news event of its kind. TV coverage united the nation, interpreting what went on, and creating memories of this space in time. All three major U.S.
CBS Evening News interest stories, over time it returned to the hard news format popularized by Cronkite. In an April 2011 article, "The New York Times" reported that "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley was considered to be the front-runner to replace Couric as anchor of the program. On May 3, 2011, CBS confirmed that Pelley would replace Couric as anchor for the "CBS Evening News" in June. Harry Smith served as the interim anchor until Pelley's tenure started on June 6, 2011 (like Couric before him, Smith would also depart from CBS a month later). The graphics were subtly updated, the American flag