BYRON PITTS CEMENTS '60 MINUTES' SPOT: Journalist hired as contributing correspondent, becoming lone African American contributor.

      *CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts will be joining the Sunday news magazine "60 Minutes" as a contributing correspondent, according to the National Association of Black Journalists.
     
      A longtime and committed member of NABJ, Pitts will become the program's only African-American contributor, following the footsteps of the late Ed Bradley. Pitts also has been promoted by CBS News as its chief national correspondent.
     
      "Byron Pitts brings the kind of humanity to his reporting that inspires and challenges the viewer to not only watch but get involved in the world around them; this will bring a new and improved layer to the already thought-provoking content of '60 Minutes,'" said Barbara Ciara, NABJ President and UNITY: Journalists of Color Vice President. "At a time when diversity in content and people is more important than ever, 60 Minutes has made a wise choice - one that enhances the program and provides an example of excellence in journalism."
     
      Before being named national correspondent in 2006, Pitts served as a regional correspondent at CBS News bureaus in Miami and Atlanta before moving to New York City in 2001. The Emmy Award-winning Pitts received the NABJ Journalist of the Year Award in 2002 for his coverage of the 9/11 attacks.