Harry Smith Departing CBS News

Reportedly joining NBC News' Brian Williams primetime news magazine

By Lindsay Rubino -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/8/2011 12:29:04 PM

CBS News anchor Harry Smith is leaving the network after 25 years.

Smith is reportedly heading to NBC News, where he will join Brian Williams at NBC's new primetime news show. The move comes after CBS shuffled The Early Show anchor team last year, leaving Smith to cover various segments on CBS Evening News.

Below is the memo sent to staff from CBS News President David Rhodes:

Harry Smith has been a fixture here at CBS News for a generation-he joined us in Dallas in 1986-but today he's decided to move on. 

Until late last year Harry anchored the Early Show, where for years he took us through breaking news events from the war in Iraq to the tsunami in Sri Lanka to Columbine and Oklahoma City.  Harry conducted news-making interviews with the biggest names in politics and entertainment.  During the course of his career here, Harry sat down with six presidents, from Barack Obama back to Richard Nixon.

In my own recent time at CBS News I enjoyed working with Harry as he reported from Egypt, Libya, Malta, and Japan.  Frankly we may have enjoyed all those assignments more than he did-he's seen a lot of airport departure lounges over his career and especially in the last four months.

If you saw Harry's piece closing the CBS Evening News the first Monday after the Japanese tsunami, you know what great work he is capable of.

Jeff Fager and I want to thank Harry for his extraordinary contribution to CBS over 25 years.  If you see Harry around the newsroom in New York today, or otherwise are able to reach out, please join us in wishing him well.

TV Newser first reported this story.