Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Telecommunication in honor of the veteran news reporter. At the same time, the Walter Cronkite Award for Journalism Excellence was established. In 1989, a professional news program produced by the school's students began production, and later evolved into the well-known Cronkite NewsWatch TV news program. In 2001, the school voted to change its name to Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The school received independent school status in 2004. It chose Christopher Callahan as its founding dean in 2005. A year later, the school established the Cronkite News Service for advanced journalism students to distribute TV and
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