After Norah O’Donnell was named anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in May, she received a congratulatory email from Maureen Orth, the widow of Tim Russert, the late NBC Washington bureau chief and “Meet the Press” moderator. “CBS Evening News” has long trailed “ABC World News With David Muir” and “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt” in the ratings, although the program has narrowed the gap with its competitors since O’Donnell has been in the anchor chair. Ratings for all network news programs have been in decline as consumers spend less time with traditional TV outlets. O’Donnell’s ascension to the anchor job in July 2019 was championed by Susan Zirinsky during her tenure as president of CBS News. Zirinsky moved out of that job in April, replaced by Nareej Khemlani and Wendy McMahon as co-presidents and co-head of CBS News and Stations in a reorganization of the two divisions.