CBS News has never had a great history of black reporters at the network. There was Russ Mitchell, but he’s gone; and both Harold Dow and Ed Bradley are dead. And now their most high profile black reporter, Byron Pitts, is about to jump ship.

It was quietly announced last Friday that Pitts, who is a CBS national correspondent and a regular on 60 Minutes, will be joining ABC News as both chief national correspondent and as a news anchor.

His hiring goes along with the recent hiring of black N.Y. Times reporter Susan Saulny as an ABC national reporter

The recent hires are all part of  a major move by ABC News head Ben Sherwood to “court political reporters from the N.Y. Times, The Washington Post, and other outlets in an effort to strengthen the network’s D.C. bureau after a string of recent departures… and to bolster the network’s commitment to political coverage”.

No word yet as to when either Pitts or Saulny will begin working for ABC.