The timing could not have been worse for Diane Sawyer, who is set to take over the anchor's desk on ABC's World News tonight (Monday) with a much publicized interview with Iranian President Mohmoud Ahmadinejad. The interview was taped last week, however, days before the current wave of mass protests struck the country following the death of opposition cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri at age 87. The protests drew front-page attention, with some commentators predicting that they could lead to Ahmadinejad's downfall. But Sawyer was returning to the U.S. as they broke out -- too late to cover them for World News -- and also too late to attend a party for retiring anchor Charles Gibson, whom she is succeeding. In his parting words on Friday, Gibson told his audience, "I thank you for investing trust in us each evening -- trust that we will give you as objective and honest a look at the day's news as we possibly can. Objectivity is not universally in favor in our business these days. But it is critically important. It is what we strive for each night." But Brent Baker, who writes about alleged liberal bias on the network newscasts for the conservative Media Research Center, commented Sunday that ABC's "striving ... too often comes up short.."