CBS Newscaster Bob Schieffer To Retire

After nearly four decades as a reporter for CBS News, Bob Schieffer says he will retire next January as a new president is sworn in.

“I think that’s probably going to be it,” he told the New York Times.

“Inauguration Day 2009, I think I’m probably going to wind it up then.”

Schieffer has been the host of “Face the Nation” for 17 years, and he served as interim anchor of “CBS Evening News” for 18 months following the departure of Dan Rather. During that time his ratings were consistently higher than those of his successor, Katie Couric.

Schieffer, 71, is a diabetic who was treated for bladder cancer beginning in 2003, but he told the Times that his health was not a factor in his decision to retire. He had said in April 2005 that he planned to retire from “Face the Nation” early last year, but extended his tenure at the request of CBS, which did not want him to depart in an election year.