
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995                   TAG: 9505230035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

CBS DROPS CONNIE, KEEPS DAN

Connie Chung has been ousted as co-anchor and Dan Rather will once again preside solo over ``The CBS Evening News,'' ending an uneasy two-year partnership that dropped the newscast's ratings into the cellar.

``This is personally disappointing and unjustified,'' Chung said in a statement Saturday night. ``The network's proposed alternative to my position as an equal co-anchor does not work for me. That proposal is for a lesser anchor position.''

Rather will be single anchor of the broadcast as of Monday, restored to the solo status the veteran CBS newscaster held from 1981 until June 1993, when Chung was seated to his left. In the last two years, ``The Evening News'' sank from second to third place among the network news shows.

Chung and CBS News President Eric Ober said negotiations are continuing on her future with the network.

Reached in Austin, Texas, where he was about to make a commencement address at the University of Texas, Rather said he had not been told of Chung's departure and that he was surprised.

by CNB